January 28 is Global Community Engagement Day – a day when people across the globe celebrate community efforts to work together to make the world a better place. It’s fitting that two NIU graduate students from Ghana, Emelia Essumanba-Josiah and Ayisha Abubakar Attah, are working together with Jennifer Groce, NIU Director of Community Engaged Partnerships in the Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development, to plan NIU’s celebration of Global Community Engagement Day.
On January 28, all students, faculty and staff are invited to stop by their table in the lower level of Founders’ Memorial Library to meet community engagement leaders from NIU’s campus, learn about community-engaged courses, talk with community-engaged faculty and share their community engagement stories.
“We’re asking NIU students, faculty and staff to share their stories with us because we want to listen and learn from a wide variety of people as we work to shape community engagement at NIU,” says Groce.
“We’re also thrilled to tell students about the new Community-engaged (CE) Course designation that will be in the undergraduate course catalogue starting in Fall 2025! We’ll have representatives from Academic Affairs stopping by, as well as faculty teaching community-engaged courses. Students will be able to learn more about how they can apply what they’re learning to make a positive impact when they take a community-engaged course.”
Meet the international students behind this year’s Global Community Engagement Day celebration
One studying communication and one public administration, one Christian and one Muslim, one a young person studying abroad on her own and the other a mother of two. Emelia Essumanba-Josiah and Ayisha Abubakar Attah come from different backgrounds but are united in their dedication to community engagement here in DeKalb and in their home country of Ghana.
Essumanba-Josiah is in her first year studying for her Master of Arts degree in the NIU Department of Communication. After having worked as a journalist in Ghana, she’s excited to grow her communication skills so she can promote community health and science knowledge.
“Back home I started off as a journalist writing human interest stories, and I realized that over the years, it helped me find my own voice,” Essumanba-Josiah says. “I was telling the stories of people who were marginalized in a certain context. So pursuing higher studies in communication was a chance for me to learn more and sharpen my skills as a storyteller so that I can tell these important community stories. It makes all the difference to tell the right stories at the right time and in the right place.”
After completing her degree, Essumanba-Josiah plans to specialize in health and science communication.
“I want to use communication as a tool to provide the community with narrative pieces about current developments in health and science so they can really understand what is happening. That is my plan for the future, and I think NIU is a good place to help me build those skills. I’m picking up on a lot of beautiful skills as an international student, meeting different and diverse groups within my class community, my church community here in the U.S. and my colleagues. So far, it’s been an amazing journey.”
Ayisha Abubakar Attah is completing her Master of Public Administration degree at NIU and is excited to be graduating this May with her specialization in local government administration.
Attah’s goal is to pursue a profession in community development.
Ayisha Abubakar Attah (right) pictured with Jennifer Groce (left)
“I have strong enthusiasm for helping people and improving the standard of living in a community,” she says. “I’m particularly focused on the economic growth and social welfare of a community, so having this graduate assistantship in the Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development along with my coursework in Public Administration is a great learning experience.”
Attah, who worked as a civil servant for the Ghanaian government before coming to the U.S., first heard about Northern Illinois University through various government ministers in Ghana who had studied public administration at NIU.
“I chose to come here to study local government administration because there was a wonderful opportunity to connect with the community, to look for partnerships, and to understand how local government, community and university could work together for the public good,” she says.
Essumanba-Josiah agrees, adding:
“We are not just human beings. We are social beings. Every day, as we walk, work and move through the world, there’s a bigger picture where the health of our society matters and where we can make a difference. That, to me, is an important aspect of community engagement. You are leveraging your skills, your expertise and your resources – whatever those might be – to learn about and serve the greater needs of the community you find yourself in.”
Emelia Essumanba-Josiah (standing) was deeply involved with community-engagement efforts promoting women’s education in Ghana.
Essumanba-Josiah and Attah have both described Ghana as a place where individuals and families are deeply connected to the community around them. For example, Essumanba-Josiah worked closely with groups promoting girls’ education, technology and digital innovation in communities that lacked digital resources. Essumanba-Josiah, who comes from Madina, a suburb of Ghana’s capital city of Accra, sums it up thus: “Where I grew up, community engagement is a way of life for everyone.”
In fact, Essumanba-Josiah says she was drawn to NIU partly because of the university’s long history of community partnerships.
“I think community engagement is not a new concept. From the beginning, NIU has been focused on serving the region and connecting with the community, and I think that’s a beautiful thing to celebrate. So that’s our goal with Global Community Engagement Day – to celebrate this wonderful work being done together with the community here in DeKalb and across the world!”
Global Community Engagement Day will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. View the NIU calendar event to learn more.
