CLAREMONT — A River Valley Community College student has earned two awards for her academics, leadership and volunteerism from a national honor society.
Kaylee Felix, of Enfield, earned a $2,750 Coca-Cola New Century Transfer Pathway Scholarship through Phi Theta Kappa, a community college honor society.
That honor made Felix eligible for Phi Theta Kappa’s All-USA Academic Team, which comes with an additional $3,000 scholarship.
“It was a huge shock,” when she learned she earned both awards a few weeks ago, Felix said in a phone interview.
Felix — who is the president of Phi Theta Kappa’s Alpha Delta Chi Chapter at RVCC — is the sixth RVCC student since 2001 to earn the Coca-Cola New Century award at River Valley and the first RVCC student to earn the All-USA Academic Team award.
River Valley Community College President Alfred Williams nominated Felix for the All-USA Academic Team. Just 20 community college students from around the country are selected for the All-USA Academic Team each year, according to the honor society’s website.
“Kaylee is one of those students that makes life at River Valley Community College better for other students,” Williams said, citing Felix’s various campus activities.
Felix is one of 50 students to earn the Coca-Cola New Century Transfer Pathway Scholarship and was selected from a pool that included thousands of applicants from more than 1,000 institutions, according to a news release from the Jackson, Miss.-based nonprofit organization.
“Applications are evaluated based on academics, leadership, engagement, and volunteerism,” the release said.
Felix graduated from Mascoma Valley Regional High School in 2023 and is two-thirds of the way through completing an associate’s degree in early childhood education.
She is also pursuing a certification in social services as part of her associate degree and is in the process of researching schools she’d like to attend to earn a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education.
Felix has always known she wanted to work in childhood education.
“I grew up in a daycare,” Felix said. She works full time at Little Folks Daycare in Enfield, which her late grandmother started and she now runs with her mother. “I’ve been here all my life and I figured I’d continue it for the third generation.”
Felix loves working in early childhood education because she gets to watch children grow and develop. The child care center serves 13 kids, ages 7 months to 5 years. While she likes working with students of all ages, 2- and 3-year-olds are her favorites.
“That’s where so much of their development is happening,” Felix said. “It’s awesome to see them truly bloom and their changes, learning how to speak and walk, learn all those amazing things.”
She decided to attend RVCC because it is close to home and she could pursue a degree while working.
As a part-time student, she takes two classes a semester remotely and goes to campus regularly to volunteer.
“Most of my days are spent here with the kids and my nights are spent doing school work or volunteer work,” Felix said from Little Folks Day Care.
Felix credits her parents with getting her involved in community service from a young age.
“I spent a lot of my weekends volunteering in the community,” said Felix, who helped start a food pantry at Mascoma Valley Regional High School when she was a student. “It made me a better person, knowing I can help people in my community.”
At RVCC, Felix volunteers in the food pantry and serves as treasurer of the Student Government Association, where she works to plan extracurricular activities on the Claremont campus, among other responsibilities.
She also is the student representative on the Community College System of New Hampshire’s Board of Trustees.
“There’s this stereotype that a college student lives in a dorm and they have a lot of free time,” Williams said. “That’s not our students. Our students are working, they’re volunteering, they’re parents, they’re taking care of parents. Their lives are very full and Kaylee just epitomizes that.”
Felix credits RVCC with helping her build connections and find a sense of belonging.
“It’s a community, not just a school,” Felix wrote in a follow-up email. “…For many students, community college is where they discover their potential and realize they are capable of more than they could have ever dreamed.”