In the Community, Out in the World: Spencer-Weinstein Award Winners Exemplify Leadership and Service
April 14, 2025
- Author
- Caroline Roy '20

黑料社区 recently recognized one student and one faculty member with the Spencer-Weinstein Prize for Community and Justice, honoring their respective legacies of commitment to the 黑料社区 community. The annual award was created by close friends of the college, Carole and Marcus Weinstein.
The 2024-2025 recipients are Bonner and Kuykendall Scholar Victoria Ochieng 鈥27 for her entrepreneurship and for launching pivotal community initiatives in Davidson and Kenya, and Assistant Professor of Afro-Latin American Studies Vanessa Casta帽eda for her collaborative work addressing food justice and labor rights for immigrant workers in our region.
Victoria Ochieng 鈥27
Born and raised in Western Kenya, Victoria Ochieng found Davidson through the Kenya Scholar Access Program (KenSAP) and felt immediately drawn to the college鈥檚 emphasis on service and community. Before setting foot on campus, she knew she wanted to be involved at the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
鈥淚 felt like the Hurt Hub could give me everything I was looking for,鈥 she said. 鈥淪erving as a Community Events Ambassador and now as an Events and Programs Specialist has allowed me to see entrepreneurship not only as something I can pursue, but as something I should pursue. It has also deepened my understanding of the kind of social entrepreneurship I want to champion in the world.鈥
The first step to launching a business idea, Ochieng learned, is identifying a problem. In her home country of Kenya, where farming is the dominant trade, she observed a large amount of produce going to waste each harvest. Sometimes, high yields of crops would go bad before selling, and other times, soil degradation made it difficult to grow anything at all.
She came up with a startup idea that would directly help coconut farmers in Kenya鈥檚 coastal community 鈥 using coconut husk waste to make both custom-crafted woven door mats and coco peat, a soil enhancer that helps crops flourish. The idea earned financial support through the .
鈥淭he wonderful thing about leadership is you don鈥檛 have to invent great ideas,鈥 she said. 鈥淛ust by communicating and sharing your vision, you learn that so many others are also invested. From there, you can build ideas together.鈥
Gender inequality is another issue close to heart and home for Ochieng. In her village, women can鈥檛 own land on their own, and many girls become wives and mothers at a young age. It wasn鈥檛 until she and her family moved to Nairobi that Ochieng was first exposed to women working as engineers, doctors and lawyers.
鈥淚 wanted to bring this perspective back home to show younger girls that there are other paths they can take,鈥 she said.


Last summer, she created and launched the Winjo Teens for Teens Project, now a group of 30 teen ambassadors tasked with advocating for reproductive health, providing free resources and serving as mentors in the community.
Ochieng is passionate about gender-based issues on Davidson鈥檚 campus, too. Last fall, she and a group of fellow Bonner Scholars took part in 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, an international initiative to spread awareness and open dialogue across campus channels 鈥 including a radio show in collaboration with WALT Student Radio.
鈥淪ervice isn鈥檛 tied to a specific place,鈥 Ochieng said. 鈥淎s a Bonner Scholar, I鈥檝e also been able to get involved locally with the Davidson Housing Coalition. I want to use my voice and my ability to bring people together to serve the community.鈥
Her list of meaningful campus involvements continues to grow. In addition to joining Davidson鈥檚 Entrepreneurship Club, she recently took a leadership role as chair of the Dean Rusk Global Corps, where she helps organize events like tea-time discussions on everything from global issues to international education programming.
鈥淒avidson is great about seeing something good and encouraging more of it. I believe we all have a responsibility to pay it forward, to act when we see a problem or a pain point. It鈥檚 affirming in so many ways that Davidson recognizes this kind of work.鈥
Vanessa Casta帽eda
Vanessa Casta帽eda joined Davidson鈥檚 faculty in 2023. In her first two years, she has forged valuable partnerships outside the college and helped students learn about issues like labor rights and food justice through community-based work.
Casta帽eda鈥檚 research has always focused on the relationships between food, identity and culture in Latin America. As part of her 鈥淚ntro to Latin American Studies鈥 course, she invited El Futuro Es Nuestro (EFEN), a farmworker-led advocacy group, to speak to the class about issues of labor and migration, exploitation, and the experience of working in agriculture in North Carolina.
鈥淐ommunity is really important to me and crucial to my pedagogy and research,鈥 Casta帽eda said. 鈥淟earning isn鈥檛 confined to the classroom. Connecting with our course material by talking to real people and learning from them as authorities of knowledge is something that sticks with students forever.鈥
In her course on food, gender and race, she asked EFEN, who agreed to collaborate with her class, which issues they most wanted to address. Together, they spent the semester researching farm workers living on mandatory meal plans. Monday through Friday, students conducted anonymous food surveys asking farm workers to report what they were eating in a day.

The students also collaborated with each other by using their strengths to contribute to the final product 鈥 some gathered data, some created policy briefs and others worked on a digital book they鈥檒l present at the Verna Miller Case Research and Creative Works Symposium this spring. At the end of the course, they hosted The Farmworker鈥檚 Plate, a community event and discussion after which students, farmer workers and community members shared a meal.
鈥淔ood helps create community, and our community is ever-expanding,鈥 Casta帽eda said. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 have done any of this without the support of the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE).鈥
As a Community-Engaged Faculty Fellow with the CCE, she co-organized a screening and discussion of the film The Guestworker during National Farmworkers Awareness Week, brought three Afro-Latin American scholars to speak on campus and hosted renowned chef Cristina Mart铆nez, who shared her journey as a Mexican immigrant and high-profile culinary artist.
In the coming years, Casta帽eda hopes to continue building these partnerships that bring a little bit of Davidson into the world and a little bit of the world to campus. Through the CCE, she has created an internship for students that exposes them to labor advocacy, activism and grant writing.

鈥淒avidson students are prepared and, most importantly, curious about these issues. That鈥檚 what makes them such amazing collaborators. It feels great to see that Davidson understands and recognizes the importance of engaging in community 鈥 this transformative work is central to the kind of academic I want to be.鈥