Awards and Recognition

Carson has balanced his academic work with excellent internship and professional experiences, leadership and community service opportunities.  After interning with the Oklahoma Department of Education, he understood the pressures in the state education system and became determined to make a difference.  He became involved on campus with the Carl Albert Center to develop his leadership and policy knowledge and volunteered in the community to increase his knowledge of the education system and to mentor youth. As a democracy coach with Generation Citizen, he worked with high school students to educate youth on civic action and help others to think about engagement and leadership.  

Carson was motivated by his professional experiences and volunteering to design and create a new program called Miracle Mindset. This organization serves high school freshmen from across the entire state with the purpose of eliminating the achievement gap and persistent disparity of educational resources, information, and opportunities among at-risk youth from low-income backgrounds by providing students with the essential tools and encouragement needed to be successful in high school and beyond.  Now in the third year, this program continues to support Oklahoma youth in thinking about successful pathways beyond high school.  

In addition to serving as an aide for Senator James Lankford (Indian Affairs), Carson serves this year as a Carl Albert Center Civic Engagement Fellow. Carson and his co-fellows won the Oklahoma Campus Compact Voter Registration drive in 2018 for their work on OU campus. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education recognized the fellows for their excellent work of encouraging students, faculty and staff to become engaged in the voting process.  They also partnered with RISE to Vote in an effort to register professional and college athletes.  OU was recognized by Washington Monthly as one of the “best colleges for voting”.