UNH Today

Her road wasn’t necessarily a traditional one, but after taking some time off from school to work and taking the advice of a former employer, Hannah Chisholm '22 found her way to UNH Manchester. 

“Halfway through my sophomore year I realized I wasn’t happy at all with where I was attending school,” Chisholm said. “I left school and worked a few odd jobs while I figured out what I wanted to do. One of my bosses is from the Manchester area and recommended I look into UNH Manchester, and that’s when I learned about the public service and nonprofit leadership major and knew immediately it was the program for me.” 

UNH Manchester’s public service and nonprofit leadership major draws on roots in political science, sociology, history and economics while the public service discipline prepares students for a wide range of careers in a broad range of fields, including civil service, education, law, nonprofits and more. Chisholm says she looks forward to applying what she’s learned in the classroom to New Hampshire’s nonprofit sector.

"This community was there for me on my first day and every day supporting me and helping me thrive."

“I hope to work for a mission-driven organization here in the Manchester community,” Chisholm says.

During her time at UNH Manchester, Chisholm took advantage of some of the many of the experiential opportunities available. During the spring 2020 semester she participated in the Semester in the City program through the College of Social Innovation.

“I spent most of my time during that semester interning with a nonprofit in Boston called Generation Citizen, as well as taking classes focuses on making us better agents of change,” she says.  

Chisholm also completed an additional internship with New Hampshire Housing, which she says gave her the opportunity to work with some amazing mentors. On campus, she worked as a Career Peer in the Office of Career and Professional Success, which allowed her to become more integrated with the UNHM community, something she cautions can be difficult to achieve as a commuter student.

“My biggest piece of advice to students is to hang out on campus as much as you can," she says. "Get involved with a club or go to an event sponsored by Student Engagement."

With graduation weeks away, Chisholm says she is grateful for the UNH Manchester community and the experiences she's had as a student here.

“I showed up to UNH Manchester in January 2019 completely lost and unsure of myself,” she says. “This community was there for me on my first day and every day supporting me and helping me thrive. I’ve grown more in the past three years here than at any other point in my life thanks to the support from the faculty, staff and all the friends I’ve made here.”