Jacob Heytens, a soon-to-be graduate of UMD's Bachelor of Social Work program, was honored with a public engagement award from the University of Minnesota's Office for Public Engagement.

Public engagement awards recognize the breadth and depth of community-engaged research, teaching, and service across the University system. The 2025 recipients were honored at an April 29 awards luncheon for their outstanding publicly engaged work.

"These awardees represent truly exemplary university-community partnerships across research, teaching, and outreach that make real differences in society. We are honored to recognize their contributions to community-engaged scholarship!" said Laurie Van Egeren, Vice Provost for Public Engagement. 

Heytens is a University Honors student and a combat veteran who is now on a journey to help others toward healing through trauma-informed care.

Associate Professor Aparna Katre was Heytens' instructor and his faculty advisor for an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program project. She also supervised his community volunteering work. “I rarely see students like Mr. Heytens, who demonstrate clarity of vision and purpose, are driven to make a community impact, and aim to excel in their quest for learning and scholarship,” Katre said in her award nomination letter. “Mr. Heytens passionately volunteered each Monday for over a year, helping prepare meal kits alongside a group of underprivileged women. These women are primarily single mothers who have a history of complex trauma, live in poverty, and have lacked 'good' men in their lives. As the only male volunteer at Food Forward for a long time, and working shoulder-to-shoulder with the women, he has played an important role in helping the women repair old wounds.”