Sometimes you meet a young person who makes such a powerful impression that you want to vault forward a few decades to see how much they lifted others and elevated our world.
Maddison Crump is one of those people. At age 21 she has logged over a dozen years of making a difference. A self-described “firecracker” as a child, she stood up to schoolyard bullies and peppered her teachers with questions. Her grades were good and her ability to listen to others was exceptional.
“I always had this sense of knowing when something was off with people,” she said.
She joined a youth service group at age 8 and was a state leader by 19. At UC Merced, Crump parlayed empathy, purpose and determination into a college career of providing peer support to other students in need of it.
Crump has done this as a child of need herself, raised by her grandparents because her father and mother, as she described it, “were on the wrong track in life.” She was 18 months old and her brother nearly age 3 when their dad’s folks took them in.
“I was very blessed to be raised by my grandparents. They’re my biggest supporters,” Crump said.
She is set to graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree and seven semesters as an employee of the university’s Calvin E. Bright Success Center, which supports all students but provides structured support to those whose backgrounds include foster care, undocumented status or incarceration.
Crump spent the last year at the center in a job she created for herself, building bridges between targeted programs, ensuring students receive the help they need and turning empathy into action.
