"I’ve had every opportunity I’ve wanted"

Megan Cremeans made the most of her time at Miami University. The 2020 graduate from Somerset got involved all over the Oxford campus and beyond, enhancing her own learning and leaving Miami a better place.

Cremeans’ commitment to Miami extended well beyond the classroom, where she majored in political science and integrated social studies education. She led the Armstrong Student Center board, served as a student trustee on Miami’s Board of Trustees, and advocated for Miami and for higher education as part of the Government Relations Network (GRN). She helped the GRN organize Miami’s Statehouse Day, where students and faculty visited with Ohio legislators to discuss issues of importance to Miami and higher education in Ohio.

“Once I found the right resources and the right people to go to at Miami, I’ve had every opportunity I’ve wanted,” Cremeans said.

Undergraduate Summer Scholars program furthered Cremeans’ research

Cremeans started law school at Ohio State University in fall 2020. It’s no surprise that Cremeans’ career aspirations will elevate the communities around her, and she started that impact while still at Miami. She received the 2019 Joanna Jackson Goldman Memorial Prize, providing $11,000 to study the impact of school funding on Ohio's rural and Appalachian communities. She conducted some of the original research in 2018 as an Undergraduate Summer Scholar.

“I experienced the system’s shortcomings first-hand,” said Cremeans, who grew up in Perry County. “Although much has improved, the system’s inequities are evident.”

In 2018, Cremeans led a team that won a grant of nearly $10,000 from the M.I.A.M.I. Women Giving Circle for a Community-based Action Project for Future Teachers (CAP) to better equip educators in underserved areas to help a diverse group of students succeed.