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ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025

United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.

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UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT MARY CHILESHE, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.

Copperbelt University | Kitwe, Zambia | Advancing SDG 4, SDG 17 & UNAI 6

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" "When you put in so much love into the world, it's bound to come back to you". This quote reminds me that if I want to receive the beauty and positivity of the world, I first have to actively take part in its creation. Being part of the Millennium Fellowship creates space for me to interact, learn and collaborate with like minded people and hence gives me an opportunity to create positive impact in my community and in the world. "

Millennium Fellowship Project: MentWell

"The Copperbelt University Millennium Fellowship class of 2025 did
a group project called MentWell. A student-Led project addressing mental health challenges among medical students at Copperbelt University. Recognizing the high academic pressure and the stress
associated with failing tests (which often leads to part-time status), the project created safe spaces for dialogue, peer support and shared
coping strategies. Through interactive sessions and peer to peer
engagement, MentWell directly reached over 100 students,
fostering resilience and promoting mental wellbeing during exam periods."
"MentWell primarily serves medical students at Copperbelt University School of Medicine. This group faces unique challenges due to:
• High academic pressure from demanding coursework and frequent examinations.
• Institutional rules such as being placed on part time status after failing a single course, which increases stress and anxiety.
• Limited access to mental health resources, making peer support essential.
Our audience includes:
• Undergraduate medical students across different years of study.
• Students experiencing exam related stress, burnout or anxiety.
• Those seeking safe spaces to share personal struggles and coping strategies.
• Peers interested in building resilience and supporting one another through lived experiences.
By focusing on this group, MentWell creates a supportive community that normalizes mental health conversations, strengthens peer connections and empowers students to thrive academically and emotionally."

About the Millennium Fellow

Mary Chileshe is a young women from Zambia, pursuing a Bachelor of science in Environmental Health at the Copperbelt University Michael Chilufya Sata School of Medicine in the Copperbelt, Zambia. Mary often defines environmental health as a profession that stands in between and mitigates the impact of the environment on people and human activities on the environment, this translates to how passionate Mary is about mitigation the effects of climate change on human life and vise versa because she has seen how people in her country and people around her have suffered from scarcity of food and lack of essentials like electricity due to drought and that is why she volunteered in initiatives that aimed to educate and create resilient communities. Apart from health and climate change. Mary is also enthusiastic about mental health and women's rights. In a world where women's lives are threatened every day, Mary believes that it is important to advocate for and educate women on their lawful rights and teach them to identify and report violations. The WHO defines health as the mental, social, economic, physical, psychological well-being, but how can one identify as healthy if the are mentally unwell. Mary believes that anxieties, depression, trauma among others are like tiny viruses that are quietly eating at people and if we do not create spaces and systems that cater to the mental health needs of people these viruses will end up killing us. Therefore, Mary advocates for creation of considerate and accommodating environments.

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