Megan Nicol comes by her involvement with United Way naturally. The new University of Windsor student coordinator for the charity, she says her family has a long history of giving to the cause.

“Everybody back home always has such great things to say about the United Way,” says the fourth-year concurrent education student. “I think it is such an awesome organization.”

Nicol’s role is to help young people become aware of the United Way and its community work.

“I would be so happy to help students find a way to channel their dedication to making a difference,” she says. “They have skills and ideas that can really benefit people.”

She is currently working to establish an organizing committee that will determine the goals and activities for the year: “the first job is to figure out what local issues they want to address.”

The United Way is sponsoring a design contest for a new logo for its youth engagement strategy, entitled WE Students United. The winner will receive an iPad tablet computer. Learn more on the committee’s Facebook page.

The Windsor-Essex United Way hopes to do a better job reaching young people, says Sarah Davidson, the charity’s manager of youth engagement and new media: “We are looking to social media as a premier means of communications.”

To help promote the contest and recruit students to her team of volunteers, Nicol will station herself at the entrance to Saturday’s Lancer football game, distributing rubber wristbands bearing the WE Students United name.