Murfreesboro's Katherine Blankenship was presented The Harold Love Outstanding Community Service Award by the Tennessee Department of Higher Education.

The Higher Education Commission said Blankenship was selected because of her long time affiliation with the  local non-profit Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities, Inc. and her earlier involvement in administering the Rutherford Cannon County Bar Association’s free legal clinic. That occurs every Thursday afternoon at Greenhouse Ministries.

In addition, as a first year law student at Belmont University, she has been instrumental in founding the law school’s first Access to Justice Committee, and is guiding the organization in finding ways the member law students can serve the public by assisting them in obtaining access to an attorney and to the courts, regardless of their financial ability to pay.

Katherine Blankenship serves as head of the Music Department for YEAH! She noted that one of her first goals is to increase the diversity of the camp and to expand the service areas of the camp. She developed a business model that allows unlimited need-based scholarships for deserving campers, while still paying a full staff a meaningful stipend for their work with these students. She now administers four summer camps and two year round programs, serving approximately 400 students and 100 volunteers each year.