By living out leadership, UCCS undergraduate student elevates campus life

President’s Inclusive Excellence Award Winner

Isabella Polombo is a senior studying communications and women’s and ethnic studies at UCCS. Her studies also focus on leadership, which she’s already living out in ways that lift her fellow undergraduates.

An active member of the campus community, Polombo serves as a Resident Assistant (RA) in student housing and is vice president of the Student Government Association (SGA). Her leadership as a key member of the shared governance group has resulted in several initiatives benefiting students.

Polombo co-founded Clyde's Clothing Corner, an expansion to the Clyde’s Cupboard food pantry on campus, aimed at alleviating clothing insecurity. The resource has allowed students to avoid stigmatization by operating in a community-centric space where they can gather to collect clothing, connect with friends, access the pantry and study. In its first semester, Clyde’s Clothing Corner served around 650 students.

Polombo advocated for the Period Product Dispensers resolution, launching an effort to provide menstrual products free of charge for the UCCS community through dispensers in restrooms across campus. Period Action Day resulted in 40,000 products divided into 2,000 bags and distributed to UCCS students and nearby public schools.

Polombo helped form the SGA’s ad hoc Disability and Accessibility Committee, which worked with the campus transportation office to improve accessibility by developing a GPS tracker for shuttles that travel across campus. She is active in the Student Health Advisory Board, LAS Peak Ambassadors and Pi Lambda Chi Latina Sorority Inc.

Polombo is one of five 2026 President’s Inclusive Excellence Award Winners.