FAIRMONT– Celia Simpson is the newest Fairmont-based fellow for Lead for Minnesota. She will be hosted by Project 1590. In her year-long role, which starts Aug. 8, Simpson will encourage community development by working with local organizations and pioneering new endeavors.
After graduating from Fairmont High School in 2018, Simpson went off to Seattle University where she majored in criminal justice, specializing in forensic science. She also got a minor in Arabic, biology and chemistry.
“I was doing the pre-med track. I was going to become a medical examiner, so the minors in biology and chemistry came from that. Arabic was just a side thing. I went to Morocco with it before the whole world shut down,” Simpson said with a laugh.
She recently graduated in June of this year. As for the shift in what she studied to what she’s about to embark on, Simpson said she had interned at a medical examiner’s office in Seattle starting in early 2020 through the time that she graduated.
“I did autopsies, a lot of testing for drugs. During the internship I decided I wasn’t as passionate about it. Covid was happening and I missed home. I missed my family and my community. Seeing people dying alone, I realized I didn’t want that for my life,” Simpson said.
She began looking online for jobs in Minnesota and found the page for Lead for Minnesota.
