Three students Genesee Community College has announced three students have been named 2010 recipients of the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence. Colleen McKay, Lori Mould and Aiwen Yang all received the honor at an awards ceremony in Albany.
The Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence was created 13 years ago to recognize students who have best demonstrated and been recognized for the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts or career achievement.
McKay, 20, will graduate in May from Genesee after earning a degree in Entrepreneurship. She is a valued member of the women's softball team and has been nominated twice by her teachers for Athlete of the Week honors. She is an active member of the GCCA and she is a natural leader to her peers.
She has maintained an outstanding grade-point average in her first three semesters at Genesee and has been named to the NJCAA Academic All American Team. Colleen is from Woodstock, Ontario, Canada and is a graduate of Saint Mary's Catholic High School. She currently runs her own business back home in Canada. Your Farm Market (YFM), a seasonal farmers market that she has been running and growing since she was 8 years old.
She enjoys her work with YFM because she gets to work outdoors, she is her own boss, she interacts constantly with her customers, and she takes pleasure in giving her community the opportunity to eat healthy, local food. When she graduates in May, she plans to return home to further develop YFM with possibly an on-site bakery, an educational component, and an on-farm location.
Mould is a double major, studying Communications and Media Arts as well as the Fine Arts. She earned her recognition as a SUNY Chancellor for her extensive volunteer activities at Genesee with the Student Government, The New Courier student newspaper, and WGCC radio station. Particularly noteworthy is her work in Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society as vice president of the Genesee chapter, and as the New York State Phi Theta Kappa historian.
Mould is one of two students who developed domestic violence/sexual assault seminars held in October. She's a non-traditional student, and went back to college after being out of an educational setting for 27 years. She was a single mom, working in the construction industry when she was in a debilitating automobile accident that left her with brain injuries. She could no longer do the physically demanding construction job, and as a result she decided to go back to school.
After more than a dozen surgeries, she is now flourishing as a college student. She has been on the President's List since she enrolled in the spring semester of 2008, has been named Who's Who Among College Students and was awarded the Peg Tiede Memorial Scholarship. She will serve as the Genesee's PTK president for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Yang, 24, is an international student originally from the Zhejiang Province in China. She moved to Madrid, Spain when she was 10 years old and graduated from Art High School in Madrid in 2004. She pursued a Fashion Design degree while in Madrid. She selected Genesee Community College after researching the SUNY system, and found that Genesee was a perfect fit for her to start her education in the United States.
As president of the International Student Organization, she has been working diligently to get her international peers involved in the Genesee community. She serves on the Student Government Association, the Global Education Committee, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and as a resident assistant at College Village, all while maintaining an excellent academic record.
She even volunteered to teach Mandarin Chinese to college students as well as people from the community for this year's fall and spring semesters. She is a General Studies major and hopes to transfer to a four-year college to pursue a degree in International Relations. Her dream job would be working in the international arena where she could travel around the world and help people in need.
"These students have set a great example for current and future students of the college," said Virginia Taylor, Ph.D, vice president for Student and Enrollment Services. "They have prepared themselves for very bright and successful futures and the entire campus community is incredibly proud of all their accomplishments."
The three award recipients were among 228 students from 63 SUNY campuses recognized for their remarkable achievements. Recipients of this year's award have an overall GPA of 3.8 and records of significant contributions to their campuses and communities. At the ceremony, they each received a framed certificate and medallion, which is traditionally worn at commencement.
