Students Receive SUNY Orange Chancellor’s Award

MIDDLETOWN – SUNY Orange students Nathanael Linton, Ramsey Marte and Carolyn Weller were presented last Wednesday with the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence during an awards luncheon in Albany.

The Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence recognizes students at each of SUNY’s 64 campuses who have best demonstrated, and have 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. The SUNY Orange trio was among 256 students honored on Wednesday.

In recognition of their having been named a Chancellor’s Award winner, Linton, Marte and Weller each received a framed certificate and medallion, which is traditionally worn at Commencement.

“It is my honor to celebrate the achievements of students who have surpassed SUNY’s highest standards of academic excellence and leadership both on and off campus,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher. “Every student we recognize today has demonstrated a strong commitment to their degree program, home campus, greater community, and much more. Congratulations to all of the students receiving this year’s award.”

Linton, of Middletown, has been awarded the College’s Presidents’ Scholarship for Outstanding Academic Achievement. He is a second-year Honors Program student who will graduate in May with a liberal arts degree with a focus in political science. Linton serves as the student representative to the SUNY Orange Foundation Board of Directors and holds a seat on the College’s Honors Advisory Board. He serves as an Honors Program mentor and has twice been selected to represent SUNY Orange at the Northeast Regional Honors Council conference.

During his free time, Linton has volunteered at the Warwick Food Pantry during the holiday season and is active in the Eternal Life Tabernacle Apostolic Mission, where his father David is the pastor. He teaches Sunday School and plays keyboard with the choir.

Marte, of Middletown, will graduate in May having earned a liberal arts degree with a pre-med focus. She is a member of the Honors Program, tutors fellow students and is active in Honors Program events. She is engaged in many community activities, including working at a local food bank and actively mentoring younger children at her church, where she serves as church youth vice president, youth worship assistant leader and dance leader. She volunteers at her local library as a tutor for elementary school children.

A resident of Warwick, Weller is set to graduate in May with a degree in liberal arts, and she has begun pursuing a second degree in music performance. She is a recipient of the President’s Scholarship for Academic Achievement and is a member of the College’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society for students at two-year colleges. She participated in the 2016 NRHC conference and serves as a mentor to five freshmen in the Honors Program.

She has served as a girls youth basketball coach in Circleville and accompanies youth choral groups to performances. Weller sings and plays locally herself, and has completed two EPs while at the College, having written and performed the lyrics, piano music and vocals.
Each campus in the SUNY system establishes a selection committee, which reviews exemplary members of that college community who are graduating. Nominees are then forwarded to the Chancellor’s Office and are subject to a second round of review. Finalists are then recommended to the Chancellor to become recipients of the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating more than 470,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses with more than 3 million alumni around the globe.