Alyssa Carbone Receives Excellence and Student Initiative Scholarship

Alyssa Carbone of New City, N.Y., has been selected to receive a State University of New York Association of Council Members and College Trustees scholarship.

Alyssa is a recipient of the Excellence and Student Initiative Scholarship, awarded by the State University of New York Association of Council Members and College Trustees (ACT). She graduated from SUNY Oneonta in December 2021 as a Spanish major with many achievements and has enrolled at the University of Buffalo School of Law. This scholarship recognizes Alyssa for her outstanding academic performance and commitment to her campus community.

Excellence and Student Initiative Scholarship applicants must have achieved a dean's list GPA as of the last reporting period and they must demonstrate that they identified a need in their campus community and provided or service or solution to address it. Three letters of recommendation are also required. The scholarship will provide Alyssa with $1000 and a $250 donation to the charity of her choice. Only five nominees receive this scholarship each year: two from university colleges, two from university centers and doctoral degree institutions, and one from technical colleges. All recipients were invited to an awards luncheon on Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Turning Stone Casino & Resort in Verona.

"In my application for the scholarship, I noted my experience in various executive diversity-related board positions in my work helping to give marginalized students a voice and promoting diversity-related events," said Alyssa. "In addition to diversity and equity work, I sought to assist domestic and international students with their transition to on-campus life, serving as an Office Assistant for the Office of Global Education and an international student mentor."

While she attended college at SUNY Oneonta, Alyssa served as secretary for Vice-Presidential Affairs for the SUNY-wide Student Assembly and on numerous campus councils, committees and task forces. She was the vice president of the Hispanic Organization for Learning Advancement club and a volunteer tutor with the Multicultural Community Center. Alyssa was also the student coordinator for the Students of Color Coalition and The Luminous Letter Project, a letter-writing advocacy project for LGBTQIA+ people in federal and state prisons and Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. She has widely presented her research on climate change and how it affects Latinx communities in the United States, most notably as a Refugee Representation Intern at Human Rights First in NYC.

"I also sought to keep students engaged with the many opportunities SUNY Oneonta has to offer," said Alyssa. "I served as a founding board member of The Nebula Society, a Resident Advisor and served as Senator and later Attorney General on the Student Association, representing the voices and concerns of students across campus."