Yahayra (Yaya) Colon, a Criminal Justice at SUNY Oneonta, will be serving an internship with the Illinois State Police.

Ten SUNY Oneonta students traveled to the Pacific for Geography 294 to soak up the sun, fun, views, culture and history of the 50th state - Hawaii. Accompanied by professors Wendy Lascell and Ken Johnson, the students visited popular landmarks, were immersed in the Hawaiian way of life and participated in various eye-opening activities. One of their first stops was the Tantalus Overlook, where they were treated to a spectacular view of the Honolulu side of the island. Next, they visited a Japanese Buddhist temple and cemetery complex. Other points of interest included Ioni Palace, Kualoa Regional Park, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor, and a Senior Community Center. One particularly interesting stops was at the Kualoa Regional Park, a state park that manages sustainable ancient fish ponds which have been struggling with pollution. At the state park, the students saw first-hand Hawaii's cat overpopulation problem. At the park, and in many places in Hawaii, there are huge groups of feral cat colonies. Students spoke with people who feed the state park colony and take care of them - about 70 cats in total. It is a major issue in Hawaii, as the government and locals are at odds about what to do. Other notable items on the itinerary included visiting the University of Hawaii and the Bishop Museum; snorkeling at Haunama Bay Nature Preserve; taking a tour of Hawaii's Plantation Village; hiking Diamond Head Crater; and seeing a hula dance and gorgeous sunset at Waikiki!

A total of 1,584 SUNY Oneonta students earned Dean's List honors for the fall 2018 semester. To qualify for the Dean's List, a student must earn a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher while carrying a course load of 12 hours or more.

SUNY Oneonta recently recognized 83 students who have attained leadership milestones through the college's LEAD (Leadership Education and Development) program. LEAD@Oneonta is a comprehensive leadership program based on current research and guidelines from the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. All students can choose to participate in the LEAD program, which aims to better prepare them for life after college by providing a comprehensive picture of leadership and the skills needed to be a good leader. Students can attain a silver, gold or platinum level. To attain each level, students must meet a mix of programmatic and experiential leadership requirements, including completion of online courses, attendance at educational events, and membership and leadership in one or more of SUNY Oneonta's 100+ student-run clubs and organizations. Completion of a leadership level is recognized on campus as a credential that can be used, for example, when running for office or applying for STEP (Student Travel for Excellence Program) funding. The program also provides students with a leadership record that can be submitted to potential employers.

More than 20 SUNY Oneonta music industry students and two faculty members got a behind-the-scenes tour of a Dave Matthews Band concert on Dec. 5 at the Albany Times Union Center-- including a surprise Q&A with Matthews himself.

Two SUNY Oneonta students received awards recently in the undergraduate student paper competition sponsored by the New York State Economics Association (NYSEA). Participating students from around the state submit their papers to a panel of judges and then present their research at the NYSEA Annual Meeting. This year's conference was held at St. John Fisher College in Rochester on October 6-7.

Fifty five SUNY Oneonta students received the Richard Siegfried Student Award this semester for earning a total GPA of 3.9 or higher. The students will receive their awards Dec. 4 during the Annual Richard Siegfried Lecture at the Morris Conference Center. Andrew Bottomley, Assistant Professor of Communication & Media, will deliver the annual Richard Siegfried Lecture titled, "Voices From Below: Audio Storytelling and the Politics of Experience." In order to be eligible to receive the Richard Siegfried Student Award, a student must be a full-time freshman or transfer student with a total GPA of 3.9 or higher. The award is named in memory of Richard K. Siegfried, SUNY Oneonta Professor of Theatre from 1958 until 1995. Professor Siegfried (or Sieg as generations of students fondly called him) epitomized excellence in his academic life, through imagination, meticulous scholarship and discipline, and through his expectation of the same pursuit of excellence in his students and colleagues. His dedication brought excellence to his work in such historical theater worlds as Aristophanes, Moliere, Ibsen, or Chekhov, to his rigorous study of the skills of voice and movement, and to his leadership in the imaginative creativity of improvisation.

Seven students were selected by the faculty of SUNY Oneonta's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences to be the recipients of Scholarship Awards this year. Scholarships were awarded as part of the department's 42nd Annual Majors' Night in the Student Commons area of the Perna Science building.

SUNY Oneonta's 2018 College Fed Challenge team, a group of the college's most talented economics and business economics students, competed in the Liberty Street Division of the College Fed Challenge competition on Oct. 24 and has qualified to advance to the semi-final round on Nov. 14 at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City. During the preliminary round, the five students gave a presentation on the economy that included a forecast of near-term changes in economic and financial conditions that would impact monetary policy, risks to their forecast, and a recommendation for a stance on monetary policy. Teams are required to prepare a slide deck consisting of charts and graphs used to determine their policy recommendation. The five presenters then answered questions given by a panel of judges in a 15-minute session. The panel consisted of New York Fed economists and staff who are experts in their field. While only five representatives formally presented to the judges during the competition, SUNY Oneonta's team totals 17. Presenters, alternates and non-presenting team members work collectively on the presentation throughout the semester and travel together to New York City for the competition. The non-presenting team members prepare the five presenters with potential questions from the judges and ensure the accuracy of the data and content of the required slide deck. The Oneonta team offered a presentation on campus that served as a dress rehearsal for the Fed Challenge during an evening event for faculty and students. The presentation was entirely student-run and included discussion on monetary policy and policy tools, the Fed Challenge competition and recruitment, and a question and answer session with the audience. There were more than 90 in attendance.

Ninety three SUNY Oneonta students from SUNY Oneonta's School of Economics and Business traveled to the Big Apple on Oct. 25 for the college's annual Backpacks to Briefcases alumni networking trip. Students visited 21 well-established alumni at their Manhattan offices and heard about their experiences going from students to top executives. The event is designed to inspire students to jumpstart their careers by beginning to build their professional networks. It is funded by the Oneonta Student Association and the SUNY Oneonta Alumni Association through charitable gifts to the Fund for Oneonta.

Two students presented at the Annual Conference on Volunteerism and Social Responsibility, held at SUNY Oneonta on Nov. 3. SUNY Oneonta students Samantha Pepe and Skylar Claud presented "Home Restoration and Sun Salutations." In this presentation, they will speak about their one-week volunteer experience with the Jewish disaster relief organization, NECHAMA. They traveled with eleven other students and two professors to help rebuild homes damaged from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

The following local residents were among the students who graduated from SUNY Oneonta following the spring 2018 semester. The college's commencement ceremony was held on Saturday, May 12.

A group of SUNY Oneonta students' community outreach project has helped educate an entire elementary school of children this semester on the basics of environmental sustainability and stewardship. Through the college's Harvest Share Buddies service learning initiative, biology and sociology students spent time in 12 different classrooms at Riverside Elementary School in Oneonta, teaching children about food, the environment and plant biology. In their assigned K-5 classrooms, SUNY Oneonta students presented weekly interactive lessons and got to know the children. Concepts literally came to life for the kids, as vegetable grow boxes were built and installed in the classrooms, giving students a firsthand look at where food comes from. Students grew tomatoes, lettuce and a variety of herbs and spices. When full-grown, the ingredients will be harvested and used to make pizza for the children. This is the second year of the program, which is organized by Assistant Professor of Biology Sean Robinson and Associate Professor of Sociology Greg Fulkerson. On the last visit of the semester, fourth graders in one classroom recalled all they had learned from the SUNY Oneonta students and brainstormed ways to help "reduce, reuse and recycle." Takeaways included riding a bike instead of driving, not polluting, starting a compost pile, shopping local and growing food at home. Third-grade teacher Jacqueline Scanlon said her pupils loved having the college students come in each week. "We called them our SUNY friends, and whenever it was time for a visit, their eyes would light up," Scanlon said. "It's great for these kids to meet the college students and gain a mentor of sorts, and it's also something I appreciate because, with pressures on curriculum, this is a topic we don't often get to talk about. But it's so needed!"

Six women and four men's Tennis players earned academic recognition from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Nine new members were inducted into SUNY Oneonta's Alpha-Kappa-Iota chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society. The students were inducted during the History Department's Awards & Phi Alpha Theta Induction Ceremony last week in Le Cafe at Morris Conference Center. The special guest was Elizabeth Mosher, Daughters of the American Revolution State Chairperson and SUNY Oneonta alumna. Phi Alpha Theta is an American honor society for undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors of history, and is the second oldest such society in the United States. The society has over 350,000 members, with about 9,500 new members joining each year through 860 local chapters. Phi Alpha Theta was established on March 17, 1921 at the University of Arkansas by Professor Nels Cleven. In order to be inducted, undergraduate students must complete a minimum of 12 semester hours (4 courses) in History, achieve a minimum GPA of 3.1 in History and a GPA of 3.0 or better overall. A maximum of 3 credit hours of online, transfer, or AP credits may be applied to the membership eligibility requirement. Membership is not limited to History majors.

Eight SUNY Oneonta students participating in the Pine Lake Archaeological Field School this summer are seeing firsthand what it would be like to work as archeologists. The immersive learning experience takes students to Hartwick College's Pine Lake Environmental Campus in West Davenport, about eight miles from SUNY Oneonta. There, they spend about eight hours a day learning basic methods in field archaeology, including surveying and excavating techniques, mapping and laboratory analysis. The summer program, which is offered every other year, is a collaborative effort of SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick, with SUNY Oneonta providing most of the equipment. Students can earn six credits by taking the summer course.

Seventeen SUNY Oneonta students participated in the 2017 National Model United Nations Conference in New York City from March 19-23. The Oneonta delegation represented South Africa.

Twenty-eight members of SUNY Oneonta's Zeta Beta Tau fraternity chapter helped organize SUNY Oneonta's third annual Gift of Life Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive on Oct. 26 and 27.

This fall, SUNY Oneonta will welcome approximately 1,100 freshmen and 600 new transfer students hailing from across New York, as well as from 12 other states and countries. New students moved in on Aug. 24, and the fall 2016 semester starts Aug. 29. Our newest Red Dragons will officially join the Oneonta family when they walk through the historic pillars of Old Main during the traditional Pass Through the Pillars ceremony on the campus quad the night before classes begin.

A total of 27 students were elected this spring to Student Association positions for the 2016-2017 academic year at SUNY Oneonta. Students are elected to Student Association positions by their peers in the student body. Elections for executive board positions were held April 7-8, and senators and judicial officers were elected April 14-15.

SUNY Oneonta recently recognized nearly 100 alumni during the 2015 Alumni of Distinction Presentation of Honors.