Awards & Recognition
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I attended New York State Schools of Excellence my entire life save for briefly in High School. I started at Buffalo Native American Magnet School PS 019 after Head Start with Mrs. M and Mrs. W. Following this, I attended Oliver Wendell Holmes Elementary near Praxair. I recall my school being closed down briefly for nuclear waste remnants under our playground from the Manhattan Project. I had the pleasure of attending Kenmore Middle School prior to its closing under the incredible staff there. I started my freshman year of High School in Palmetto High School, Greenville SC in a college course for English and then graduated with a Regents Diploma from Wellsville NY in 2010 with the top 3 most scholarships. I filed my own FAFSA and moved 2 hours away from home to my own apartment at 17 to attend University at Buffalo, SUNY in the undergraduate Anthropology and Sociology department for two years. It was here I was introduced to Anthropology through the lens of Dr. Warren Barbour, a brilliant mind and former Civil Rights Activist. I worked full time in a bakery with full credit hours until I left to raise a family; devoting time to concentrate on my health.
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I was requested to be a keynote student speaker at the Innovative Teacher's Conference at Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, NY in July 2010 sponsored by WNY BOCES collaborative
(Cattaraugus-Allegany, Erie 1 and 2, Orleans County/Niagara County BOCES).
I was requested to speak alongside students, teachers, and distinguished professor Yong Zhao on integrating technology into the classroom; to help teachers learn how to better reach students in the classroom with emerging technology such as Smart Boards.
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-Nominated for Sage Arts Award by Russell Sage College in 2009
-Nominated to be featured in the Congressional Art Show for the U.S. House of Reps. in 2009
-Nominated for Woman of Promise in the Creative Arts by Pitt-Bradford College in 2010
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I was the recipient of three scholarships in 2010:
-The David's Song scholarship
-The Patricia Pickut Memorial scholarship
-The Dawn Palmatier Farrell Memorial scholarship
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Thank you.
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Featured in the following galleries:
-Houghton Ortlip Gallery: May 2009-June 2009
-The Regina A. Quick Center at St. Bonaventure: May 2010-June 2010
-El Buen Amigo/LACA: Jan. 2012-Feb. 2012
Placed Second at Houghton's Annual Juried Student Show Exhibition at the Ortlip Gallery for the shown painting-2009 depicting a man in front of the irradiated Niagara Shoreline
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Acrylic on hand-stretched canvas
I used to draw comics for the Wellsville High School paper,
"The Owl" 2009-10
These are from when I went to the 20th anniversary of the "Bump the Dump" protest. The people of Allegany County successfully stopped a nuclear waste dump in the late 1980s/early 1990s through peaceful means. My political cartoon from class for the anniversary showed the State's comments on the people of Allegany County: Calling the public "mushrooms" about the nuclear site. The mushroom masks shown above were then worn by the protesters. My picture says, "Don't Waste Us"