On Campus - Greater Hartford College Students

GREATER HARTFORD, CT — Here are some recent notable accomplishments by local college students, as provided by readMedia Newswire.

Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic CT

• Nadia Balassone of East Hartford was named a recipient of the 2018 Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award on April 17. The 30th annual Henry Barnard Awards Banquet, held at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville, recognized 12 outstanding undergraduates from Connecticut's four state universities - Central, Eastern, Southern and Western. The Barnard Awards program is the premier academic recognition event of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System (CSCU) and is sponsored by the CSCU Foundation. To be considered for the award, a student must have at least a 3.75 GPA, a record of community service and be nominated by their respective university president. Balassone, an English and Business Administration major, carries a 3.89 GPA and is on the Dean's List. She is a writing tutor and received the Academic Excellence Scholarship. She is also president of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, staff writer for the student-run Campus Lantern newspaper and was vice president of the Entrepreneurship Club. She has an internship at the Institute of Sustainable Energy, where she helped pilot the Sustainable CT statewide certification program, represented at the Governor's Council on Climate Change, and completed an internship at Waste Management National Accounts, where she gained insight into recycling. She volunteers at an animal shelter and plans to pursue law school to work the sustainability field in environmental or animal law. Balassone was recently accepted at Quinnipiac Law School for the fall term.
• This year, students at Eastern Connecticut State University have shown their community dedication through efforts made with Jumpstart -- a national organization hosted by the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) that promotes quality early learning for all children, providing various types of programming for preschool students from under-resourced communities. Makayla Mowel of East Hartford, who majors in Women's and Gender Studies and Pre-Elementary Education, is a member of the Jumpstart program.
• Themes of youth, love and enlightenment were on display in Eastern Connecticut State University's latest theatrical production, "Awakenings: 'Youth' by Thornton Wilder and 'Chitra' by Rabindranath Tagore." From April 5-8, the two one-act plays transformed Eastern's DelMonte Bernstein Studio Theatre into a tropical island and then into a lush Hindu dreamscape. Among the students involved was Kevin Insignares of Hartford, who majors in Psychology. Insignares played the role of Herald and was part of the ensemble.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester MA

• Katherine Pelissari of East Hartford, a member of the class of 2018 majoring in environmental and sustainability studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), was a member of a student team that recently completed an intense, hands-on research project in Worcester, England. The project was titled Reviewing the Worcestershire Urban Habitat Action Plan.

Photo credit: Eastern Connecticut State University

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