Mohawk Valley Community College students Aidan Ferguson of Newport and Hanadi Tajir of Utica were selected to receive the 2023 Chancellor’s Awards for Student Excellence, the highest honor bestowed upon students by SUNY.
The SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence recognizes students for their outstanding achievements throughout their SUNY experience in areas including academics, leadership, campus involvement, community service, and the arts. This year, 193 students from 63 campuses received the award.
Aidan Ferguson, a Video Production major, has excelled academically while being actively involved on campus. He has served as vice president of MVCC’s Lambda Beta Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, a member of Student Congress, and president of the MVCC Film Club, which he founded to coincide with the start of the College’s Video Production degree program. In his first semester as Film Club president, Ferguson, an innovative leader and passionate filmmaker, built and maintained a community of more than 75 students who hosted free on-campus movie viewings and educational forums with industry experts. They are now wrapping up production on an original feature-length film, which will premiere on May 8, 2023. Ferguson accomplished this while making the President’s List and working at a local news station as a production assistant.
Hanadi Tajir, a Biology major, was born in Sudan and moved to the U.S., where she taught herself English. While at MVCC, Tajir excelled academically while being actively involved on campus and in the community. She serves as the student trustee on MVCC’s Board of Trustees, president of MVCC’s Lambda Beta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, and PTK New York regional president. She also is a member of the Muslim Student Association and has volunteered in the community mentoring children. Tajir plans to continue her education to become a surgeon.
“There is a place at SUNY for every New Yorker, and each of the students recognized today is an example of our extraordinary student body and their rich and diverse ‘SUNY stories,’” said Chancellor John B. King, Jr. “Student success is at the core of everything we do, and I am honored to celebrate students from 63 SUNY campuses who are receiving this year’s Chancellor’s Awards for Student Excellence. Every student can find their community at SUNY, and I congratulate each of the CASE winners for making the most out of their college experience.”