The nearly 2,900 student employees affiliated with Cornell Student and Campus Life (SCL) have performed many important tasks this academic year – from revamping communication systems for the Cornell Store to supporting Cornell Dining during a union work stoppage.
SCL celebrated these and many other achievements at the inaugural Student Employment Awards Ceremony, held April 11 in the Memorial Room in Willard Straight Hall.
The event honored 12 Cornell students and one staff member, highlighting their exceptional contributions within SCL.
“Today, we celebrate not just the work of our student employees but the extraordinary ways they go above and beyond their academic responsibilities,” said Brandon Fortenberry, senior manager of dining training and development, as he welcomed around 75 honorees, guests, nominators, supervisors and SCL leadership.
“Through these awards, we honor those who have demonstrated outstanding dedication, initiative and leadership,” he said, “contributions that strengthen our campus community and elevate the student employment experience.”
Every year the National Student Employment Association designates a full week in April as National Student Employment Week and gives out five Student Employee of the Year awards and one Supervisor of the Year award. The names and nomination letters of SCL’s winners were sent to the national association, to compete against other student employees nominated across the U.S.
Inspired by the spirit of community that flourished in the wake of disaster back home in New Orleans, Rachel Cannata ’25 quickly found a way to give back when she arrived in Ithaca. She found work at Catholic Charities of Tompkins and Tioga counties through the Einhorn Center for Community Engagement’s Community Work-Study Program, which enables students to work at community nonprofit organizations and schools.
Cannata, the Student Employee of the Year winner in the Community Service category, works as an assistant in Catholic Charities’ Clothing Closet, sorting through donations, hanging up clothes, training new volunteers and assisting those in need of free clothing. People come to the Clothing Closet after house fires, floods and during general times of financial hardship.
Her nominator said that Cannata ensures a welcoming, dignified environment, and that her ability to connect with individuals from diverse backgrounds has made services more accessible and inclusive.
