Thirty-two Minisink Valley high school and middle school students are among 735 students recently honored by SUNY Orange with 2023 Sojourner Truth Awards.
SUNY Orange’s Sojourner Truth Awards Program honors students who have been nominated by school guidance counselors and principals for demonstrating excellence in areas such as athletics, citizenship, creative arts, diversity, English language arts, foreign languages, perseverance/effort, sciences and technology.
Sojourner Truth, for whom the program is named, was an American abolitionist of New York Dutch heritage and a women’s rights activist. She lived in the mid-Hudson Valley after escaping from slavery and is is considered among the most distinguished and highly regarded women of the 19th Century.
Born Isabella Bomefree (later spelled Baumfree) in 1797 in Ulster County, N.Y., she was sold four times before she and her daughter were given their freedom in 1828, never learning to read or write.
In 1843 she changed her name to Sojourner Truth to reflect her chosen mission “of traveling to show people their sins and telling them what is true.” She is often cited as one of the most effective and powerful speech-makers of her time.
High School honorees
- Kaya Atkeson, Creative Arts
- Malachi Barksdale, Perseverance/Effort
- Kelsi Berghahn, Perseverance/Effort
- Sargun Cheema, English Language Arts
- Belaya Clavier, Citizenship
- Hannah Marie Cohen, Perseverance/Effort
- Kory Dixon, Citizenship
- Hana Ebbert, Creative Arts
- Anastasia Godlewski, Sciences
- Nyree Hidalgo, Foreign Languages
- Caleb Linares, Creative Arts
- Olivia Loeven, Sciences
- Jason Marte, Diversity
- Alexis Montgomery, Citizenship
- Logan Morales, Perseverance/Effort
- Sophia Morales, English Language Arts
- Baylie Touw, Mathematics
- Nicela Vega-Knowles, Citizenship
Middle School honorees:
- Lorine Avril, Citizenship
- Evolet Balseca, Sciences
- Christopher Cinelli, Citizenship
- Moises Escamilla, Citizenship
- Michael Gorman, Perseverance/Effort
- Mason Keppler, Perseverance/Effort
- Lexi Markowski, Citizenship
- Daniel Oenega, Citizenship
- Anaiyah Quammie, English Language Arts
- Areli Sanchez, Citizenship
- Ava Semco, Citizenship
- Peyton Turnbull, Perseverance/Effort
- Noah Vincent, Citizenship
- Peter Westby, Citizenship