For more than 20 years, UUP members have selflessly put money into the union’s scholarship program—a program that awards $2,000 to SUNY undergrads who demonstrate a commitment to academic excellence, community service and labor ideals.

Donations to the UUP College Scholarship Fund, which first began awarding students in 1988, have topped $400,000, and another $300,000 has been bequeathed for scholarships. In all, more than 70 students have benefited from the scholarship program.

“Our members give for a reason: They understand that, for many students, the UUP scholarship makes it financially possible for them to continue their education,” said UUP Secretary Eileen Landy, the officer liaison to the UUP committees charged with selecting students and raising money. “Our members—full time and part time, academic and professional—understand the value of a higher education and won’t sit idly by and watch qualified students drop out because they couldn’t pay their tuition.”

This year, three SUNY students will receive UUP scholarships during the union’s 2010 Fall Delegate Assembly in October. They are: Christine Kirkpatrick, a sophomore at Geneseo majoring in chemistry; Stan McKay, a junior at Geneseo majoring in history/adolescent education; and Katherine Raymond, a senior at Oswego majoring in journalism/global studies.

Christine Kirkpatrick is grateful for what she has, and has spent a great deal of her young life lending a hand to the less fortunate. From two mission trips to communities in impoverished U.S. cities, to volunteering at Geneseo’s Teresa House for terminally ill patients, Kirkpatrick is ready, willing and able to help others.

“My ultimate goal in life is to make a difference in as many people’s lives as I can,” Kirkpatrick said. “I know that whatever career I choose will help people in some way.”

She’s off to a good start. In 2006, she spent a week in an area of Pennsylvania that was devastated by flood waters. Her encounters there had a lasting effect, prompting her to sign up for another church mission, to a low-income neighborhood in Chicago. Though vastly different experiences, Kirkpatrick learned that people—whether overcome by flood or poverty—welcome a helping hand.

“Seeing how much our seemingly little efforts affected these people’s lives really moved me,” she said. “These two experiences made a significant difference in my life, as I realized my desire to help others.”

UUPer Donald Fox, preparation laboratory specialist at Geneseo, recognizes Kirkpatrick’s innate talent and commitment. In a letter of recommendation, Fox praised Kirkpatrick’s tact, teamwork, precision, reliability and overall good humor.

“She has proven to be an asset to the chemistry department and, by extension, our university,” wrote Fox, who supervises Kirkpatrick in the lab. “There are certain things I look for and notice in employees and I must say that Christine exhibits the outstanding end of the spectrum in each case: She has a positive attitude about her work; she is responsible and shows initiative; and she is reliable.”

Kirkpatrick has a grade-point average of 3.94.

Stan McKay isn’t your typical undergraduate. At 48 years old, he’s got a lifetime of experiences under his belt.

For nearly 30 years, he was a unionized worker with the U.S. Postal Service, accepting a voluntary retirement offer in February 2009. While some might take the pension and live a comfortable life of retirement, McKay had other plans.

What he wants above all is to teach inner-city students.

Just a couple of weeks after he retired, McKay flew to Los Angeles to visit his oldest daughter. A conversation he had with one of her friends troubled him.

It seems the Ivy League graduate and TEACH America recipient didn’t understand the kids in LA’s inner-city schools.

“I heard him complain about the students,” McKay said. “I disagreed with his assessment of them. He could not reach them, and probably never would. When I returned from LA, I enrolled in SUNY Geneseo.”

McKay grew up in the South Bronx and “saw poverty up close every day,” an experience he believes many “isolated suburbanites” never feel firsthand.

“I will finish my degree and I will become a teacher,” McKay said. “I want to teach in the inner city because I understand. I believe I can make a difference.”

Geneseo’s Vice President for Academics Meg Stolee shares his confidence.

“Frankly, Stan confounds all expectations and, by doing so, has become a model of what an adult, non-traditional student can achieve,” Stolee wrote in a letter of recommendation. “I am sure he will be a successful teacher. I also know that he will be a model to all who come in contact with him that learning is both important and enriching. Surely this is the message that our UUP scholars should inspire!”

McKay has a grade-point average of 3.94.

Katherine Raymond 

Growing up as a minister’s daughter, Katherine Raymond has lived all across the U.S. and has traveled to Ghana as part of an international justice campaign. Throughout her travels, Raymond came to realize the crippling effects of poverty, environmental destruction and human rights violations.

She has made it her life’s mission to spread the word against global and environmental injustices, as a journalist and social activist.

“People will heed my voice because I talk about social justice issues that affect us all, and I have the experiences to back it up,” Raymond said. “To influence change, we need to stand up and do something, and not allow ourselves to become caught up in armchair speculation.”

A simple question about turning off lights overnight in residence hall bathrooms turned into a 20 percent energy savings for the campus. Raymond brought the notion of light sensors to the campus facilities director, and helped him conduct a pilot study in two bathrooms.

As a result, plans are under way to install motion-sensor lights in all residence halls.

“I believe in the power of action,” she said. “My experience has taught me that people are more persuaded by what you do than by what you say, and I’ve tried to live my life in a way that reflects that sentiment.”

Helping Oswego “go green” may be long-lasting, but one faculty member knows that Raymond’s college career is drawing to a close.

“She has done so well as a student/researcher/organization leader that I must say I will be very sad to see her graduate,” wrote UUP member Rebecca Burch, an associate professor of psychology. “Katherine is one of those students that, as a professor, you are always impressed with, know will be successful, and are grateful for having known.”

Raymond has a grade-point average of 3.92.

— Karen L. Mattison