Ask Ava Lopez for her advice to new students and she doesn’t hesitate. “Get involved, talk to your Student Government Association members. We’re always here for you. And smile when you walk around.” It could sound like a slogan, except Ava, the SGA president, clearly lives by it. She knows what it’s like to be on the other side. At Ellenville High School she says she faded into the background. Ava came to SUNY Sullivan determined to be “more than a background character,” and now she spends her days looking out for that person sitting alone in the corner.
She isn’t the only one on the team who arrived a little unsure. Secretary and social media coordinator Dahlia McKeen found a more diverse community here than the one she grew up in, and she wants to be “that voice for people who are too scared to speak up.” Treasurer Kory Burton Jr. nearly didn’t run until a dean and a professor encouraged him. He was shy when he first moved in, and he says, “I sort of want to help out people more like me.” Vice president Dulce Rubio Granados says she never had a role model growing up, so she wants to be one for everyone else.
Ask what they love about the college and the same answers keep coming up. Classes usually run between 12 and 20 students, small enough that professors know your name. The faculty and staff here grew up in the same environment as many local families, so they know how to support students. Ask for three words to describe SUNY Sullivan and you’ll hear compassionate, inclusive, and fun.
Ask them what they love about the college and the same answers keep coming up. Ava says classes usually run between 12 and 20 students, small enough that professors know your name. She also says College faculty and staff grew up around the same challenges as many local families, so they know how to help. Dahlia changed her career plans and says everyone was supportive of her goals. Kory finds the campus quiet and calm, and Dulce says she feels peaceful when she’s here.
In the year ahead, they hope to contribute to a campus culture where everyone feels that they belong. Ava wants to give students who spent high school online the real connection they’re craving. Dulce’s goal is simple: fill the room at as many events as possible. Dahlia hopes students find somewhere they feel connected. Kory just wants to be a good treasurer.
None of them plan to stop here. All are heading to four-year schools. Ava plans to study history, then museum studies, with the Met as the dream workplace. Dahlia wants to teach elementary school, Kory is looking at accounting, and Dulce is studying graphic design, building the skills to turn her creativity into a career. They call SUNY Sullivan a stepping stone, though not one to hurry across. As Ava puts it, the college shows you that you don’t have to go away to become your best self, you can do it right here. Then she says it one more time: “smile when you walk around.”
