A recent SUNY Poly grad is among three On Point for College Utica students who received SUNY’s highest honor.

The Utica Collegiate Access Network Meeting, through On Point for College, provides representatives from area colleges with the latest news, collaborations, grant information, even some refreshments – and in their latest news update, they’re applauding the three On Point for College Utica students who received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.

Kumari Regmi, who completed her Master in Science degree with a major in Family Nurse Practitioner this past May at SUNY Poly, fled her native Bhutan with her family at age 6, growing up in refugee camps in Nepal.

“I have seen the deaths of so many small children,” Kumari told the Utica Observer-Dispatch at commencement time. “That is why I am in health care today.”

Other On Point for College Utica students who received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence this year are Mya Kyaw of Mohawk Valley Community College, and Ifrah Hassan of Onondaga Community College.

The Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence was created in 1997 to recognize students who have best demonstrated, and have been recognized for, the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, campus involvement, or career achievement.

Each year, SUNY campus presidents establish a selection committee, which reviews the accomplishments of exemplary students. Nominees are then forwarded to the Chancellor’s Office for a second round of review. Finalists are then recommended to the Chancellor to become recipients of the award.

Since 1999, the non-profit organization On Point for College has helped more than 7,800 first-generation youth get into college, stay there, and succeed afterward. Their mission is to break down barriers that prevent young, underserved individuals from achieving education and career success and to transform communities by making college, training and career success a reality for those who face great obstacles.