Outstanding local students receive Sojourner Truth Award

GOSHEN — Eight high school students from Goshen and one from Chester were honored at the 23rd Sojourner Truth Awards Program on April 5 at SUNY Orange.

The Sojourner Truth Awards Program hails students from grades 6 to 12 who have excelled in areas such as athletics, citizenship, creative arts, diversity, English language arts, foreign languages, perseverance/effort, and sciences and technology. The program aims to promote education in a positive manner and motivate students who are from groups that are traditionally under-represented in the college population to consider college as a viable and attainable goal. More than 500 local Orange County students will be celebrated for their outstanding achievements.

Chester Academy
The following Chester Academy High School student was honored:

Christina Odai, perseverance/effort

Goshen High School
The following Goshen High School students were honored:

Jennifer Augustin, foreign languages

Solange Buon, creative arts
Vanessa Fuentes, athletics

Esther Martinez, sciences
James Pierre, perseverance/effort

Kathleen Stamos, sciences
Katherine Villamil, English language arts

Cheyenne Zephyr, English language arts

The evening’s keynote speaker was Dr. Sampson Davis, an emergency medicine physician at St. Michael’s Medical Center in New Jersey, Raritan Bay Medical Center in New Jersey and Easton Hospital in Pennsylvania. He is also assistant medical director of the emergency department at Raritan Bay Medical Center and serves as vice president of physician recruitment for Physician Practice Enhancement. He works directly with the Violence Prevention Institute of New Jersey, focusing on gang violence and preventative medicine.