These local students have recently distinguished themselves:

— Samantha Purcell of Schenectady is one of 61 State University of New York College at Oneonta students inducted into the Tau Sigma National Honor Society, which is designed exclusively for transfer students. Purcell is studying childhood education. The minimum academic average required for membership is either a 3.5 on a 4.0 scale or an academic average that places the candidate in the top 20 percent of all incoming transfer students;

— Kelsey A McMillen of Voorheesville was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the national honor society of Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-accredited business schools. Students are selected from the top 7 percent of juniors and top 10 percent of seniors;

— Morganne McClement of Voorheesville was among 18 students from the State University of New York College at Potsdam’s Crane School of Music inducted into the college’s chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society;

— Sam Feinman of Voorheesville was one of 13 students at the State Universityof New York College at Oneonta inducted into the college's chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon for juniors and seniors majoring or minoring in economics with an overall and Economics GPA of 3.0 and higher;

— Therese Lyons of Delmar was one of 13 students at the State Universityof New York College at Oneonta inducted into the college's chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon for juniors and seniors majoring or minoring in economics with an overall and Economics GPA of 3.0 and higher;

— Haley Miller of East Berne, who majored in early-childhood education, is one of 43 State University of New York College at Oneonta students who earned a 2019 Senior Service Award recognizing commitment to volunteerism, given to seniors who completed at least 350 hours of service through the college’s Center for Social Responsibility and Community.

She also was among nearly 200 students who attained leadership milestones through the college’s Leadership, Education, and Development program;

— Katelyn Mcdonough of Slingerlands was among nearly 200 State University of New York College at Oneonta students who attained leadership milestones through the college’s Leadership, Education, and Development program; 

— Caleigh-Shea Murphy of Altamont was among nearly 200 State University of New York College at Oneonta students who attained leadership milestones through the college’s Leadership, Education, and Development program. Murphy, who is studying biochemistry, is also one of 19 peer tutors who earned National Tutor Association Level 1 Certification this academic year through SUNY Oneonta’s Student Learning Center; 

— Rebecca Reohr of Voorheesville was among nearly 200 State University of New York College at Oneonta students who attained leadership milestones through the college’s Leadership, Education, and Development program;

— Meghan Webb of Schenectedy received the Phi Beta Kappa stole and key during a ceremony at Hamline University in Minnesota. The Phi Beta Kappa honor society was founded with a mission to foster and recognize excellence in the liberal arts;

— Erik Patak of Voorheesville, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering at the University of Rochester, has been elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society. Patak, the child of Cary Patak and Mike Patak, is a graduate of Clayton A. Bouton High School in Voorheesville;

— Kaitlyn J. Pike of Delmar, a student at St. Lawrence University, has been selected for a Bradley R. Evers Outstanding First-Year Student Award. Pike, who attended Millbrook School, is a member of the Class of 2022. The award is named in memory of an outstanding student who died in 1991 after his first year at St. Lawrence;

— Hannah Willey of Schenectady, a student at the University of Rhode Island, was given the President’s Student Excellence Award, which recognizes graduating seniors for their superior achievement in an academic discipline. Willey received one of this year’s Public Relations Excellence Awards;

— Ian Scilipoti of Berne was honored at Union College’s annual Prize Day celebration. Scilipoti, a member of the Class of 2020, was honored with the Alice P. and Donald C. Loughry Prize in Computer Science, to the student completing the best senior project in computer science;

— Jacob Benninger of Altamont received the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence at the University at Albany’s School of Business;

— Ian Scilipoti of Berne was named to the Union College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Scilipoti is a member of the Class of 2020. Election, one of the highest distinctions given for academic achievement, is based on scholarship and character, with particular attention given to intellectual maturity and breadth;

— Katelyn Mc Donough of Slingerlands was one of 18 State University of New York College at Oneonta students who spent over two weeks in May completing service projects and working with impoverished youth and families in Quito and Mindo, Ecuador as part of a course on human development and family studies.

The students helped build a greenhouse for an elder-care facility; worked with a preschool program, developing activities and refurbishing a room; and working with the mayor of Mindo on a beautification project in a high-poverty district. Mc Donough took 20 hours of Spanish lessons and lived with an Ecuadorian family;

— Sabrina Little of Schenectady was one of nine State University of New York College at Oneonta art students who were in France in May to learn art history firsthand for a course on Impressionism. Little is studying fashion and textiles at SUNY Oneonta;

— Kaitlyn Peck of Westerlo, a Berne-Knox-Westerlo graduate, now majoring in event management at the State University of New York at Delhi was inducted into the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, recognizing academic excellence among first-year students;

— Christopher Shea of Altamont, a graduate of Clayton A. Bouton High School in Voorheesville, now a mechatronics technology major at the State University of New York at Delhi was inducted into the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, recognizing academic excellence among first-year students;

— Hannah Tobias-Wallingford of Delmar has been selected for a summer 2019 St. Lawrence University Internship Fellowship. Tobias-Wallingford, who attended Bethlehem Central High School, is a member of the Class of 2022. She received the Stewart’s Shops and Dake Family Internship Fellowship Fund and will work as an intern for The Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado Boulder;

— Rebecca Straubel of Altamont is completing Colby-Sawyers internship requirement this summer with Hague Market in Hague, New York. Straubel is majoring in business administration and is a member of the class of 2020;

— Ethan Mcdonald of Schenectady is one of 13 State University of New York College at Oneonta students touring the United Kingdom for the class The Philosophy of Life and Death, a course that examines the “big questions” about life and death, including their nature, meaning and value. Mcdonald is studying business economics; and

— Stefanie DeFronzo of Voorheesville was honored for excellence at Drew University in New Jersey.