Graduating Seniors Praised for Academic, Extracurricular Success
Three graduating seniors were honored with the President’s Award for their exemplary record of academic performance, extracurricular achievement and service to the University, capping the Rider University Awards Banquet on Saturday, May 2, in the BLC Cavalla Room. The President’s Awards were among a total of 68 honors presented at the annual awards ceremony.
The distinguished President’s Award, presented by President Mordechai Rozanski, is given each year to one senior from Westminster Choir College of Rider University and to one male and one female from the Lawrenceville campus. This year’s recipients are Jonathan Slawson, a senior Music Education major, Michael Ciaramella, a senior Marine Sciences and Biology dual major, and Danielle Phillips, a senior Journalism major. All three have been named to the Dean’s List and included in Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.
Jonathan Slawson almost did not make it to Westminster’s Spring Convocation on April 23, where he would later be awarded the President’s Award, due to a job interview slotted for that time. Fortunately, Larry Johnson, dean of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, contacted the interviewing company to explain the situation. Unaware of Johnson’s handiwork, Slawson found out that his interview had been moved to another time, freeing him to attend the event.
“It was a huge shock,” recalled Slawson, whose parents were also in attendance. He was recognized again on May 2. “There were so many deserving people who could have received this honor.”
Slawson, who plans to attend The New School for graduate study in the area of nonprofit management, credits Westminster and his internships for allowing him to discover his future aspirations.
“It’s definitely helped me prepare for a career in nonprofit leadership in the arts,” he explained. “The field involves working behind the scenes, which is perfect for me because I don’t like being front and center.”
Through his leadership roles in Rider University Creative Arts Solutions program and Westminster’s Programming Board, Slawson has gained a wealth of experience in event planning. During the past two summers, Slawson also acquired skills in arts administration as an assistant music teacher and administrative intern at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. Slawson, a member of the Music Educators National Conference and the International Federation of Choral Music, will return to the NJPAC this summer as an assistant music teacher for a summer youth performance workshop.
Meanwhile, Michael Ciaramella, a baccalaureate honors student and a Biology Department Research Fellow, has gained much of his experience working in a lab on the second floor of the Science and Technology Building. Under the guidance of Dr. Kelly Bidle, associate professor of Biology, Ciaramella has conducted research on populations of drug-resistant microbes in the natural environment and on the upper salt tolerance of marine microbes. He was able to culture Archaea from a salt marsh pond, a feat that had never previously been recorded. In 2008, Ciaramella earned the prestigious American Society for Microbiology Fellowship to support his research. He also received Honors in Marine Sciences at the awards banquet.
As a Bonner Leader, Ciaramella created the Community Council, helped run an after-school program for Latino youth in the Trenton area, volunteered for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, and participated in the Midnight Run program.
Ciaramella said he was surprised to learn that he had won the President’s Award. He said he dedicated most of his time toward research, the Student Entertainment Council, the Rider Community Scholars/Bonner Leader Program and his fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon.
“These opportunities allowed me to be involved in my field of study as well as continue service to the community and the University,” Ciaramella said. “I could not have asked for a more diverse and hands-on learning experience than the one I have received through Rider University.”
Currently, Ciaramella, who hopes to earn a doctorate in marine science, is pursuing a fellowship with the Maryland Sea Grant program, which will allow him to work with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center on a project examining large scale blue crab recruitment limitation in upper Chesapeake Bay. Through the fellowship, he would attend graduate school at the University of Maryland.
Excelling in and out of the classroom during her four years at Rider, Danielle Phillips has served in leadership positions in various student organizations, including the Adventure Club and the Student Government Association. She founded the Event Executives, a club that supports fellow students who are pursuing the events planning minor. Phillips also serves as a recruiter and fundraising coordinator for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Mercer County. Phillips also received The Cassie D. Iacovelli Student Government Award.
“It’s such an incredible honor. I was so shocked,” said Phillips about receiving the President’s Award. “It’s nice to receive something like that that you worked so hard for.”
Phillips was a student worker in the President’s Office before she became a site coordinator and tour guide for Rider’s Study Tour program for international middle school and high school students. This summer, Phillips will serve as Rider’s California site coordinator where she will manage 12 counselors and more than 400 people. In the fall, Phillips plans to pursue a master’s degree in travel tourism at Temple University.
“Tourism and hospitality kind of fell into my lap. The more and more that I got involved in Study Tours, I realized this is something that I want to do as a career,” Phillips said. “You can plan and plan for months, and you can never predict what will happen. The same is true with event planning in general.”
