Five SUNY Oswego students will receive the 2015 SUNY Chancellor Award for Student Excellence, which is the highest student recognition through the statewide university system.

These students are said to be active in academics, leadership, community service, campus involvement, arts and career-long achievement.

The five students from Oswego who won the award are Dianora DeMarco, Joshua Drake, David Owens, Eyub Yegen, and WTOP-10’s very own Chief Meterologist Molly Matott.

Each student represents Oswego campus through their many forms of involvement and dedication to growing internally and helping the school flourish as a whole.

For more information on each winner, as well as comments from each person, follow the link: http://www.oswego.edu/news/index.php/site/news_story/student_chancellors_awards_2015

Former NBA player Etan Thomas visited SUNY Oswego last Monday to lead a panel discussion and q&a about activism and media exposure within professional sports. The discussion was held at the Marano Campus Center auditorium as a part of the “I am Oz” Diversity Series.  

“There’s this new surge of athletes using their voices and speaking out.” Thomas said.

Since Thomas’ retirement he has become a writer and a commentator, with a life devotion to advocating for social change on and off the court.

“I grew up admiring the athletes of the past,” Thomas said. “like Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali. Those were the athletes I have always admired (because of) the way they used their positions and platforms to be able to speak on different issues and create change.”

Several students attended the panel with many questions of discussion including players taking a knee during the national anthem, how athletes present themselves in the media, media criticism, and the evolution of social media use by players.  

After the panel, students had an opportunity to purchase an autographed copy of Thomas’ book entitled “We Matter- Athletes and Activism.”

“I want them to read the stories of these different athletes who they admire seeing on the court or the field,” Thomas said, “by seeing the courage that they have and the passion that they speak with, and become inspired themselves to become activists in their own way.”