Sahar Rajput of Scotia recognized for community service

2017 May 18

SUNY Oswego has recognized recent graduate Sahar Rajput of Scotia for significant community service contributions leading to her selection as a 2017-18 Newman Civic Fellow.

In nominating Rajput for the fellowship, college President Deborah F. Stanley wrote, "Sahar has worked tirelessly to develop programs that promote community engagement and provide meaningful opportunities for her peers to get involved in building the capacity of community-based organizations."

Among the many accomplishments leading to Rajput's nomination and selection, she established and coordinated a program to transport disabled adults from ARC of Oswego County to the college and other venues for educational and recreational opportunities; co-coordinated the college's and Oswego City School District's Mentor Oswego program; and helped lead SUNY Oswego's Office of Community Services as student president of Community Services.

Rajput began working with disabled adults at Scotia-Glenville High School. In college at SUNY Oswego, she saw a similar chance to enhance lives here, and, with the help of student co-coordinators, did the planning and logistical work needed to provide such outings as hiking the trails and touring collections at Rice Creek Field Station, watching movies and playing video games and participating in an artistic painting party.

A former mentor and tutor, she went on to manage the 100 students involved in the college's Adopt-a-Grandparent program for senior adults and the 95 in Mentor Oswego, which connects college students as positive role models and mentors with local schoolchildren and adolescents in Oswego County.

Rajput, who majored in communication and social interaction and minored in psychology and business as an undergraduate, plans to continue at SUNY Oswego in the MBA program and eventually work in management in the music business.

Campus Compact, a national coalition of nearly 1,000 colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education, provides learning opportunities to build skills Newman Civic Fellows need in order to serve as effective agents of change.

Newman Civic Fellows attend an annual conference, this year scheduled for Nov. 17 and 18 in Boston, and have access to scholarships and a network of past honorees and others focused on building campus-community partnerships to address public problems and build equitable communities.