Cornell work-study award winners announced

For the first time in several years, the Cornell Public Service Center’s Community Work Study Program hosted the National Student Employment Association’s annual awards.

This event allows us to recognize valuable contributions made by student employees and their supervisors participating in the Community Work Study Program, which employs more than 300 students annually and allows students to use federal workstudy funds for employment with local nonprofit organizations, municipalities and public schools.

The program also offers students career-enhancing opportunities, real-life work experiences and a break from academics.

In turn, the program offers qualifying employers the opportunity to be a mentor, gain fresh perspectives within their organizations and receive a workforce wage subsidy for the students’ hours worked.

Evalyn Brazeau, with the Boynton Middle School Writing Together Program, was awarded the Supervisor of the Year award.

Cornell junior Genavieve Koyn nominated Brazeau for her dedication to the Boynton Middle School Writing Together Program and her students.

“Evalyn is a remarkable educator and person,” Koyn said. “Her number-one priority is her students, and she supports them in more ways than their learning. Evalyn knows, and cares, what is happening in a student home and what happens to them after they leave Boynton.”

Brazeau is listed as a guardian for some of her former students that have entered high school, Koyn said.

“She is so committed to their educational achievements and growth,” Koyn said. “Evalyn creates a home in her classroom for students that are not necessarily comfortable in school. In Evalyn’s classroom, students are loved, forgiven and pushed to be better each and every day.”

As a supervisor, Brazeau supports Cornell students with the same passion with which she supports her Boynton students. Cornell students who work in her classroom are given the individual attention they need to support the middle schoolers that participate in the program.

Cornell sophomore Shayla Combs with the Upward Bound Program was awarded the Student Employee of the Year award.

Carrie Bauer with Upward Bound nominated Combs for her exceptional contributions to the program.

Combs works with the university’s Upward Bound program, a nonprofit TRIO organization funded by the Department of Education, serving 123 students in six local school districts.

“Shayla began her work with Upward Bound as a weekly tutor for program students and demonstrated such initiative and leadership that the scope of her role progressively expanded,” Bauer said. “Currently serving as the summer operations coordinator, she is responsible for the program’s social media channels, producing high-quality content and facilitating engagement.”

To learn more about the Community Work Study Program, visit psc.cornell.edu/communitywork study or email cwsp-psc@cornell.edu.

Nicole MacPherson is the Community Work Study Program assistant at the Cornell Public Service Center. East Hill Notes are published the first and third Wednesdays of each month.