Pratt selected to receive Lanford Presidential Prize

Fredonia native Brigham Pratt has been named the recipient of the 2020 Lanford Presidential Prize from the Oscar and Esther Lanford Endowment of the Fredonia College Foundation. 

The award, generously created and endowed by the late President Emeritus Oscar E. Lanford and Mrs. Lanford, recognizes a member of the graduating class who has exhibited balanced achievement and exemplifies Fredonia’s ideals.

Mr. Pratt is completing a B.S. degree with a major in Business Administration: Finance. Throughout his college career, he has maintained a 4.0 GPA. He has been actively involved in Enactus, serving previously as the CEO and as Treasurer. His community service includes 531 hours of volunteer work, some of which includes leading Fredonia’s Enactus team to assist in the establishment of a student-run school store at the nearby Cassadaga Job Corps Center. He also founded Sprout, an Enactus triple-bottom line business for the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry. The business focuses on sustainable food production and workforce development and has the potential to expand the availability of healthy foods for the less fortunate.

Pratt has held internships with Summit Wealth Management, Lakelet Capital and Corning Incorporated. He is the recipient of the Mancuso Family Scholarship and completed the Fredonia Honors program.

The selection of the recipient was made from a group of exceptional Fredonia students who had been nominated for the Lanford Prize and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.

Nominees included: Nolan Ahearn, a Social Work major from West Henrietta; Alyson Baumann, a Communication Disorders and Sciences major from North Tonawanda; Cordelia Beck-Horton, a Chemistry major from Buffalo; Ty Bentham, a Sport Management major from Fredonia; Matthew Caputy, a Music Performance major from North Tonawanda, Anna Chiacchia, an Applied Mathematics major from Hamburg; Julia Haley, a Childhood Inclusive Education major from East Amherst, N.Y.; Avril King, who will receive concurrent degrees in Communication-Journalism and Communication-Public Relations, from Naples, N.Y.; Megan Little, a Math-Adolescence Education major from Caledonia, N.Y.; Caroline Schettler, who will receive concurrent degrees in Acting and Political Science, from Orchard Park; and Dallas Zebrowski, a History major from Penn Yan.