Sydney Hawkins and the faculty and staff who nominated her for the award.
By Natalie Gerber
Sydney Hawkins a first-generation university student originally from Ripley, NY, was named the Honors Student of the Month for March.
A senior Biology major with a Chemistry minor, Sydney was nominated for the honor by a cadre of STEM faculty and staff from the Department of Biology — Caldwell Proper and Drs. Courtney Wigdahl-Perry, Ted Lee and William Brown.
“My favorite thing about the Honors Program is how it promoted accessibility to opportunity. It accelerated my ability to become engaged on campus, obtain information that I needed, and make professional connections.” – Sydney Hawkins
In the words of all nominators, Sydney, who has been a student in Lee's Introductory Cell and Molecular Biology and Microbiology classes, Introductory Ecology/Evolution and Global Change with Dr. Wigdahl-Perry (and a research student with her), and Dr. Brown's Ecology class, “is one of the top students we have had in our careers....Her academic strengths have been evident from her first days at Fredonia. She immediately distinguished herself as a top student, not only performing well on classroom assessments but also engaging with the material at an advanced level far beyond the typical first-year student. Sydney is known for staying after class or stopping by office hours to ask additional questions, discuss papers on topics she would find independently, and making connections across her course work in different sectors of science. A colleague in the department states that: “...she is intellectually curious about many different topics and subjects; she has an innate thirst for knowledge and a desire to learn. She is not learning for the test; she wants to know and understand. She combines her intellect with a strong work ethic.”
Though it is not common to invite first-year students into research labs, Sydney joined the Aquatic Ecology Lab with Wigdahl-Perry in her second semester and quickly became an integral part of the research team. She was later hired by Dr. Allison Hrycik with the Jefferson Project (stationed here at Fredonia and working on Chautauqua Lake) for two summer internships in 2023 and 2024. Dr. Hrycik describes Sydney as "one of the top students that I have ever worked with due to her persistent curiosity, creative thinking, and incredible work ethic... The discussions I had with her about papers were far ahead of her status as an undergraduate — we frequently had fruitful discussions that would be on the level of a typical Ph.D. student.” She is also collaborating on the development of a high school aquatic ecology course for her alma mater, Chautauqua Lake Central School.
Sydney’s scientific abilities have also been recognized by off-campus entities, including the Goldwater Scholarship, a research experience for undergraduates position at Harvard University in the summer of 2025, and an invitation to Princeton University’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Scholars Program in Fall 2025. Her current GPA of 3.99 is particularly impressive given that she has worked part-time throughout her undergraduate career to support herself, and she seeks out challenging courses — she is in the Honors Program and is taking a mix of molecular and ecology upper-level courses to prepare her for future graduate work. Dr. Natalie Gerber, who is Director of the Honors Program, encapsulates it best: “She is, truly, a once-in-a-generation, even perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime student, who has, since her freshman year, operated with a graduate student’s level of intellectual curiosity, discernment, and drive.”
As Dr. Lee notes, Sydney’s achievements are more remarkable because as a first-generation student, “she has done this on her own and should be commended for her dedication to learning. That she has achieved her academic record on her own, it is exceptional to see all that she has done for the university.”
That university service does, importantly, connect back to the Honors Program. As Hawkins notes, “the Honors Program...promoted accessibility to opportunity. It accelerated my ability to become engaged on campus, obtain information that I needed, and make professional connections.” An unusually hard worker, Hawkins really acted on these opportunities. In her first year, she became the student representative to the Fredonia College Foundation Board of Directors, which not only enabled her to be a voice for student scholarship but to interact with fellow board members like alumnus Dr. Michael Marletta, who was one of many enthusiastic fans supporting her successful bid for the 2025 Goldwater Scholarship, which is billed as “the most prestigious national undergraduate scholarship in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering.” Hawkins was one of a handful of students in the entire SUNY system to win the award and one of only 440 students nationally.
Hawkins took advantage of the unique educational opportunities presented by the Honors Program, especially its distinctive interdisciplinary seminars. She describes her favorite, the Biology of Sci-Fi seminar taught by Dr. Nicholas Quintyne, “In this course, we explored common aspects of science fiction and considered what makes good sci-fi versus bad sci-fi. From there, we applied the constraints of biological realism to see what could pass as feasible. It was a fascinating exercise to apply the concepts that I was learning from lectures in the context of a superhero’s powers, for instance. (I actually created a presentation on the biological feasibility of the Human Torch, and unfortunately, things were not going to work out for him!)”
Hawkins has a lot to say about the extraordinary opportunities that Fredonia offers students, “My favorite aspect of Fredonia is its focus on supporting students in their undergraduate phase of development. Whenever I faced a new milestone, not only did I always have the resources that I needed (whether it was from the Fredonia Biology Department, the Honors Program, the Career Development Office, the Financial Aid Office, etc.), but I had access to them in a timely manner. Every staff member that I collaborated with was familiar with my goals, invested in my journey, and worked efficiently to provide me with the information or feedback that I needed.”
Inspired by the support, Hawkins aligned her campus employment with leadership roles that would allow her to be a resource for her peers. Namely, she became a Resident Assistant in Kasling Hall, a Biology and Chemistry tutor, and a Science Center tour guide. She also serves as a President’s Ambassador and serves on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Student Advisory Council. Dean Andy Karafa describes her leadership with the CLAS council as “essential” and states that she is the most active and vocal member of this important student advisory group.
Sydney has also volunteered numerous times for prospective student events hosted by the Department of Biology and the Honors Program, including delivering a motivational speech at the most recent Honors Recognition Ceremony welcoming accepted Honors students on Go Big Blue Day. As Wigdahl-Perry notes, “Sydney is always willing to help others and brings a wonderful, positive attitude regardless of the setting or challenges. Her engagement on campus beyond academics is exceptional — Sydney clearly understands the value of service and leadership and sets an impressive example as an active member of our community.” She is well-known across the department and in Honors as an excellent person to call on for volunteer needs when the department wishes to put their best students in front of others to talk about their experiences, serving as a frequent tour leader and speaker for Department of Biology and Honors Program events. She also is consistently known the first person to say yes when calls go out for mentoring a current Honors student or connecting via email to a prospective student. She also plays intramural volleyball.
Sydney is currently completing her Senior Capstone based on the research she conducted in the summer research program at Harvard University, where she was mentored by Ph.D. student Grace Rubin in Dr. Rachel Carmody’s microbial ecology lab. The experience affirmed her desire to attend graduate school, and she gained further tools for the graduate school application process as one of 13 students nationally accepted to the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Scholars Program, a multi-day workshop hosted by Princeton.
A May graduate, Sydney will continue her research journey in Molecular Ecology next year by attending the University of Texas at El Paso’s ROADS RaMP, a yearlong postbaccalaureate research program, where she will work in the lab of Dr. Elizabeth Walsh, focusing on the ecology and evolutionary genomics of aquatic microinvertebrates that reside in temporary pools formed in the southwest desert. After the program, she plans to earn her Ph.D. in Molecular Ecology and become a research scientist.
Despite all these achievements and awards, nominators note that Sydney remains humble and hard-working. In being interviewed for this article she added that she wanted to sincerely thank the Department of Biology for their commitment to her personal and professional journey: “The collaborative nature of the department allowed me to cultivate my passion for Molecular Ecology, demonstrating to me that I could successfully integrate these historically siloed fields in my own research pursuits. Their passion for student mentorship is as palpable as it is tireless; and it is incredibly heartwarming to know that they remain happy to support me even as I pursue my next opportunity. I speak with great confidence when I say that my time as a student at Fredonia has prepared me for a career in research, and I am extremely grateful to everyone who has helped me make it as far as I have.”
The Honors Student of the Month Program is a collaboration between the Honors Program and Honors House, which is part of the Office of Residence Life.
