(From L to R) Hadar Shimshon and Alexandra Walls

Two ESF Students Honored with SUNY Chancellor’s Awards

04/26/2023

Two students at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), one of the nation’s premier colleges focused exclusively on the study of the environment, developing renewable technologies, and building a sustainable future, received the 2023 Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence, the highest honor bestowed upon a graduating student by SUNY.

Hadar Shimshon and Alexandra Walls were awarded for demonstrating the integration of academic excellence with other aspects of their lives, which may include leadership, campus involvement, community service, or the arts. They will be honored during a ceremony April 24 at the Albany Capital Center. 

"Hadar and Alexandra are outstanding examples of the dedication ESF students have to their academics, their fellow students, and the surrounding community,” said ESF President Joanie Mahoney. “We know they will continue striving to improve their world.”

Shimshon is a senior environmental health major on the pre-med track from Fayetteville, New York, N.Y., and Lod, Israel. She has been on the President’s List for each of her semesters for earning a GPA of 4.0 and received numerous awards and scholarships. She is a member of the Honors Program and Alpha Xi Sigma Honor Society. Her interest in neuroscience led her to join Dr. Lin's Lab at SUNY Upstate Medical University, where she is working on a project that examines how neural circuits are formed and regulated during maturation, as well as their effect on learning, memory, neurodevelopmental disorders, and psychiatric disorders. 

At the peak of the pandemic, she was an active member of ESF’s COVID-19 Response Team. She continued to help her fellow students during the pandemic as a General Biology Teaching Assistant, conducting twice weekly study workshops for first-year students taking their first remote college-level course. 

She continued to help students achieve academic success by working at the Academic Success Center as an Organic Chemistry Tutor, where she conducts weekly small-group and one-on-one sessions. As a junior, Shimshon Shimshon began serving as the president of the Jewish culture club on campus, a special interest group that provides students with activities related to Jewish traditions and holidays.

She is also a volunteer at the Nottingham Facility in Syracuse where she organizes outdoor activities such as planting, potting, and flower arrangements. Learning about the language barrier between grandparents living in Syracuse and their young grandchildren living in Israel, Shimshon used her bilingual language skills to initiate online adult Hebrew classes where she teaches the grandparents vocabulary words and translated expressions commonly used in conversations. 

Alexandra Walls, from Gambrills, Maryland, is an Environmental Education and Interpretation (EE&I) major, and a member of the Honors Program. 

Walls is passionate about community change and has held numerous leadership roles at ESF, including Peer Tutor, Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, president of the Student Environmental Education Coalition (SEEC), Senator on the Mighty Oaks Student Association, various committees in Environmental Studies, a substitute teacher in city schools, and volunteer throughout the community.

As a first-year student, she served as the undergraduate representative to a faculty search committee tasked with reviving the EE&I major. As SEEC president, she attended a state and national professional conference; noting these opportunities were too expensive for other students, Walls led SEEC to host an Environmental Education Summit at ESF. Because of her sustained participation on an EE&I committee, the major was redesigned in response to student input and recognition of the need for environmental and social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion in EE&I professions. She was also an outstanding leader, organizing SEEC members to volunteer at city libraries, events, after-school programs, and youth groups with STEM learning activities. She received conference scholarships from the NY State Outdoor Education Association and the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education. Walls participated in the Honors Program. Her research project investigates the community engagement processes of establishing an early childhood outdoor learning environment for a school.

Walls served as a Peer Tutor within the ESF Campus Success Center, assisting students with biology courses, was a Teaching Assistant for a lab-based EE&I course, and was an Orientation Leader. She also works at ESF’s Trailhead Café where she has risen to the position of student manager.

She has maintained a high GPA in a rigorously science-based major and completed two majors and two minors. She minored in Environmental Policy/Communication, and Native Peoples and the Environment with Dr. Robin Kimmerer, Distinguished Teaching Professor and Director for the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment and MacArthur Fellow.