Hannah Forrest, a senior Communication Disorders and Sciences major from Olean, received a $3,000 Tau Sigma scholarship - the largest amount awarded to a Fredonia student by the national honor society for transfer students.
Ms. Forrest enrolled at Fredonia as a junior after receiving an associate degree in Humanities at Jamestown Community College. She is a daughter of Susan Chohan and the late Kevin Forrest and is a 2013 graduate of Olean High School.
Forrest was one of four SUNY students to receive a scholarship from the honor society that awarded 53 scholarships totaling $86,500 to students across the nation.
The scholarship helped to fund Forrest’s recent Belize Service Project during Fredonia’s J-Term. She taught in a local school, went on many excursions and learned about the culture of the Central American country.
Inducted into Fredonia’s Tau Sigma chapter in Spring 2016, Forrest was elected social chair in the Fall 2016 semester. Her goal was to increase awareness of the honor society and encourage new transfer students to join. Forrest has been active in numerous events hosted by Tau Sigma that included Pink the Rink and Relay for Life, both events that raised money for cancer research.
She is most proud of the 2016 Care Packages for Our Troops project that she helped to plan and conduct. The Fredonia chapter shared in the responsibility for gathering more than 500 packages to be sent overseas to military troops by Blue Star Mothers of Jamestown. Forrest reached out to the campus and surrounding communities, working with the local newspaper on publicity and cultivating relationships with JCC and other clubs on the Fredonia campus.
“The community outreach, as well as what was done on campus, contributed to the event’s success as we raised more than $800 and collected a generous amount of donated items,” Forrest said. “This event not only raised awareness of the troops overseas, but also provided excellent public relations for the club in the community.”
Forrest worked with the Tau Sigma chapter to develop a point plan for honor cords to be given and worn at Commencement by the chapter’s most active members. She has also handled the chapter’s Facebook page and other e-board duties.
Her membership in the National Student Language Hearing Association provided professional development opportunities. Forrest was a volunteer for the Stroke Awareness Walk and serves as a mentor for younger Communication Disorders and Sciences students.
A member of Voices for Autism, Forrest was part of the “Not So Different” event, helping autistic children to make crafts. Through Friends Across Borders, Forrest raised money for school supplies that she distributed on her Belize service trip.
Forrest has also been affiliated with Fredonia’s Campus and Community Children’s Center as a volunteer, working with toddlers and also helping to run the after school program. At the Boys and Girls Club in Dunkirk, she has worked with children of all ages in the after school program. Forrest was also a teacher aide at BOCES during a six-week summer program.
Academic success at Fredonia, which includes earning a 4.0 GPA each semester, has led to the receipt of two scholar awards: The Gustave and Geraldine Werner Foundation Scholarship, from the Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences; and a Doors to Opportunity Scholarship, through the Fredonia College Foundation.
In addition to Tau Sigma, Forrest is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, the national honor society for education, and Golden Key International Honour Society, which recognizes outstanding academic achievement.
Forrest, who will complete her Communication Disorders and Sciences degree in May, plans to attend graduate school and learn additional speech pathology techniques and concepts. She has already taken a graduate-level course in neurolinguistics at Fredonia.
“I have shadowed different speech pathologists and seen practical application of speech therapy techniques which has been very helpful. I look forward to furthering my education after graduation,” Forrest said.
