KINGSTON, R.I.- June 1, 2020- The University of Rhode Island recently honored three undergraduate student leaders and one student organization as part of its 32nd annual A. Robert Rainville Leadership Awards. The award is named in memory of A. Robert Rainville ’64, vice president for Student Affairs 1980-86, who was a friend and mentor to students.
The Division of Student Affairs’ Office of Student Involvement and Center for Student Leadership Development present the awards each year to students who have shown outstanding leadership and teamwork skills while maintaining strong academic performance.
This year’s recipients are Carmelina Sanchez of Providence, Student Employee Award; Wesley Cabral of Providence, Robert L. Carothers Servant Leadership Award and Christopher Alves of Norton, Mass., Student Leadership Award. The Team Excellence Award was received by members of University of Rhode Island National Society of Black Engineers.
Below are the details about each recipient:
Student Employee Award winner: Carmelina Sanchez, ‘20
As an office manager for the Ram’s Den and its seven satellite retail operations for the past five years, Carmelina Sanchez has become an indispensable part of the business. From interviewing, hiring, scheduling, and handling the administrative aspects of employment eligibility, work-study, payroll, and pay rate changes for more than 300 student workers, to jumping in to help run a register or make a sandwich during a lunch rush, Sanchez’s “professionalism is matched only by her genuine, caring nature, contagious smile, and true sense of teamwork,” according to Joanne Stephens, associate administrator for URI Dining Services. As a double major in accounting and public relations, she has put her skills to use contributing marketing ideas to URI Dining Services-Retail Operations, including those for URI’s Rhody Eatz food truck and Brookside Hall’s new, full-service bistro. In addition to her work and academic achievements, and to serving as a mentor to countless students under her supervision, Sanchez is also a proud member of the National Association of Black Accountants and P.I.N.K. (Powerful, Independent, Notoriously, Knowledgeable) Women and has helped to raise scholarship funds for P.I.N.K.’s “Three Words to Remember” Book Award for incoming, first-year students.
Robert L. Carothers Servant Leadership Award winner: Wesley Cabral, ‘21
When Wesley Cabral came to the United States from Cape Verde in 2008, he was struck by the difference in environments and missed the lush, green landscape of his homeland. His commitment to environmentalism and combating global warming led him to become involved as a Green Team member with Groundwork Rhode Island for several summers, helping to clean up Providence neighborhoods, working in community gardens and even becoming involved in a greenhouse project that helped to provide fresh food to low-income families. Once he entered URI he became a Civic Engagement Leader, working to spearhead service events and activities on campus and across Rhode Island. He also became involved in URI Service Corps’ Alternative Spring Break, first as a participant and as a leader of an Alternative Spring Break trip in Rhode Island. For the past two years, this communications studies major who is minoring in business and Portuguese, has also served his community and fellow students as a Resident Assistant. His love for making an impact and improving the lives of others also led him to seek the position of diversity chair with the Office of Housing and Residential Life’s Community Leadership Board. With one year left prior to his graduation, Cabral is more committed than ever to fighting for a greater cause and spreading positivity across campus.
Student Leadership Award winner: Christopher Alves, ‘20
For Christopher Alves, leadership is about commitment to the growth of others, working with them and watching them develop into compassionate, confident leaders themselves. Making personal connections, whether through a one-hour seminar or helping a friend conquer their fear of something, is where he finds fulfillment. As a public relations and communications studies major with a minor in writing and rhetoric, Alves is an extrovert. In addition to serving as executive producer and co-host of the Daily Ram, URI’s daytime talk show, he has been involved and held leadership positions in Rhody Ridiculousness, a URI improv group; Musically Inclined, a URI a cappella group; URI S.A.V.E.S. (Students Actively Volunteering and Engaging in Service) and the URI chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America. Importantly, he has mentored, encouraged, and even sometimes pushed those around him outside of their comfort zones, in order to watch them flourish. According to one student that Alves has mentored, not only is he “inclusive, approachable, positive and knows how to get things done,” he does it with an upbeat and welcoming attitude that helps to lift up those around him.
Team Excellence Award winner: University of Rhode Island National Society of Black Engineers
The mission of the URI chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers is to “increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” Members work together to support one another academically; build professional skills through resume and interview workshops, networking events, and other activities; and also develop a strong sense of community through social events. In addition to holding fundraisers and working to connect members in need with other types of financial support, such as scholarships, grants, assistantships or on-campus employment, the group has also distinguished itself through its work in the community, including serving as mentors to elementary, middle and high school students through Saturday Academy STEM outreach programs; hosting a STEM round-robin bridge program on campus; and volunteering locally. Discussing the importance for traditionally underrepresented groups to see others who look like them and can reflect their experience, Assistant Dean of Engineering Jared Abdirkin gave a resounding recommendation of the group, noting his confidence that it “is the leading reason many underrepresented students chose, persisted, and graduated from URI’s College of Engineering, and are now or soon to be heading for leadership positions in industry and higher education around the country.”
Winners of this year’s A. Robert Rainville Team Excellence award include NSBE team members: Jeancarlos Nolasco and Jonathan Buchanan from Cranston; James Gannon from Coventry; Dylan Kennedy from North Kingstown; Sadiq T. Wilson Agbaje from North Providence; Dira Melissa Delpech, Markeem Rodrigues, and Zainab Edina from Pawtucket; Yisel Vasquez Gill, Temitope Aina, Josh Milcette, and Warith Balogun from Providence; Joel Roache from Warwick; and Fatima Issa from Worcester, Mass.