Since 1989 the Cornell Tradition, an alumni-endowed student recognition program at Cornell University, has been honoring its own graduating seniors with Senior Recognition Awards. The 11 Tradition fellows who have been honored with the awards this year for their community service and leadership efforts will use their monetary winnings to benefit others.

The Cornell Tradition was established in 1982 through an anonymous gift of $7 million. The program awards 600 fellowships each year to Cornell undergraduate students based on their work experience, campus and/or community service, leadership and academic achievement.

Each year Cornell Tradition Senior Recognition Awards are given to a limited number of Cornell Tradition fellows. Those recognized can either designate their $3,500 awards as a charitable contribution to a nonprofit agency or establish a Cornell Tradition named fellowship for other students during the subsequent academic year.

The awards are competitively based on students' community service, leadership, work ethic and overall contribution to the quality of campus life. Winners are chosen by a selection committee composed of faculty members, administrators and Cornell Tradition alumni. In addition to dedication to work, service and scholarship, recognition award winners also must demonstrate an outstanding commitment to the Tradition and to remaining active as Cornell alumni. One winner, Joanne Schleifman, said, "The Cornell Tradition has not only influenced my time here, my character and my values as I grew as an adult, but it changed my future."

"Our mission statement challenges the program's alumni to stay involved – 'to forward the Tradition,'" said Susan W. Hitchcock, director of the Cornell Tradition. "The winners' donation of their awards not only fulfills that mission, it strengthens our campus and community," she said. "At its core, the Tradition is really about giving. In this case, donors give to the program, the program gives to students and, ultimately, the students give back to the community. By donating their awards, these seniors in essence complete the 'giving cycle.'"

Of the 11 recognition awards given this year, four have been designated to local agencies. Three will endow Cornell Tradition fellowships for next year, where award winners bestow upon their successors the same financial benefits they received. Two seniors are donating their awardsback to their high schools, while two more are making donations to agencies in Louisiana and Peru. The variety of these award allocations is emblematic of the host of communities and causes to which Tradition fellows dedicate themselves.

This year's Cornell Tradition Senior Recognition Award winners, their hometowns, the name of the fellowship they received, their major and college, and their award designations are as follows:

• Keith Becker of Buffalo, N.Y.; Cornell Tradition Honorary Award; Industrial and Labor Relations; donation to the Human Services Coalition of Ithaca.
• Roger Brunson of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Class of 1976 Cornell Tradition Fellow; nutritional sciences in the College of Human Ecology; donation to the Ithaca Youth Bureau of Ithaca.
• Katharine Costa of Carthage, N.Y.; Class of 1989 Cornell Tradition Fellow; agricultural, resource and managerial economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; donation to the Future Farmers of America of Carthage High School, Carthage, N.Y.
• Abiola Dele-Michael of Staten Island, N.Y.; Robert Richardson "Rick" Hebard Cornell Tradition Fellow; human biology in the College of Human Ecology; Cornell Tradition fellowship for an African American or Native American state programs student (EOP) in the College of Human Ecology.
• Itai Dinour of Merrick, N.Y.; Quill and Dagger Cornell Tradition Fellow; Industrial and Labor Relations; donation to On Site Volunteer Services of Ithaca.
• Briton Holmberg of New Hartford, N.Y.; Cornell Tradition Honorary Award; policy analysis and management in the College of Human Ecology; donation to the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond of New Orleans to facilitate nationwide anti-racism training.
• Angela Hunter of Lacey, Wash.; Class of 1945 Cornell Tradition Fellow; biology in the College of Arts and Sciences; donation to the Cornell Chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
• Ursula Lam of Bethlehem, Pa.; Family of David Hirsch/Andrew Dickson White Cornell Tradition Fellow; human development in the College of Human Ecology; donation to the scholarship fund and Key Club of Bethlehem Catholic High School of Bethlehem, Pa.
• Trina Lee of Sutherlin, Ore.; Alpha Phi Cornell Tradition Fellow; communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; The Lindi Riley Cornell Tradition Fellowship to be awarded to a student from the Northwestern United States with a background in agriculture.
• Joanne Schleifman of Selden, N.Y.; Class of 1957 Cornell Tradition Fellow; Industrial and Labor Relations; the Lt. Maureen Ryan ROTC Cornell Tradition Fellowship; for a student in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).Michael Walton of Elmira, N.Y.; Nelson Family Cornell Tradition Fellow; chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences; donation to the Los Martincitos Initiative of the Catholic Church in Villa El Salvador, Peru, which provides basic services to poverty-stricken elderly.

During the past 12 years, 137 Cornell Tradition seniors have received this recognition. They, in turn, have awarded 51 fellowships to other undergraduates, while more than $200,000 has been awarded to nonprofit agencies. More than $80,000 has been awarded in the Ithaca community alone, benefiting such agencies as the Southside Community Center, On Site Volunteer Services, Planned Parenthood, Loaves and Fishes, and many more.

Describing Cornell Tradition's role in the community and in his own life, award winner Itai Dinour said: "I know that without the assistance and support of the Cornell Tradition program, the agency I worked for would cease to exist and my employment experience would have been greatly restricted."