Photo by Steph Willis
CURTIS HENRY
Distribution Manager
“Balance” is a delicate word, both in its nature and its meaning. In college, there’s seemingly never any true sense of balance. It’s easy to fail when it comes to time management. A simple 15-credit schedule can overwhelm a majority of students.
However, one true illustration of achieving balance between work, athletics, school and a social life can be found right here at Fredonia. Her name?
Julianne Foster.
Foster is a senior media management major from Rochester who happens to be the recipient of this year’s Lanford Presidential Prize — Fredonia’s most prestigious award.
Being awarded the prize caught Foster entirely off guard, she said.
“I didn’t even know I had been nominated, honestly,” said Foster. “I knew I was up for the [SUNY] Chancellor’s award, but I’d never been notified about the Lanford award. I didn’t even really know that much about what it is.”
The Lanford Prize, created and endowed by the late President Emeritus Oscar E. Lanford and his wife, Ester Lanford, is given annually to one Fredonia senior who demonstrates excellence, not only in the classroom, but in all facets of the campus community.
The recipient is chosen from a pool of a few dozen nominees by the campus President’s Cabinet. Together, the cabinet discusses each candidate and comes to a decision on the eventual winner. The entire process isn’t one that is particularly easy, according to Fredonia President Virginia Horvath.
“Each year we have so many qualified students with high GPAs and outstanding resumes,” said Horvath. “It’s tough to single one out and say, ‘this is the right choice, it’s obvious,’ because it isn’t. This year I really think that Julie was the right choice based on her list of accomplishments.”
The list of Foster’s accomplishments goes on, and on, and on.
She is the current president of Fredonia’s chapter of the Golden Key International Honour Society. She has been a coordinator for both the Fall Sweep and the SPARK-A-Change programs. She has been a member of the Fredonia cheerleading team since her freshman year and has studied abroad at the University of Oxford in England. She has done a little bit of everything here at Fredonia.
And if someone had told her in high school of all the things she would go on to accomplish at Fredonia, she probably wouldn’t have believed it. Why? Because Fredonia was entirely off of her college radar until late in her college search.
“I was really interested in going to Ithaca [College] or Niagara [University]. Fredonia was actually the last school I applied to and visited,” said Foster. “And everyone kept saying to me, ‘you’ll have a moment when you just suddenly know exactly where you want to be,’ and I didn’t have that moment until I visited Fredonia. I saw how gorgeous the campus was, and I loved it immediately.”
Foster might be graduating, but she’s leaving behind one bit of advice to any newcomers at Fredonia.
“Everything you do here or elsewhere, you need to do it for yourself,” said Foster. “If you aren’t happy and enjoying yourself, then what’s the point? I would encourage everyone to get involved on campus with something that they love doing. I know I have, and I’m really grateful for it.”