3 Herkimer College students receive SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence

Three Herkimer County Community College students have received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence (CASE).

Carynn Bohley, of Salem, NY; Kaitlyn Jenks, of Canajoharie, NY; and Taylor Listovitch, of Ilion, NY, were among the CASE honorees for 2021. The award recognizes students for outstanding achievements that have demonstrated the integration of SUNY excellence in areas such as academics, leadership, campus involvement, community service, or the arts. All three students will graduate in May 2021.

Carynn Bohley, a general studies student, was named to the President’s List all four semesters while attending Herkimer College and participated in the Honors Program during her second year. Enrolling at the College through the Internet Academy when she was only 16 years old, Bohley will receive her associate in arts degree before her eighteenth birthday. She has been a leader on campus and contributed an advice piece regarding online learning to the College’s official blog to assist her peers as they transitioned to remote learning due to COVID-19. Bohley also serves as an editor for the College’s student-run news outlet The General and its literary and arts publication Phaethon.

Outside of the classroom, Bohley is a published author. She has self-published several short stories and a novella, and she was able to sign with publishing company Darkstroke Books in Fall 2020. Bohley released her first fantasy novel, Darkness Rise, with the company on November 20. She also runs a writer's blog, YouTube channel, and dabbles in taxidermy.

Kaitlyn Jenks, a communication and media studies student, was named to the President’s List all four semesters while attending Herkimer College and furthered her education by taking courses over the winter and summer terms. She serves as vice president of chapter growth for Herkimer College’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international honor society. Jenks led the chapter’s 2020 Honors in Action project, where students researched various aspects of COVID-19 safety guidelines and developed informative posters and social media graphics to combat misinformation about the virus. They also held a mask drive and provided custom reusable masks to approximately 100 students. Jenks is also a senator in the College’s Student Government Association, a peer tutor in the Academic Support Center, and an editor for both The General and Phaethon.

Jenks volunteers with The Shadow Project, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, that aims to make school more accessible and engaging for young students with learning disabilities. In her role with the group, Jenks ensures students receive their incentive awards for reaching specified academic and learning goals, and she assists the communications department with creative outreach and innovation initiatives.

Taylor Listovitch, a legal studies student, has been on both the Dean’s List and President’s List and is a member of the College’s Honors Program and the Phi Theta Kappa honor society. She was elected president of the Student Government Association and also holds office as the student trustee on the College’s Board of Trustees. Listovitch also serves on the Faculty-Student Association, the Academic Senate, and Herkimer College President Cathleen McColgin’s Leaders at Lunch Council. Listovitch represented the student perspective when the College was undergoing its reaccreditation process, speaking to reviewing members of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education about student life at Herkimer College. She works as an on-campus tour guide, a secretary for the College’s Admissions Office, and is a student ambassador for prospective students.

Listovitch is captain of the Herkimer College women’s bowling team and was a contributor to Phaethon. She spent her spring semester interning for the Herkimer County board of elections office.