04/22/2025
Four SUNY Cortland seniors will receive the SUNY Chancellor’s Award — the highest student honor presented by New York’s public university system — at a ceremony to be held Tuesday, April 29, in Albany, N.Y.
The university’s recipients of the 2025 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence are:
- Vinny Aquino, a psychology major from Uniondale, N.Y.
- Khyla Diggs, an adolescence education: social studies and history dual major, minoring in Africana studies, from Middletown, N.Y.
- Hunter Martorella, a childhood/early childhood education major from La Fayette, N.Y.
- Riley Meckley, a history and adolescence education: social studies dual major from Port Jefferson, N.Y.
The Chancellor’s Awards are given each year to students from SUNY’s 64 campuses who have demonstrated academic excellence while balancing leadership roles, campus involvement, community service and achievements in the arts, athletics or career-related pursuits.
Each year, SUNY campus presidents establish a committee to review and select outstanding graduating seniors. Nominees are reviewed by the Chancellor’s Office and winners are selected. Each honoree receives a framed certificate and medallion to wear at Commencement in May. Last year, nearly 200 students were honored.
Including this year’s honorees, 113 SUNY Cortland students have earned the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence since the program began in 1997.
More information about each 2025 SUNY Cortland recipient is included below:
Vinny Aquino
psychology major
Uniondale, N.Y.
Vinny Aquino shines as a student leader who embodies advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community and other individuals treated as being part of a minority.
Aquino’s lived experiences as a non-white trans man and a person with cerebral palsy who sometimes uses a wheelchair have brought an intersectional perspective to his work on behalf of the university’s Pride Club for more than three years.
As the Pride Club president for two years, he helped organize Pride Homecoming events, a New York City trip to the Stonewall Inn and campus dialogues considering the challenges that LGBTQIA+ students face. Aquino established Pride Club’s annual fall trip to the university’s outdoor campus at Raquette Lake.
He consistently advocates for accessibility as a trusted student voice in the Disability Resources Office.
Aquino excels in the classroom, keeping a 3.92 cumulative grade point average as a psychology major while working in Memorial Library to fund his education.
His current fieldwork with geriatric adults in residential and rehabilitation care centers demonstrates his service to others.
After graduation, he plans to pursue a master’s in social work and public health, with a long-term goal to advocate for individuals from multiple minority groups.
Khyla Diggs
dual major adolescence education: social studies and history
Middletown, N.Y.
Khyla Diggs, who currently serves as president of the university’s Student Government Association, is always willing to advocate for people in need, especially through her training as a future teacher.
Diggs embodies what it means to prioritize diversity, inclusion and belonging in her life’s work. Her success as SGA president can be attributed to the many skills she brings to the classroom: listening, compassion, critical thinking and motivation. Her high-level president’s role also reflects the admiration she has earned from her peers.
Outside the classroom, she has served as president of the Black Student Union, secretary for Men of Value and Excellence and the public relations representative for the Curly Kinky Coily hair club. She also has raised funds and awareness to address student food insecurity at SUNY Cortland, while continuously advocating for the needs of underrepresented peers.
During the academic year, Diggs tutors her classmates through both the university’s Learning Center and the Cortland Educational Opportunity Program. She is a counselor for YMCA after-school and summer programs in her hometown.
Diggs has accomplished all this while excelling in the classroom with a 3.82 grade point average. She stands out as a star scholar in Cortland’s Urban Recruitment of Educators (C.U.R.E.) program, a research-driven opportunity on the campus that helps future teachers address inequities in education. Named the School of Education’s 2023 Black Lives Matter at School Promising Professionals Award recipient, Diggs’s field experiences have been diverse, introducing her to students of all abilities in urban settings from Ithaca, N.Y., to Syracuse, N.Y.
Hunter Martorella
childhood/early childhood education major
LaFayette, N.Y.
On and off campus, Hunter Martorella builds bridges and makes a difference.
Martorella’s extraordinary service on executive boards aims to assist marginalized groups, including Pride Club and Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER).
Martorella has initiated experiences for his peers across the state, from the university’s outdoor campus in Raquette Lake, N.Y., to the Stonewall Inn and from the New York City AIDS Memorial to the YWCA in the local community. He helped lead a community clean-up through The Big Event, the university’s annual day of student service.
An at-large senator for the Student Government Association as well as treasurer for the Cortland Writers’ Association, he participates with Men of Value and Excellence.
Martorella facilitates a COR 101 class for new students and is a consistent President’s List member with a 3.90 grade point average. Professors note Martorella’s excellence in the classroom and his willingness to far exceed the expectations of his field placements in teaching. He shined at nearby Groton Elementary School and, early during his teaching observations, he joined multiple school district events outside of traditional school day hours. Martorella also helped lead a campus tour of SUNY Cortland for fourth grade students.
Martorella works at the SUNY Cortland Child Care Center and volunteers with multiple organizations including Syracuse Prevention Network, where he helps peers develop healthy lifestyle habits.
He plans to pursue a master’s degree in school counseling after graduation.
Riley Meckley
dual major in history and adolescence education: social studies
Port Jefferson, N.Y.
Riley Meckley has long championed the interests of college students such as increased New York state student funding.
At SUNY Cortland, her involvement with organizations including the Galpin Institute for Civic Engagement and the Student Government Association (SGA) has been impressive.
An SGA senator for three years, Meckley encouraged student participation and reviewed organizational bylaws with members of various clubs while also representing student concerns on the SGA’s Campus Safety Committee and Academic Grievance Tribunal.
Her efforts both in Albany and on campus have earned her SUNY Cortland’s Democracy Engagement Leadership Award in addition to twice capturing the Student Campus Leadership Award. Meckley was presented the Vice President for Student Affairs Award and the Michael C. Holland Memorial Award, reflecting her academic success and commitment to classmates.
A future teacher who embodies academic excellence and meaningful participation in campus life, Meckley has maintained a 3.94 grade point average — the highest among classmates in her discipline. She received the President’s List and Top 5% distinctions every semester and was inducted into two honor societies, the interdisciplinary Phi Kappa Phi and, for history majors, Phi Alpha Theta.
Meckley has also participated in the university’s Education Club, Newman Club for Catholic students, and the women’s cross country and track teams.
A model lifelong learner, she traveled to Singapore and the United Kingdom, afterward serving as a study abroad ambassador. In her spare time, Meckley has earned certification as an American Sign Language interpreter, further proof of her talent and willingness to assist others.
In addition, she is a fashion influencer with an Instagram channel called “Always Dress Best” that has more than 164,000 followers.