<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1gf3Cy_1GsYqUCa00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1gf3Cy_1GsYqUCa00" width="1024" height="683" ><figcaption>SUNY Orange students in the simulation lab</figcaption></figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4WQYtW_1GsYqUCa00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4WQYtW_1GsYqUCa00" width="1134" height="1600" >MIDDLETOWN- At SUNY Orange, every student has the chance to write their own story. The College promotes student success by providing accessible opportunities for enrichment, exceptional academic programs and pathways to meaningful employment while fostering lifelong learning. In that environment, students are thriving. Student success stories take many shapes, and recently several SUNY Orange students have been recognized well beyond Orange County.Consider Devshi Saxena ’26 of Goshen. An international student who joined the Honors Program in Fall 2025, she quickly became a scholar, leader and community builder. She completed well beyond the required honors credits, maintained a 3.96 GPA and graduated in May with an associate of arts degree with honors distinction. She also served as student speaker at Commencement. Her résumé now includes the Northeast Regional Honors Council Two-Year College Student of the Year award and a 2026 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, the highest SUNY student honor.<img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2Q9puH_1GsYqUCa00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2Q9puH_1GsYqUCa00" width="1280" height="1600" >As a post-traditional adult learner, Olena-Yuliia Nakonechna required a different kind of determination. A graduate of high school in Lviv, Ukraine, she has lived in the United States for nine years. She has worked as a dental assistant, raising her seven-year-old son Daniel as a single mother, while taking college courses in her second language. This past Spring, she was named a 2026 World Impact Scholar by Phi Theta Kappa, receiving a $2,500 scholarship. She is now enrolled in SUNY Orange’s highly competitive Dental Hygiene program.“SUNY Orange feels like home,” she says. “Everyone has been very kind and supportive. It’s never too late to go after your goals.”Sometimes achievement starts with a setback. Stella Page of Pine Bush arrived at age 17, eager to study art history, but struggled in her first semester and withdrew. “I crashed and burned,” she says plainly. What followed was a turnaround built on personalized support and active community engagement. She completed her liberal arts degree in August and is now enrolled in the College’s nursing program. She has been president of the Sustainability Club, vice president of the Outdoor Club, secretary of the Math Club and student representative to the SUNY Orange Foundation Board. Her advice to newcomers is simple: “Stay on campus, go to office hours, talk with others, join clubs if you can. Each little win for me felt like I was gaining momentum.”<img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0UMhrL_1GsYqUCa00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0UMhrL_1GsYqUCa00" width="1174" height="1600" >Curiosity drives Sydney Newsome. Her fascination with biology began early, and her own experience living with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and a later autism diagnosis inspired her to turn that curiosity into research. Her presentation, “Saffman-Taylor Instability as a Biomimetic Model for Synaptic Pruning,” was selected as the top presentation at the 34th Annual Beacon Conference, which showcases outstanding community college students across the mid-Atlantic region.Achievement outside of the classroom is possible, too. The men’s basketball team earned a trip to the 2026 NJCAA Division II National Tournament, the program’s third in four years. Freshman Anthony Pacciarelli of Monroe scored 875 points last season, breaking a SUNY Orange single-season record and leading the nation among players at every level. On the links, freshman Seamus Smith of Goshen won the Region 15 Golf Championship, was named Region XV Player of the Year, earned a spot at the NJCAA National Tournament and was chosen SUNY Two-Year Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year.Individual academic and personal successes reflect the College’s culture of rigorous instruction infused with targeted support programs. That blend is particularly visible in the licensure results of graduates of the College’s health professions programs:<ul><li>Nursing: 93 percent of recent Newburgh nursing graduates passed the NCLEX on the first attempt, well above the New York State average of 85.4 percent.</li><li>Dental Hygiene: For four years running, 100 percent of graduates who sought licensure passed both their national and clinical board exams.</li><li>Radiologic Technology: The Class of 2026 achieved a 100 percent first-time pass rate on the national certification exam for the fourth consecutive year. The program, which admits 24 students from more than 200 applicants, recently earned an eight-year accreditation, the maximum possible.</li></ul>SUNY Orange students come from different backgrounds and circumstances, with their own unique goals, and each found something that made their success possible: faculty who know their names, support when it was needed and programs that hold students to a high standard. Olivia Loeven, a recent graduate and American Chemical Society award winner, puts it this way: “The professors are detailed and involved. They follow up and are true teachers, not lecturers.”Whether students are beginning their education, returning to it or changing course, SUNY Orange is ready to help them write their own story.</div></body>

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MIDDLETOWN- At SUNY Orange, every student has the chance to write their own story. The College promotes student success by providing accessible opportunities for enrichment, exceptional academic programs and pathways to meaningful employment while fostering lifelong learning. In that environment, students are thriving. Student success stories take many shapes, and...

Students turn potential into achievement at SUNY Orange

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MIDDLETOWN- At SUNY Orange, every student has the chance to write their own story. The College promotes student success by providing accessible opportuniti

Students turn potential into achievement at SUNY Orange

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