Harpur Hotline, August 22, 2003

Harpur Junior Leads By Example
Spotlight on Mercedes Cepeda `05

Harpur student Mercedes Cepeda `05 hopes to eventually become a high school principal.

"I am setting my goals high and I am sure I will make them come true," said Mercedes Cepeda `05, while seated at the receptionist's desk at the Michael W. Boyd Educational Opportunity (EOP) Tutorial Center in the library tower. She is on the front desk staff, ready to answer students' questions, schedule their tutorial sessions, and make them feel welcome.

A double major in history and sociology, Cepeda has her sights set on earning a doctorate in education policy and helping urban students continue their education. "I want to teach but also be a principal and administrator," she said. "There aren't a lot of women principals and I want to change that."

She's already had a lot of practice leading others. Cepeda is the president of Phi Theta Chi, a Latin American community service sorority. She is also a peer counselor in the Binghamton Enrichment Program, a collegiate prep program for EOP students, a job she calls "24-hour."

"The students take classes and attend workshops to better prepare them for college," she says. Cepeda, who went through the program in 2001, not only makes sure they get to class, but she doles out a lot of moral support and friendship along the way. "I take them to the health center when they're sick, show them around Binghamton on the weekends, and am an ear whenever they need someone to talk to," she said.

Cepeda recently interned for Leah Dixon, assistant director of undergraduate admissions and BU's EOP admissions coordinator.

Working for Dixon, Cepeda helped give prospective student a positive first impression of Binghamton. She helped coordinate the EOP's two Spring open houses, which involved sending invitations, tracking RSVP's, recruiting student volunteers, and following up on applications for admission. Accepted students get a congratulatory phone call from Cepeda. "Throughout the semester, I would provide Leah with data so she could see if the open houses were successful in recruiting students," she said.

Harpur College has left as much of an impression on Cepeda as she has left on our campus. "It's the 'Ivy League' of the SUNY's," she said. Her favorite class has been Global History, taught by Donald Quataert, which Cepeda feels he taught without any personal bias. Marame Gueye, program coordinator for the Multicultural Resource Center, teaching assistant in Comparative Literature and adjunct instructor in LACAS and Africana Studies, is one Cepeda's favorite professors. "She's very friendly and open minded," said Cepeda.

While Cepeda embraces her studies and enjoys helping new students get adjusted to campus life, she's also enjoying the social side of college just as much. She and 6 of her sorority sisters rent a house together in Binghamton. Some of her best memories are in the house with her friends. "We'd cook food for each other late at night."

"I love going to different events on campus, like Caribbean Queen, in which my best friend represented Puerto Rico. I love going to parties and banquets with my friends and having gatherings with my sorority sisters," she says.

Harpur College has been as much a leadership experience for Cepeda as an educational one, and the students around her have benefited as much from her guidance as she has from her coursework. She will always remember giving a recent presentation to the BEP students about the the Ronald E. McNairs Scholar Program. "The students so much hope in education," she said. It is the same hope that got her where she is today, that she plans to inspire in generations to come.

"Mercedes is very dedicated and hardworking," said Gueye of her former student, "I have seen her turn into a very sophisticated intellectual who always seeks to expand her knowledge."

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