Alumni Distinguished Award Recipients

The Distinguished Alumni Award is an annual award presented to an alumna/alumnus who represents the Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center mission of lifelong learning and self-empowerment.

Past Awardees

  • 2024 - Raquel Calhoun
    5/20/24
    Ms. Raquel Calhoun is a risk taker who visualized a dream and realized it. Transitioning from working in a conventional setting, she embraced her entrepreneurial spirit and now works in her kitchen as the owner of Calhoun Custom Creations LLC, a home-based customized bakery and event boutique.
  • 2024 - Toyolene Wallace
    5/20/24

     Ms. Toyolene Wallace is an exemplification of the definition of self-empowerment. She knows what the obstacles to success are. She also knows how to overcome them… in her words, with “fight, focus and faith.”
  • 2023 - Kareema Washington
    5/20/24

     Ms. Kareema Washington’s realization of success embodies the principles of the Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center (BEOC). Noting she “needed guidance” when enrolled as a young mother, Ms. Washington says BEOC instilled in her a sense of confidence that motivated her to achieve.
  • 2022 - Tanya Spencer
    2/28/23
    Reverend Tanya Spencer's achievements are testament to the values of the Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center (BEOC). Her accomplishments not only personify self-empowerment but the spirit to mentor others to strive toward the realization of their own dreams.
  • 2021 - Mandy Ferrini
    2/28/23
    Ms. Mandy Ferrini is an incredible representation of the Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center’s (BEOC’s) mission of self-empowerment and lifelong learning.  Ms. Ferrini was a single parent, coping with her son’s need for open-heart surgery, at the same time delaying her own reconstructive surgery from a serious work injury.  She is a domestic violence survivor and an entrepreneur who lost her business due to arson.  Through it all, Ms. Ferrini not only persevered but thrived. 
  • 2020 - Marlyce Godoy
    2/28/23
    Ms. Marlyce Godoy credits the Buffalo Educational Opportunity Center (UBEOC) for her “…new beginning”.  Ms. Godoy was born in Belize and came to the United States when she was six years old. Although she was raised outside New York City, she decided to attend college at the University at Buffalo. She dropped out of college after becoming pregnant and raised her daughter as a single mother while receiving public assistance and working at a local restaurant.
  • 2019 - Donald Paulk
    2/28/23
    Mr. Donald Paulk was 11 years old when his father passed away at the age of 34.  As one of 11 children, Mr. Paulk learned to deal with life’s hardships early in life while growing up in the housing projects of Buffalo, NY.  As a child, he sang in a group called the Energetics; and as a teenager he was a member of a street gang.
  • 2018 - James Simmons
    2/28/23
    At five years old, living in segregated Alabama in the 1960’s, Mr.  James Simmons witnessed the death of his father by the hand of a stranger. In 1971 Mr. Simmons and his mother moved to Buffalo to live with family up north.
  • 2017 - Charmaine Leonard
    2/28/23
    Ms. Charmaine Leonard struggled raising three children as a single parent on Social Services. She had just received her High School Equivalency from UBEOC when she fell ill and then battled a debilitating disease for over a decade. In 2008, upon regaining her health, she returned to UBEOC uncertain about her future. She returned, she says, because “EOC was a welcoming place where I could find my self-esteem.”
  • 2016 - Vilma Quinones
    2/28/23
    Ms. Vilma Quinones has internalized her mother’s mantra and perspective on life: You must feed yourself and realize that food rots if it stays on the shelf uneaten.
  • 2015 - Tedros Teklzghi
    2/28/23
    Mr. Tedros Teklzghi is a testament to the adage, “hard work pays off.” An Eritrean refugee when he came to the United States in 1991, he wholeheartedly embraced and now embodies the American Dream.
  • 2014 - Susan D. Bentley-Camizzi
    2/28/23
    Ms. Susan D. Bentley-Camizzi is a wonderful example of how the UBEOC helps provide a foundation for further education and life success.

List of Past Recipients

Award Year

Last Name

First Name

Year

Buffalo EOC Program

Status at Time of Award
2024 Calhoun
 Raquel 2012 Dental Assisting
 Entrepreneur/Owner Calhoun Custom Creations
2024 Wallace Toyolene 2013 Dental Assisting
 Administrative Assistant ECMC Terrace Long View Long Term Care; Master’s Degree Candidate Hilbert College
2023 Washington Kareema 2007 GED Head Substance Abuse Counselor Recovery Center
2022 Spencer Tanya 1992 Dental Assisting Pastor of Good Shepherd Community of Faith in Buffalo, New York and also the Orchard Park United Methodist Church in Orchard Park, New York
2021 Ferrini
 Mandy 2009 Dental Assisting Co-owner, Bella’s Parkside Tavern
2020 Godoy Marlyce
 2011 Dental Assisting Assistant Professor/Clinical Instructor in the Dental Hygiene program at SUNY Erie
2019 Paulk Donald 1974 College Preparation Program  
2018 Simmons James 1982, 2013 High School Equivalancy, College Preparation 2018 Buffalo State: Bachelor in Sociology
2017 Leonard Charmaine 1992, 2009 High School Equivalency, Registered Medical Assistant Administrator Chief of Cardiology Veteran's Hospital
2016 Quinones Vilma 1994, 2006 College Preparation, Registered Medical Assistant Medical Assistant Academic Buffalonias
2015 Teklzghi Tedros 1994, 1995 English as a Second Language, College Preparation UB Law School System Administrator
2014 Camizzi Susan 1975 Dental Assisting UBEOC Dental Assisting Instructor
2013 Jackson-Radney Delores 1975 College Preparation Rochester, NY Area Artist/Educator
2012 Whitfield Garnell 1982 Graphic Arts Buffalo,NY Fire Commissioner
2011 McFayden Emma 1971 College Preparation Buffalo State College EOP Assistant Director
2010 Smith Russell 1970 High School Equivalency, College Preparation NYS Dept of Labor Affirmative Action Administrator
2009 Davis Charles 2008, 2012 Building Trades, Environmental Restoration City of Buffalo Division of Water
2008 Bagia Terry Mission 2000 College Preparation Law School Graduate