Tradition Senior Award

Ebony Ray '10 is a Cornell Tradition Senior Recognition Award winner.

She is among nine students across the university honored this year with the award for community service and leadership.

The Cornell Tradition, a program of The Cornell Commitment, was established in 1982 through an anonymous gift of $7 million.

The program awards 545 fellowships each year to Cornell undergraduate students based on work experience, campus and/or community service, leadership and academic achievement.

Since 1989, selected seniors who have participated in the Tradition program have been honored.

Each senior recognized establishes a $4,000 Cornell Tradition fellowship for other students and designates a non-profit agency for a $500 gift.

Through her award, Ray established the Sylvia Ray Cornell Tradition Fellowship, named for her grandmother.

"She is a person who touches me every time I see her with her genuine smile, big heart and even bigger personality," Ray said in an interview.

Through the award, Ray also made a contribution to the Social Business Consulting Group, a student-run, non-profit organization at Cornell that works to further the causes of social entrepreneurs.

Undergraduates in the group provide pro bono consulting for projects around the world in need of strategic development, Ray said.

Ray is co-founder of Jamaica Difference, an international service organization at Cornell.

She is active in many other university organizations, including the Student Advisory Council and the Quill and Dagger, an honor society.