This is one of several profiles that highlight members of the Class of 2018.
Hundreds of hours of community service, involvement, and experiential learning have been the hallmarks of Casey Vincelette’s ’18 Geneseo experience.
“Geneseo students volunteer more than anyone; there are so many students who care here,” said Vincelette. As the co-chair of the Food Security Advocates (FSA), a student organization associated with the Office of Student Volunteerism and Community Engagement, Vincelette knows the what impact Geneseo students make.
“Every semester, we collect donations for a Backpack Lunches for Kids program at the Letchworth Dining Hall, through a partnership with Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS),” said Vincelette. “Students donated thousands of items. It was so inspiring.”
Students associated with FSA also packed more than 200 bagged lunches for local families during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service held at the College. Created in 2014, FSA and its members combat food insecurity and educate themselves and the Geneseo community about the issue.
A thank-you phone call from a staff member of the ARC of Livingston County, Vincelette said, “made us see how real and widespread the impact was,” and that their efforts were appreciated and needed.
Vincelette was also instrumental in reviving the Memories Campaign at Geneseo (formerly Heard@Geneseo). The student organization, founded by Michael Roff ’12, pairs students with local senior citizens. Students interview the residents and create a chapbook of their life, which is shared with them and their family, and also preserved as part of Geneseo history. The chapbooks are kept in Milne Library.
Club members recently raised nearly $800 dollars at a fundraiser held at the historic Riviera Theatre. The money will be used to print chapbooks for upcoming semesters. Community member and Memories Campaign participant Patricia Malet Fennell ’65 has been a great mentor to the club, said Vincelette.
Alongside these initiatives, Vincelette completed six internships over the course of her study as a double major in communication and English (creative writing). She was also the recipient of the Janie Argenta '82 Memorial Endowed Scholarship from the Department of Communication. She said her favorite internship was working at Dixon Schwabl, a local integrated marketing firm.
“That internship really shaped my career goals,” said Vincelette. She said she always wanted to pursue strategic communications, advertising or marketing, “but I don’t think I actually knew what that meant until I was at Dixon. They live and breathe it. I’d never really been a perfectionist before, but my supervisors taught me to follow through every step of a project with 110 percent effort and care. I had the chance to experience how rewarding it is when all of your work and your team’s work comes together for an end product that really packs a punch and sells your message.
“I found I thrive on the challenge and the energy of working with others toward a goal, and I fell in love with the culture and warmth of the professional but family-oriented organization,” said Vincelette. “... The internship taught me what my standards are for my future career, and that it’s possible to do what I love, be successful, and feel at home.”
She is also part of the Edgar Fellows Honors Program and has been teacher’s assistant for Associate Professor of Philosophy Stacey Edgar’s logic course for six semesters.
Vincelette believes her professors — who became mentors — and the unique environment of Geneseo has helped shape who she is.
“Geneseo is a small school,” she said. “You will be recognized for your effort, and have opportunities you wouldn’t get elsewhere. There are so many opportunities to excel at Geneseo, and professors open so many doors for you … Geneseo has really made me friends and experiences that I will cherish for a lifetime. It has given me deep personal links to a community that has inspired me to be a better person.”
— By Kitrick McCoy ’19