SUNY CHancellor John B. King Jr. and Valeria Espinosa ’25 (photo provided).
Valeria Espinosa ’25 was one of 50 SUNY’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) students to receive the 2025 . The award recognizes outstanding EOP students for their academic achievements and overcoming personal obstacles throughout their lives.
Espinosa, from the Bronx, NY, graduated with an anthropology major and a minor in geography. She worked in the EOP office as a CATs Mentor, supporting first-year students as they navigated their transition into college. She also served as a summer mentor for Geneseo’s EOP Summer Scholars Program, which, she said, allowed her to build deep connections with incoming students.
“The EOP program has been one of the most important parts of my college experience,” Espinosa says. “From the beginning, EOP provided me with the guidance, structure, and emotional support I needed to succeed—especially when I doubted myself.”
Espinosa credits the EOP staff with being the first to believe in her leadership potential. “As someone who dropped out of college the first time and took a gap year, I truly needed that kind of support to keep going,” she says. “EOP helped me rewrite my narrative—and I’m incredibly grateful.”
“Valeria is a kind, compassionate, and dedicated role model who proudly represents the best of EOP,” says EOP counselor Courtney Havens. “She has taken advantage of numerous opportunities at Geneseo both inside and outside the classroom, and she’s dedicated much of her time and talents to our department to help support our students and our mission.”
In addition to her work with EOP, Espinosa was the teaching assistant for the Anthropology of the Borderlands course, where she guided discussions on migration, borders, and identity. She was also a member of the Latinx Student Association (LSA), where she had the chance to engage in advocacy and leadership and found a sense of cultural community.
Espinosa is returning as an alum as a summer mentor for EOP, “believing that it’s “important to give back to a program that gave so much to me.” Her long-term plans include entering the humanitarian or nonprofit sector, “somewhere I can work closely with people and contribute to meaningful change, whether that’s through community development, advocacy, education, or supporting immigrant or marginalized populations.”
Since its inception in 1967, the EOP has provided access, academic support, and supplemental financial assistance to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college. In its 58-year history, the EOP has served more than 78,000 students and evolved into one of the country’s most successful college access programs.