Press Releases

May 25, 2000
Allison Wright Became World Traveler at Southampton College; Graduates With Honors

Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

In her four years at Southampton College, Allison Wright went from a local New Hyde Park resident who rarely even went on a family trip to a world traveler who sailed to the Caribbean and back, did field work in Alaska and spent three trips studying dolphins in Costa Rica.

"I got bit by the traveling bug and now have trouble staying in one place at one time," she said. "Southampton College allowed me to go everywhere." With 350 other graduates on Sunday, May 21, Allison participated in commencement ceremonies at Southampton College of Long Island University that included an address and song by keynote speaker and famed musician Billy Joel.

With innovative programs that stress real-world experience, Southampton College turned out to be the right choice for Allison. One semester was spent aboard the College's SEAmester boat "a classroom with sails" as Allison not only studied oceanography and Herman Melville but also helped man the vessel as it traveled to remote tropical places.

While on campus, Allison was known for her altruism. The daughter of Geraldine and Charles, she not only was a freshman advisor and residence-life monitor, but also participated in endless charities. At commencement, Allison saved a place in her heart for Jason Vercelletto. The two friends and classmates were due to walk together at commencement, but Jason didn?t make it. After a lifetime of fighting cystic fibrosis, he succumbed to the disease in January, shortly after receiving his final course credits towards his degree. In March, over 100 students, faculty and administrators joined hands in a circle near the Southampton College windmill to remember and talk about Jason, who was 22 when he died. Led by Allison, who received a BA in Art and a BS in Psychobiology on Sunday, both with honors, Southampton College students had raised $1300 toward a scholarship in Jason's memory. "http://www.liunet.edu"