Two seniors from the State University of New York at Old Westbury were among those celebrated recently when SUNY Chancellor John King announced the winners of the 2025 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.
Michael Costarelli, a Politics, Economics and Law major from Coram, New York, and Timothy Coventry, a Media and Communications major from East Northport, New York, were among the 193 students across the SUNY system to receive SUNY’s highest honor for academic excellence and leadership.
“SUNY represents academic excellence, and our students have worked tirelessly to not only excel in their academic studies, but also stepped up as community leaders,” said SUNY Chancellor King. “Congratulations to this year’s CASE awardees who’ve distinguished themselves amongst their peers through their work ethic, determination, and commitment to their fields of study.”
The 2025 Chancellor's Awards for Student Excellence recognize students for outstanding achievements throughout their SUNY experience in areas including academics, leadership, campus involvement, community service, and the arts. This year’s recipients include a wide range of honorees including veterans, parents, policy issue advocates, and athletes.
Michael Costarelli, 2025 CASE Award Winner
Costarelli will graduate in May 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Economics and Law. A U.S. Army veteran, he served prior to beginning his studies as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and as a member of the 173rd Combat Brigade, based in Vincenza, Italy. After completing his military service, he served as an Emergency Medical Technician with the Fire Department of the City of New York.
“The commitment and leadership traits he carries from those experiences have informed his experience at Old Westbury,” said University President Timothy Sams. “His professors report that he adds a wonderful element to their classrooms – not seeking to impress as much as to contribute and nurture others in their thought processes.”
Having transferred to SUNY Old Westbury in fall 2023, Costarelli quickly earned membership in Tau Sigma National Honor Society, which recognizes academic excellence among transfer students.
About his time on campus, Costarelli said: “The PEL program at SUNY Old Westbury gives you a solid understanding of how society, and why society, is structured as it is. I’ve always been intellectually curious about understanding why we have certain systems in place, why we do things the way we do. Old Westbury has given me a wider scope to be able to focus on finding different answers to complex questions.”
In addition to his coursework, Costarelli is active in the activities and programs of the campus’ Center for Excellence in Veteran Student Success. There, he supports other veterans as they pursue their studies and manage their lives and experiences both on and off campus.
"CEVSS brings veterans together and being able to talk to guys and girls about what they are going through, their different issues, is to me so meaningful,” said Costarelli. “It’s incredible when you can help get somebody where they need to be and where they want to go.”
Timothy Coventry, 2025 CASE Award Winner
Coventry will also graduate in May 2025, having earned a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Communications and doing so with a 4.0 GPA.
“Tim is a dedicated young man, and highly motivated to pursue a career in journalism,” said Sams. “He has showcased his talent and intellect both in the classroom, through his internships, and in his presence across varied channels of student media on campus.”
Also a fall 2023 transfer student from Suffolk County Community College, Coventry has had a deep involvement in student media while a student of Old Westbury. He served as a reporter and anchor for the Old Westbury Media Innovation Center, as well as a reporter and anchor at OWWR – Old Westbury Web Radio.
“Earning the CASE award solidified all the hard work that I’ve put into my academics, but also the hard work I put into student media,” said Coventry, who noted that the MIC and OWWR were the reasons he chose to enroll at the University. “Everything this school has given me – whether that be the instruction, the tools, the cameras - the access to all of those things has allowed me to excel.”
His work in student media included several high-profile activities and achievements. He earned in 2024 a FOLIO Award from the Fair Media Council and has been announced as a winner in 2025 as well, for pieces produced at the Media Innovation Center. Additionally, he served as an anchor and host during that nationally broadcast “Student News Live” coverage of the 2024 elections coordinated by the College Radio Foundation.
In addition to continuing his coursework and campus commitments, Coventry served throughout the 2024-2025 academic year as an intern at MSNBC, working directly with Jen Psaki, the producers, and staff of the nightly “Inside with Jen Psaki” show.
Through it all, Coventry has remained focused on the road ahead: “So for me, the long-term dream would absolutely be to become an anchor for a news network, to report on national and international affairs,” he said.