Human development student recognized as Outstanding Adult Learner by the Rochester Area Colleges Continuing Education Consortium

Ewin Joseph ’21 (BA), a master’s candidate in human development at the Warner School of Education and Human Development, was among the Outstanding Adult Student Award recipients from the Rochester Area Colleges Continuing Education Consortium. 

She was among two other adult learners from the University of Rochester honored with the award at the 40th Annual Outstanding Student Award Banquet on April 5. The award recognizes adult students who exemplify a strong commitment to higher education despite the unique challenges that adult learners may face.

Joseph is a Haitian immigrant who moved to the United States in 2015, right before her sixteenth birthday. She began her academic journey at the University of Rochester as an undergraduate. She continued to the Warner School to work toward her graduate degree while dually enrolling at the Northeastern University School of Law for a Master of Legal Studies. Joseph’s professors commend her for excelling academically, maintaining a high GPA, and performing at the top of her class. 

“Ewin has demonstrated a deep passion for learning and has eagerly sought out opportunities to challenge herself,” says Amanda McLeroy, an assistant professor in counseling and human development, who nominated Ewin for this honor. “I have always been impressed by Ewin’s ability to think critically and analytically and her capacity for creative problem-solving. All her achievements are a testament to her hard work, perseverance, and dedication to academic excellence.” 

During the past six years, Joseph has balanced multiple responsibilities—including her family and career responsibilities and her active engagement in the community—to acquire her degrees. During her academic studies, she also interned at the Wilson Foundation and volunteered at the Judicial Observation Project and the Pathstone Foundation. In 2021, Ewin was awarded the Golden Key Graduate Scholar Award, the Heidi Lynn Fuller Ministry Support Fund, and the Gwen M. Greene First Generation Senior Award. 

As American actress Viola Davis said, “The only thing that separates women of color from everyone else is opportunity,” says Joseph. “I acknowledge that my accomplishments would not be possible without God, my family and friends, and my benefactors. I am looking forward to sharing and creating opportunities for other women, especially women of color, in my lifetime.”

The Rochester Area Colleges Continuing Education promotes and advocates for continuing education to adult and other nontraditional students in the Great Rochester area. The other University of Rochester recipients of this year’s Outstanding Adult Student Award are Sarah Cushman ’23, a health, behavior, and society major, and Danielle Garcia, a PhD candidate in English.