Faculty and Staff Appeal 2012: Sarah Cumbo

Sarah Cumbo loves the wonder and fascination of young children. An early childhood and childhood education major, she wants to teach preschool or kindergarten when she graduates from Buffalo State in May 2012.

First, however, she has the opportunity to experience a little wonder herself during a three-week trip to Chile in June that is attached to her final spring semester. She will be teaching English to elementary schoolchildren in Santiago through the International Education Office and the Elementary Education and Reading Department. Cumbo embraced the opportunity because she wanted to teach students whose first language is not English and to learn how another culture views education.

 “Of course,” she said, “it also doesn’t hurt to have an experience like this on my resume.”

However, the $4,000 price tag terrified her, she said. Even though she works part time and receives some financial aid, it wasn’t enough to finance the trip. She got a boost through the Alice Stielow Wehrung Schmidt ’41 Endowed Scholarship in Elementary Education. The $500 scholarship is intended to help students with expenses while student teaching, and is one of many scholarships funded through Buffalo State’s annual Faculty and Staff Appeal.

“I can’t even tell you how excited I was [to receive the scholarship],” Cumbo said. “It lifted a little bit of the weight off my shoulders.”

The fact that faculty and staff contributed to this scholarship meant a great deal to Cumbo.

“It’s going a long way toward helping me experience opportunities I wouldn’t be able to afford on my own,” she said.

Won’t you help make such opportunities a reality for students like Cumbo by contributing to the 2012 Faculty and Staff Appeal? You can make a one-time gift, or, through payroll deduction, spread your gift throughout the year. To see a list of all the funds, go to www.buffalostate.edu/pdf/fundslist.pdf.

To learn more about the Faculty and Staff Appeal, contact Louis Noce at (716) 878-3467.