Texas to OZ

Susan Velazquez ’16

Creative Writing, Gender and
Women’s Study Minor

Student Programs Beneficiary, OSWEGO Alumni Magazine/
OAA Intern

Fueling the flame: Unrestricted Gifts, The Fund for Oswego

As a selected speaker for SUNY Oswego’s 27th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, Susan Velazquez ’16 read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech—just moments before King’s daughter, keynote speaker Dr. Bernice A. King, took the stage.

“After King concluded her speech, the audience gave her a standing ovation,” Velazquez, a creative writing major, said following her experience at the January 2016 event. “My heart pounded again,
but this time, it wasn’t because I was nervous. It was because I was inspired to make a change that would make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proud.”

This experience—and so many more—marked the college career of the Carrolton, Texas, native.

Velazquez’s love of writing was captured in the first-person accounts and articles she prepared for the monthly Lake E-ffect alumni e-newsletters and the Parents e-newsletters, supported by The Fund for Oswego. Her career goal is to work in the publishing industry.