2024 Eagle Award Winner: Taylor Suffoletto '24

On and off the field Taylor soars!

The 2024 Eagle Award was presented by Dr. Robyn Newhouse, a member of the Bay Path Board of Trustees.

The Eagle Award is presented to a traditional undergraduate student who has had a significant impact on the Bay Path community by exhibiting an overall positive attitude and by demonstrating leadership in campus activities and athletics, while maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher.  

Our 2024 Eagle Award recipient is Taylor Suffoletto.  

The following is her citation read during Commencement…

“Hardworking, enthusiastic, committed. These are just a few of the words that describe our Eagle Award winner, Taylor Suffoletto, a forensic psychology major from Warwick, Rhode Island.

As a member of the softball and the soccer team, Taylor proudly wore the maroon and white as an undergraduate.  Possessing outstanding leadership qualities, she was selected by her softball teammates as their captain from 2022 to 2024. But it is her prowess on the athletic field that has won her numerous accolades.  Playing the position of catcher and second base on the softball team, our conference, the United States Collegiate Athletic Association, or USCAA, has recognized Taylor over the years:

In 2022, she was the rookie of the year; 

In 2022 and 2023 Taylor was selected for the USCAA All-Academic Team; 

In 2023, she earned the award for Most Valuable Offensive Player for softball; 

And in 2023 she was selected for the USCAA Second Team All-American.

As a student-athlete, Taylor also hit a home room in the classroom!  She is a member of the Maroon Key Honor Society and the Psi Chi International Honor Society for Psychology.  Today, Taylor will be wearing an academic honor cord saluting her induction into the Chi Alpha Sigma, the national collegiate academic honor society, which recognizes outstanding student-athletes throughout America.

Equally important, Taylor was involved outside of the classroom.  She took her athletic talents on the road and volunteered as an umpire for numerous charity tournaments and as an assistant at youth softball clinics, and worked events at the MassMutual Center.

Taylor will be celebrating her graduation today, but tomorrow, she will be on a bus with the rest of her softball teammates heading to Pennsylvania.  The Bay Path University "Wildcats" received the #5 Seed in the upcoming USCAA Softball World Series.  Bay Path was one of ten teams in the country to receive a bid to the tournament. And as an FYI, Taylor and the Wildcats will be playing their first game on Monday, May 13, at 2 pm vs. Penn State- New Kensington.  Go Wildcats!

Taylor, your hard work and dedication are to be applauded.  You are an exemplary representative of the University and the student body.  We hope you will use all that you have learned at Bay Path, from your professors and coaches, as well as from your fellow athletes and peers, to deal capably and gracefully with life’s challenges, and to go forth and make the world a better place.  Congratulations, Taylor!”

The Eagle Award was established by the former chair of Bay Path University’s Board of Trustees, the Reverend Doctor Enzo DiGiacomo, and his wife, Mrs. Mary Lou DiGiamcomo.  To best reflect the spirit of this honor and occasion, they decided the recipient would be given a crystal eagle.  The eagle represents strength, the faith and courage to fly to new heights, and the vision and wisdom to lead, and, in doing so, be an inspiration to others. The recipient’s name will also be engraved on a plaque in the Blake Student Commons.