Olivia Loeven

SUNY Orange student Olivia Loeven of Middletown has been named the recipient of the American Chemical Society College Recognition Award, an honor presented annually to one student from each college in the Mid-Hudson region for outstanding performance in chemistry and demonstrated interest in pursuing a career in the field.

Loeven received her award Friday, April 24, at the Undergraduate Research Symposium hosted this year by Marist University. She was nominated by Dr. Dustin McCall, associate professor of science, engineering and architecture.

The ACS College Recognition Award highlights academic excellence in chemistry and celebrates students who show strong potential for future contributions to the discipline.

A graduate of Minisink Valley High School, Loeven was her class salutatorian before enrolling at SUNY Orange with a number of Community College in the High School credits. She completed her Liberal Arts in Math and Science associate degree in December 2025 with a perfect 4.0 GPA. At 19, she will finish the spring 2026 semester with additional credits in chemistry and general microbiology.

She was recognized at the 2025 Convocation Awards Ceremony with an Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Award in chemistry and was nominated for the 2026 ceremony to receive an Orange Ribbon Award and an Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Award.

Loeven, secretary of the Chemistry Club, also works in the math lab and received a transfer scholarship from Binghamton University.

When asked about her time at SUNY Orange, Loeven said, “I love it here. It’s local, I can take classes that interest me, and the professors are detailed and involved. They follow up and are true teachers, not lecturers.”

Her future goals include completing graduate-level studies in pharmaceuticals and finding better ways to implement organic chemistry research. Loeven was diagnosed about 10 years ago with Type 1 diabetes and said, “Chemistry had always interested me, but it wasn’t until I took CHM 201 that I truly embraced its possibilities. Not only was I enchanted with the complexity of reaction mechanisms, but I realized that organic chemistry presented the ‘why’ behind chemical interactions — deeper than the ‘how’ for which I initially was searching.”

Interested in learning more about a degree in STEM related fields at SUNY Orange? Go to www.sunyorange.edu or call (845) 341-4030 to schedule a tour.