Ismaelle Pulido, a junior at UMass Boston majoring in anthropology, was the recipient of the Michael Ventresca ’69 Student Leadership Award. The award was created by the 2011-2012 Undergraduate Student Government to reward students who have shown extraordinary leadership skills. The award is in its inaugural year and Pulido has the honor of being the first recipient of the award.

Pulido, usually referred to as Izzy, is a student program coordinator of the Student Activities and Events Council. Her role in the SAEC, as described by her, entails helping the SAEC to organize numerous events that occur on campus. She said, “As one of the four coordinators of the the SAEC I play a pivotal role in managing a lot of the events on campus.” In addition to that, Pulido volunteers her skills in graphic designing to assist the SAEC and other organizations in designing posters for advertisement of forthcoming events.

Speaking about why she applied for the Ventresca scholarship in the first place and what set her apart from other applicants, Pulido said, “I think that I really embody a lot of what Michael Ventrenesca did, which is who the scholarship is in honor of. He was really about benefitting the students and I feel that is what my role is here (SAEC). ”

“I think I’m truly genuine about what I say and do being that I come from a past fraught with hardship. Those points of misfortunate motivate me to want to improve my life and other people’s lives. I’m an immigrant so I always think, ‘why wouldn’t I want to nab every opportunity that presents itself? I’m alive and I have these opportunities that most people wouldn’t have in my case. ’”

She continued, “I’m so thankful that people saw that potential in me. The fact that leaders above me recognize the potential in me is something that’s tremendously special to me.”

In Pulido’s view, leaders are advocates of the people and that’s one of the things she has learned being a leader. “The most important thing about leading is playing that encouraging role. To be able to inspire people- that’s all I want to do.”

In her two years working in the SAEC, Pulido believes that her proudest moment was when she was heavily involved in getting J.Cole and The Far East Movement to perform at UMass Boston with the tickets costing just $10. “That was really special to me, I helped sell tickets and get a hold of these artists,” said Pulido.

Pulido hopes to graduate June of next year, move to India to teach English in schools and also work on human rights.