College
of liberal arts
Outstanding
graduate - Amy Cucinella
By
Gina Ponce
On-line Forty-Niner
 Accepted
to Cal State Long Beach as a President’s
Scholar and being involved in several activities
throughout her college years has not kept
senior and double major Amy Cucinella from
maintaining a 4.0 grade point average.
That is why Cucinella has been chosen as
an outstanding graduate this year.
Taking on journalism and then political
science, Cucinella had an interest in writing
and a curiosity with political affairs.
Cucinella came to CSULB as a biology major
and later decided she did not like the coursework.
“I walked into [college] naive and didn’t
have very many expectations,” Cucinella
said. “I’ve gotten a lot more out of it
than I ever got out of high school.”
Cucinella is a member of Phi Beta Kappa,
acted as senator at large for the Associated
Students Inc., senate for the 2002-2003
year, sat on the Board of Control for A.S.I.
and is a member of Model United Nations.
“The thing that has impressed me the most
about Amy is that she has taken advantage
of every opportunity at this university,”
said Dan O’Conner , chairman of the liberal
studies department and political science
professor.
“This university has so much to offer and
not many students take advantage of that,
but Amy seems to embrace all the opportunities
and excel at it,” O’Conner said.
Cucinella also experienced a media internship
at the California governor’s office and
a Panetta Congressional internship in Washington,
D.C., which she said was one of her best
college experiences. She took three classes
in Italy last summer, participated in a
judicial apprenticeship and just recently
received a $5,000 scholarship toward graduate
school.
“I talk about [Cucinella] in class to all
my other students because she is a great
role model,” O’Conner said. She is very
organized and mature, is able to judge how
to use her time well and is willing to make
sacrifices when she needs to,” he said.
When Cucinella is not tied up with school
work or extracurricular activities, she
enjoys being outdoors, playing sports, reading,
traveling and hanging out with her friends.
This summer Cucinella is going to Peru for
a month to take a semi-guided tour throughout
the country. She said she is interested
in all the history and culture the country
has to offer.
“[Amy] takes material in class and thinks
deeply about it,” O’Conner said. “She
is always curious about what others think
and learns quite a bit from the people around
her.”
Cucinella said she really liked being involved
in student government because it was an
enlightening experience. It was also very
fun and had great people involved, she said.
The only thing Cucinella said she would
change about her college experience is she
“would have gotten involved even sooner
in the university.”
Cucinella will be starting law school at
UC Berkeley in August. She said it is the
best school for the price and she will be
living closer to her family.
“As of now, I am very interested in an advocacy
career in international human rights, working
perhaps in the United Nations, or with an
non-governmental organization or inter-governmental
organization,” Cucinella said. “However,
I also humor ideas of doing legal work for
the state department or CIA. I am also very
interested in working with public policy,
and perhaps working for a think tank or
on Capitol Hill.”
“Amy has absolutely made the most of her
college career,” O’Conner said. “She has
a great sense of adventure and fun about
her.”
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