Blayne Lopes embodied the Congregation of Holy Cross values at the heart of a Stonehill education: He achieved his own success while also working to ensure the success of others.

Lopes, who earned degrees in psychology and sociology and completed all the requirements for the Anthropology minor, served as a student mentor, an Advocate for a Brighter Stonehill (ABS, formerly ALANA-A brothers and sisters), a resident assistant and as treasurer of the Student Government Association’s Diversity Committee. He was also an active member of the Diversity On Campus (D.O.C.) Club and was an intern for Multicultural Recruitment in the Admission Office.

As a two-time intern in the Office of Intercultural Affairs he wrote for the Intercultural Happenings blog and newsletter. His second internship in that office was through the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ (NASPA) Undergraduate Fellowship Program.

Lopes, who came to Stonehill from New Bedford, Massachusetts, also worked closely with our Intercultural Affairs subcommittee, helping draft the diversity section of the College’s next Strategic Plan, and served as the student voice for Stonehill’s Bias Response Protocol.

His efforts and activities did not go unnoticed. In 2010, he was awarded the College’s Diversity and Social Justice Award.

Lopes went on to earn a master’s degree in social work at Simmons College and is now a STARS Youth Program specialist at Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp. in Boston.