November 24, 2025

by Lauren Ferguson

When Chantalle Reyes ‘26 and her mother toured Ramapo College of New Jersey, it was fall; the leaves were vibrant colors, and the natural beauty of the picturesque Mahwah, NJ campus in the foothills of the Ramapo Mountains shone through.

After their tour, her mother looked at her and said, “I imagine you here. You will do great things here,” Reyes recalled.

“In my culture, intuition is a very important thing, and my mom has one of the strongest intuitions of anyone I’ve ever met,” said Reyes, who was born in the Dominican Republic, and immigrated to the Bronx, NY, at 4 years old.

“She was right, because I am doing big things and I am very proud of myself,” Reyes said.

Making her Mark

The bilingual first-generation college student is now a senior social work major and student leader at Ramapo, with a large network on campus, and close professors who meet her for meals and act as her mentors.

At Ramapo, Reyes has served as the president of the Organization of Latino Unity, the vice president of Students of Caribbean Ancestry, and secretary of diversity and inclusion in the Student Government Association. She has interned for both the First-Generation Student Center and the Center for Student Success. She is also a member of the Tri-Alpha First-Generation Honor Society, and last year earned the Outstanding Leadership by a Junior Student Award during the College’s Student Leadership Award Reception.

This month, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the College’s First-Generation Student Center space, Reyes was given the College’s second annual Legacy Award. The award recognizes a graduating first-generation student who has made a lasting impact at Ramapo through their advocacy, leadership, engagement, and initiative in advancing first-generation student success.

Chantalle Reyes ’26, right, participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the First-Generation Student Center space.

“The Legacy Award exists because of students like Chantalle who go above and beyond to make Ramapo a better place for its first-gen community. I am so proud of all that she’s accomplished,” said Assistant Director of the First-Generation Student Center Uma Mahalingam ‘18.

Reyes said the award “was very special to me” because it showed that others – such as professors, peers and administrators – saw and recognized her work and contributions.

In her nomination in support of Reyes for the award, Assistant Professor of Social Work Dr. Colleen Daly Martinez wrote: “She is a role model for students and faculty alike. Her passion for justice and equity is unparalleled. And she does all of this while being a socially and academically accomplished first-generation college student. She is now seen as an elder in the community of women, people of color, students from immigrant families, and first-generation students at Ramapo, and is supporting other students in their growth as leaders.”

Becoming Empowered

Reyes wants others to realize that not all stories of immigrants are stories of struggle. It is also “empowering to be an immigrant because it is a unique experience,” she said.

Chantalle Reyes ’26 spokes during Ramapo’s 2025 Hipanic and Latinx Heritage Month ceremony.

When Reyes immigrated to the United States as a child, she joined her father who had already cultivated a life and earnings for himself in the Bronx. The family lived in a top-floor apartment overlooking Yankee Stadium. “Everytime they would have a game or a concert, I would just peer in, and it was great,” she recalled.

When she was 13, they moved to Garfield, NJ, where during the COVID pandemic she researched different topics, made different friends and “grew more as an empathetic person,” she said. She realized social work would be the right path for her, and she hasn’t looked back.

Reyes said she has experienced both struggles and privileges, and she realizes together they make up who she is. She is thankful to be able to use her voice to help others.

Reyes plans to pursue her Master of Social Work, and is considering medical social work, so she can use both her bilingual and social work skills to help families better understand medical circumstances and available support.

Coming Full-Circle 

When Reyes was given the Legacy Award, she looked for her mother in the audience and handed her a flower, “because if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. She said her mother raised her to be a person “who prioritizes helping people and serving her community.”

Earning the Legacy Award “was a full-circle moment” for both of them, because her mother’s intuition “was right all along,” Reyes said.

Chantalle Reyes ’26 celebrated with her mother after being awarded the Legacy Award.