Michael Amato
Michael Amato, a member of the Honors College from Rochester, Massachusetts, will graduate with a degree in political science with an emphasis in pre-law and legal studies; world languages, literatures, and linguistics with an emphasis in Spanish, and history; and a minor in Native American studies.
He is a member of the Mortar Board and the Campus Cup Committee, president of the Organization of Native American Interests, treasurer of the Service Dog Organization, executive director of Fundraising for MountaineerThon, and has held several leadership positions in the Student Government Association.
Amato also serves as a teaching assistant for the WVU Honors College, resident assistant and night staff worker at Brooke Tower and the four-year treasurer of the Residence Hall Association.
His involvement in RHA has empowered him to play an active role in the residence halls through service and leadership opportunities. He is the creator of the annual “True Blue” initiative, a fundraising campaign in which custom-made t-shirts are sold to benefit local philanthropies; and “Dinner & Discourse,” an annual academic awareness event for freshmen residents to gain an understanding of an underrepresented populations.
During his tenure as treasurer, more than $18,500 was raised for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia, WVU Medicine Children’s and Empty Bowls Monongalia.
Amato credits his Native American Studies course “Treaties: Nation-to-Nation with stimulating his interest in preserving tribal culture and sovereignty, and experiential learning opportunities made possible by the Eberly College for turning his interest into a passion.
In 2017, Amato had the opportunity to traveled to Washington, D.C., with the Native American Studies Program, visiting the Embassy of Tribal Nations and the National Museum of the American Indian; and in 2018, he traveled to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to study the atrocities of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
Later that year, he attended the 75th Annual Convention of the National Congress of American Indians in Denver, Colorado- travel experiences that further cultivated his desire to pursue Federal Indian Law.
Amato has been inducted into the National Residence Hall Honorary, Rhododendron Chapter and is the recipient of the 2019 Central Atlantic Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls’ Distinguished Service Award, among several other residence life awards.
He will attend Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and pursue a position in the Navy JAG Crops’ Student Program in hopes to be appointed as an active-duty Navy judge advocate upon law school graduation.
Ultimately, he would like return to his alma mater as a professor.