Celeste V. Lopes
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Celeste V. Lopes, Esq.William Smith B.A. '80 Celeste Lopes epitomizes all that the William Smith Alumna Achievement Award celebrates. As a distinguished woman who, through her own achievements, sets an outstanding example for other William Smith women as they follow the paths of their dreams and ambitions---she has done so in the face of a particular challenge; she has been legally blind since the age of three. At William Smith, Lopes was elected to Hai Timiai. She worked as a peer advisor and teacher's assistant in the mathematics department and general education. She was active in the Canterbury Club and was one of the founders of the Newman Club. She was a member of Amaranth and the All Colleges' Campus Chorale, and spent a term abroad in London. In the midst of all of this she found time to volunteer at "Happiness House." As an undergraduate Lopes spent the summer of 1978 in the Nassau County District Attorney's Office, Mineola, N.Y. In 1981 she worked in the United States District Court in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and in summer 1982 in the New York State Attorney General's office. These experiences determined the course of her career as an attorney. In 1983 she earned her J.D. from Boston College Law School, where she was the recipient of an award for service to the law school, professional achievement, service to others and personal accomplishment. In August 1983, a few months after graduating from law school and immediately after sitting for the New York State Bar Exam, Lopes joined the King's County District Attorney's Office (Brooklyn, N.Y.). She was first assigned to the Sex Crimes Bureau. In time she moved through assignments to the Grand Jury Bureau, the Supreme Court Bureau, and then she became the Supervising Senior Assistant District Attorney assigned to the Major Frauds Bureau. She is currently a Deputy Bureau Chief, Rackets Division. She is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of N.Y. and in Massachusetts. Outside of her professional activities, Lopes is involved in competitive English horsemanship. She is also an avid skier and kayaker. Her accomplishments in the areas of active sport led to her service on the board of directors of Ski for Light International---a not-for-profit organization that runs a weeklong cross-country ski program for the blind and mobility impaired. Since 1987, she has served on the Board of Directors of the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, Smithtown, N.Y., including two years as board president. She is currently working with her fourth guide dog from the Foundation. She serves as vice chair of the national board of directors of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFBD), an organization which provided the taped audio books she used throughout her education. She is also chair of the National Advisory and Advocacy Council of RFBD. Additionally, she is currently on the board of directors for the National Center for Disabilities. In July of 1994 Lopes filmed a public service announcement with Attorney General Janet Reno to promote the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and attended an anniversary celebration of the ADA hosted by the White House. In 1996 she was featured in a PBS documentary, "People in Motion." In 1999 she was the recipient of The Long Island Fund for Women and Girls Award. Lopes was the first blind Assistant District Attorney in New York State and one of a handful nationwide. Lopes is a loyal and active alumna of William Smith. She has returned to campus as a Founder's Day speaker and since 1981 has served the Colleges as a career counselor. Celeste Lopes has embodied the search for excellence throughout her life. That she has accomplished excellence in the face of what might have proved an inhibiting disability makes her selection for the Alumna Achievement Award all the more significant. |