Nicholas Allevato
By Pam McKeta
A total of 37 graduating students were recognized this spring for their outstanding academic achievement in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University.
One of them is Nicholas Allevato, a graduating senior in the Kinesiology program, part of the college’s School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism
A member of the Army ROTC program at George Mason, Allevato has traveled to Ukraine and Germany for cultural and medical operations. He also graduated from the U.S. Army Air Assault School as well as the U.S. Army Basic Airborne Course.
Following graduation, he will commission as an officer into active duty with the U.S. Army Medical Services Corps. Then he will pursue the Army-Baylor Physical Therapy program in order to specialize as an Army physical therapist.
Allevato looks back with appreciation at the experiences and knowledge he gained as a kinesiology major at Mason.
“I am beyond honored and humbled to receive this award,” he said.
He’s grateful that he had so many opportunities at Mason, starting with the coursework his freshman year that other students would have to wait for at other schools.
“I was exposed to a cardiac rehabilitation clinic, a physical therapy department and a professional fitness club my first year in school,” he said.
“Now I find myself spending my entire final semester interning at the world’s hub of prosthetics research and amputee care, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.”
Allevato said his Mason professors opened his eyes to the true meaning of being passionate in his pursuits.
And working with servicemen and women at Walter Reed solidified his desire to serve those who serve.
“I hope that I have a meaningful impact on all the individuals I work with through a passion similar to that of the kinesiology staff,” he said. “What could be more rewarding than aiding those people who have given up their choice of a self-serving life in order to ensure others may preserve that right?”