Departments
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Week of 30 April 1999 |
Vol. II, No. 33 |
Feature
Article
Hitting the books and pounding the pavement
Case, Melville, and Trustee Scholars honored for work in the classroom and the community
By Eric McHenry
It was very appropriate, President Jon Westling observed, for the April 23 presentation of the Harold C. Case Scholarships to have The Castle as its setting.
During the years that Case was BU's president, The Castle was his home. "And it was a home that was routinely open to students," Westling said. "The Cases made a conscious effort to invite students in for tea and conversation. And as I now go around the country and meet BU alumni, I find that among the warmest memories people have of the University are memories of talking . . . with Harold and Phyllis Case in this house." He was pleased, he said, to be conferring scholarships in a place inhabited by such positive memories of the man for whom those scholarships are named.
The 1999 Case Scholars were joined at the event by recipients of the Dean Elsbeth Melville and the Sophomore Trustee Scholarships. Parents, faculty, alumni, and fellow students gathered to honor the academic and extracurricular achievements of all three groups. The scholarships are among the highest honors the University bestows upon its undergraduates. Selection is based on review both of nominees' academic performance and their community involvement, and competition is rigorous. This year's 11 Case and 2 Melville Scholars were chosen from a pool of 148 submissions, according to David Shepro, CAS professor of biology and chairman of the University Fellowships and Scholarships Committee. They will each receive an award ranging from $1,000 to full tuition and fees, depending upon need.
"I am truly indebted to President Westling for allowing me to be chairman of the committee," Shepro said at the ceremony, describing the selection process, "because it's sheer joy. I have a passionate commitment to education, and it's no effort at all to work on this particular committee."
With a major in harp performance and his sights set on medical school, Steve Simpson (SFA'00) exemplifies both the dedication and the diversity of pursuits that the Case Scholarships, which go each year to at least 10 outstanding juniors, were established to recognize.
"The dexterity and poise Mr. Simpson has developed as a musician," Westling said in presenting the award, "ought to serve him well in his future career as a surgeon."
Simpson agrees that despite their obvious differences and the difficulty with which he has balanced the study of both, music and medicine have a synergism. They demand similar precision, delicacy, concentration, and expertise.
"The good habits you develop in music certainly carry over into the sciences," he says. "It's really a very logical progression from one to the other, and that's one of the reasons that I'm looking into surgery right now. Since I was 11 years old, I've been behind an instrument training my hands for a very specialized activity."
At school, Simpson has performed with the BU Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra. At home in Houston, he's spent time volunteering in the cardiac intensive care unit at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, one of the nation's best facilities for cardiac care.
The two junior women who receive the Melville Scholarship each year must be what, in Westling's words, the late BU dean of women herself was: "a force on this campus." In addition to scholarly excellence, the award acknowledges high moral character and personal integrity, contribution to the life of Boston University, and potential usefulness in one's chosen field.
"Everybody knew Elsbeth Melville," Westling said before presenting the scholarships, "and if you did something that she liked, you heard about it in loud, enthusiastic, intelligent, and well-considered terms. And if, God forbid, you did something that she did not like, you heard about that in loud, well-considered, and highly energetic prose. She was a person whose integrity of character and enthusiasm for young people and for this institution shone. And those who carry the scholarship that bears her name are continuing a very important tradition at this University."
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President Westling talks with Richard and Jeanne Adamo prior to a ceremony honoring BU's Case, Melville, and Sophomore Trustee Scholars. The Adamos attended on behalf of their daughter, Elizabeth (CAS'00), a Case Scholar, who is currently studying in Oxford with BU's British Programs. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky |
On this side of the Atlantic, Golba serves as Executive Board treasurer for ENG and as a volunteer for the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, where she's helping with preparation for the AIDS Walk in June. It's a commitment that follows naturally from her recent work with Community Servings, an organization that delivers meals to people with AIDS.
"I just wanted to take a bigger step in getting involved and helping out," she says. "After the Walk is over, I hope to undergo training to provide information through the AIDS hotline."
Beverly Straub (SAR'00), this year's other Melville recipient, was in a familiar position at the April 23 ceremony. As a Sophomore Trustee Scholar, she'd stood in the same room last year.
"I am pleased to see that she has not rested on her laurels," Westling said.
The Trustee Scholarship Selection Committee unanimously chose sophomores Laura Bottoms (CAS'01), a French language and literature and Spanish language and literature major, Jacob Harris (UNI'01), who has an independent concentration, and Rebecca Sansom (CAS'01), a chemistry and philosophy major, for the 1999 honor. The Trustee Scholarship includes full tuition during the recipient's junior year and is renewable for the senior year if the student maintains a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
"All three of these students embody the ideals of the Trustee Scholars program," said Michael Prince, CAS associate professor of English and chairman of the committee. "They have managed to pursue their studies at the very highest level of distinction . . . And at the same time they have committed themselves to significant, very meaningful activities in the community."
The other 1999 Case Scholars are Elizabeth Adamo (CAS'00), an English major currently studying at Oxford University; Alexis Armenakis (CAS'00), a psychology major; Evan Dvorin (CAS'00), a biochemistry and molecular biology major; Sarah Felix (ENG'00), majoring in mechanical engineering; Sylvia Gim (SAR'00), a human physiology major; Danielle Lightburn (CAS'00), majoring in history and French language and literature; Olga Livshin (COM'00), a communications major; Peter McNerney (ENG'00), a computer systems engineering major; John Moore (ENG'00), a biomedical engineering major; and Edgardo Salcedo (ENG'00), also a biomedical engineering major.