Five seniors honored for academics, service

Five seniors will be given the Robert H. Wright Alumni Leadership Award at ECU's commencement ceremony Saturday, May 8.

Drew Edward Davis, Gail Kennedy, Daphne Harrington, Kevin Lamm and Leanne Smith will receive the prestigious honor.

Kennedy, a 52-year-old mother of two, said, "I feel very honored to receive this award. I guess being dedicated to what I was trying to achieve helped me earn it."

After raising two children who graduated from college and now work in Raleigh, Kennedy left her job as a teaching assistant to finish her education as an elementary education major.

In addition to keeping up a household in Johnson County, she got an apartment in Greenville to make it easier for her to attend school, Kennedy said. She graduates with a 4.0 GPA and has already begun her new career, having been released early from student teaching requirements to take a full-time first grade teaching position.

According to the Alumni Center, Davis and Lamm will both finish their undergraduate studies with a degree in economics with minors in business administration and business, respectively.

Davis plans to attend BSOM. Smith, who will continue at ECU in graduate school, is an English major

"These five students exemplify what ECU is about ... ECU is proud to welcome them into the Alumni Association," said Paul Clifford, associate vice chancellor for Alumni Relations.

He said the only hard-set standard of qualification for the award is that the student have a GPA of 3.5 or higher, and that he or she be nominated by a faculty member.

The award recognizes not only the students' academic success, but also their contribution to the surrounding community.

Collectively, this year's recipients have volunteered with organizations such as Meals on Wheels, the Humane Society, Diabetes Association, Relay for Life, Department of Social Services, Read Across America and several others. Some of them may continue to volunteer after they graduate.

"I've volunteered for Habitat for Humanity for the past two years almost every Saturday, and I plan to keep doing it after graduation," said Harrington.

The commencement ceremony at which the recipients will be recognized takes place at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum at 2 p.m.

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com