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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (May 7, 2005) — For more than fifty years, the New York Southern Society has granted Queens University of Charlotte the privilege of bestowing two Algernon Sydney Sullivan awards each year – one to a member of the graduating class, and the other to a person who is affiliated with the University in some other capacity. The Society specifies the following: “The award is a continuing reminder that the noblest qualities are those characteristics of heart, mind, and conduct which evidence a love for, and helpfulness to, other men and women. True nobility is found in those who move beyond the narrow circle of their self-interest and spend themselves in the interest of humanity.”
The nobility, dedication and service of the student recipient of the 2005 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award has moved some members of the Queens community to call her “extremely selfless,” “unfailingly kind toward those in need,” and “a compassionate and caring individual who is mature beyond her young years.” She is someone who devotes her time and talents selflessly to, and is therefore loved and respected by others at this university, in the greater Charlotte community and in her hometown.
While her list of volunteer activities is long, what stands out to her peers and teachers is this student’s continuous demonstration of affection for and commitment to senior citizens. She places weekly calls to a number of older women in her home community, enriching their lives with this beautiful, honest gesture of friendship. Long after completing an internship at Sharon Towers, she remains a committed volunteer and advocate for those residents. Not only does she spend her own time walking with, talking to and driving Charlotte’s elderly, but she also has involved her sorority and the Queens alumni office, organizing holiday caroling and “Queens teas” for these valuable members of our community. In the words of one professor, “The literature and practical experience holds that the many negative stereotypes about aging puts elders in the ‘forgotten’ category far too frequently. She has gone out of her way to alleviate this trend and to influence others to see elders in a more positive light.”
Her service to the University includes organizing the Queens Room in the Inn program for Urban Ministries, serving as a Queens Ambassador and decorating for the Moravian Love Feast every year. She is a member of Honor Council, Mortar Board and Kappa Delta sorority, and volunteers for the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the American Cancer Society. She is a Dean’s List student and a lab manager for the psychology department, not to mention a talented musician who gives of her vacation time to play the flute in her home church’s holiday services.
The recipient of the 2005 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for students truly embodies the Queens motto, “Not to be served, but to serve,” and the characteristics of heart, mind and conduct which evidence a love for others. She is:
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