A SHINING SEASON

On more than one occasion, Tom Shane has said that he and Emory were a perfect match. Judging from his experience at the University–which included a Woodruff scholarship, an All-American swimming record, and a 4.0 grade point average–it certainly seems Emory allowed Shane to shine.

His clear-headed, good-natured, and wholehearted commitment to all he undertook earned Shane the University’s highest student honor, the Marion Luther Brittain Award, given for service performed without expectation of reward or recognition.

When Dean John Ford called Shane to tell him about the honor he had won, Shane was taken by surprise. “I said, that’s wonderful. What is it?” Shane recalls. “The more he talked about what the award meant, and the type of company I was in, the more flabbergasted I was that I was selected.”

Shane, who was featured on the cover of the spring issue of Emory Magazine, was a top athlete as well as a superior scholar. He spent many thousands of hours in the pool to become the second-most decorated swimmer in the University’s history, while earning perfect scores in pre-med courses such as neuroscience. One of just twenty-nine NCAA postgraduate scholarship winners for 2002, Shane also puts his swimming talent to use teaching youth swim teams and members of the Emory community.

Last summer, Shane traveled to South Korea to participate in a month-long Habitat for Humanity project led by former President Jimmy Carter.

This fall Shane will begin medical school at Washington University in St. Louis, on a full tuition scholarship. He is the son of Richard and Bonnie Shane of New Berlin, Wis.

“Emory was everything I hoped it would be,” Shane says. “The things I did while at Emory I did only because Emory offers such a rich environment to foster these activities.”–P.P.P.