| Emory Report | July 24, 2000 |
Volume 52, No. 38 |
Student News Drake Award honors improvement By Jan Gleason Adam Shapiro, an Emory College senior from Dresher, Pa., received the $5,000 Drake Award this past spring, an honor given to a student whose "academic work and leadership ability have shown significant growth and advancement over the first two college years." The award was created by William Matheson '47G, who also endowed the McMullan Award, a $20,000 no-strings-attached prize given to a graduating senior each year for outstanding citizenship. Shapiro has been a sophomore advisor, assistant coordinator of Recreational Services and will serve as president of Sigma Nu fraternity this fall. He participated this past year in Emory Bigs, the Emory-based Big Brother/Big Sister program. "It took me my freshman year to figure out what I wanted to do," said Shapiro. "When I started taking classes in things I was interested in, I really started to do a lot better." Shapiro is double majoring in Jewish studies and educational studies and plans to become a Jewish educator and administrator. He said he will use the money from the award to further his education, although he has not decided which graduate school he wants to attend. Shapiro is a 1997 graduate of Akiba Hebrew Academy in Merion, Pa. He is the son of Steven and Judith Shapiro of Dresher, Pa. Matheson named the Drake Award in memory of his friend Archaelaus Augustus "Archie" Drake, whom he admired greatly. Matheson met and befriended Drake in Macon in 1941, the year they both began college, although Matheson attended Mercer University and Drake attended the Citadel. During World War II, both men joined the armed services, and Drake was killed in a battle near Aachen, Germany,on Dec. 5, 1944. |