While
completing a double major in biology and Spanish, this year’s
Marion Luther Brittain Service Award recipient, Hugo
Aparicio ’04C, accumulated such academic honors
as Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Beta Kappa, and Mortar Board’s Outstanding
Sophomore Award; ran cross-country and competed in outdoor and
indoor events with Emory’s track team; served on the Rathskellar
comedy/improvisational troupe; and studied internationally in
Northern Ireland, Bolivia, Italy, and Ecuador, his home country.
Still,
Aparicio (above, with Dean of Campus Life John Ford) found time
to serve as scholarship chair for Alpha Tau Omega fraternity,
philanthropy chair for the Latino Student Organization, a tutor
in the Emory Writing Center, a mentor in the Hughes Science
Scholar Summer Institute, and coordinator of the Ready, Set,
Read! literacy program at Grady Hospital. “Hugo was an
athlete and did a lot of service in Atlanta as well as internationally,”
said Martin Howell, assistant to the senior vice president for
campus life, who headed the award committee. “But what
really stood out about Hugo was his modesty.”
Aparicio, who plans to attend medical school in the fall, says
the best program he was involved with was Big Brothers of Atlanta.
“I’ve gotten to be good friends with a twelve-year-old,
Cesar, who looks up to me,” he says. “We spend time
doing things we both enjoy, like sports, going to the movies,
and playing video games.”
Aparicio also urges students to seek international experiences
while in college. “You get a different perspective when
you travel outside of the U.S. and you begin to understand better
the differences between people. I guess that is funny advice
for arriving students, to make sure and leave Emory when you
get the chance, but there is no better education than life experiences.
The University will always be there when you get back.”
–M.J.L
While
working forty hours a week as a waitress during most of her college
career, Meg Elizabeth Rithmire ’04C
also made the dean’s list every semester, served as president
of Emory’s Young Democrats, conducted research in China,
and received dual degrees–a bachelor’s in Chinese studies
and international studies, and a master’s in political science.
After
receiving the 2004 Lucius Lamar McMullan Award, Rithmire will
be able to give up the waitressing.
The
award, which was endowed by Emory alumnus William L. Matheson
’43C in honor of his uncle, comes with $20,000, no strings
attached, to encourage the student to do “something he
or she wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.”
“I
deeply appreciate not only the money, but the honor as well,”
Rithmire says. “Emory has been an outstanding and supportive
community to be a part of.”
Rithmire, who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, was Phi Beta Kappa
and a Goodrich C. White Scholar, was on the Emory College Honor
Council, volunteered with Emory READ, and served as a judge
for the Barkley Forum– Emory’s debate program. She
plans to spend part of her award on a scholarship for a high
school student to attend the Emory National Debate Institute
this summer. “Debate made a huge difference in my life
in high school,” she says, “and I want to give a young
student the opportunity to experience it.”
She
will be attending Harvard University’s Kennedy School of
Government in the fall, where she has received the Karl Deutsch
Prize Fellowship, to begin work on a doctorate in politics and
government.
–M.J.L.
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