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Attitude and aptitude are second nature for Case, Melville, and Trustee scholars
By Hope Green
"Come back with your shield, or on it," mothers in ancient
Greece reputedly told sons going off to battle.
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| Jon Westling with Harold C. Case Scholars (from left) Elizabeth Mostofsky (CAS'03), Christopher Szczerban (SMG'03, CAS'03), Alexandra Mazarakis (CAS'03), Michael McCullough (ENG'03), Sean Wright (UNI'03), Laura Cali (CAS'03), Nichole Gleisner (UNI'03), Melissa Vellela (CAS'03), and Thomas Metkus (ENG'03). Not pictured is Alina Potts (UNI'03). Photos by Vernon Doucette | |
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It's a familiar rallying cry for Jenny Chen, who is cocaptain of the
Spartans -- the Undergraduate Classics Association's intramural basketball
team. The motto is about courage and steadfastness, attributes that enable
Chen (CAS'04, MED'07) to pursue simultaneous majors in Latin and medical
science and a minor in mathematics.
Even so, Chen describes her studies as if they were another form of recreation.
"When I find a subject that truly fascinates me, it rarely becomes
tiring to learn more about it, whether it be translating Ovid or figuring
out a chemistry mechanism," she says. "Instead, it becomes incredibly
fun."
Attitude and aptitude, among other traits, have earned Chen two of BU's
most prestigious awards: a Dean Elsbeth Melville Scholarship and a Sophomore
Trustee Scholarship. She is the first student in BU's history to receive
both on the same day.
"I often say that the Trustee Scholars should serve as leavening
for the rest of the student body," President Jon Westling told celebrants
assembled at The Castle for the annual Case, Melville, and Trustee Scholarships
Awards Ceremony on April 26. "Jenny Chen serves as leavening for
our finest faculty members as well."
The three scholarships are among the highest awards the University gives to recognize undergraduate achievement. Faculty committees select winners on the basis of both academic performance and community involvement.
On the fast track
This year's 10 Case and 2 Melville winners were chosen from a pool of
approximately 200 submissions, according to David Shepro, a CAS professor
of biology and chairman of the University Fellowships and Scholarships
Committee. They will each receive an award ranging from $1,000 to full
tuition and fees, depending upon need.
The Dean Elsbeth Melville Scholarships were established in 1978 in honor
of the late Elsbeth Melville (CAS'25), longtime dean of women at BU. They
usually are bestowed upon women in their junior year, but Chen, a sophomore,
became eligible sooner because she had already racked up 104.5 credits
by January. She started on this fast track while attending Boston University
Academy, a high school that permits students to take undergraduate courses
for advanced credit. She is also enrolled in BU's accelerated medical
program, which allows students to earn a B.A. and an M.D. in seven years.
Apart from her course work, Chen has tutored fellow college students and
public school children in Boston's Chinatown. She also has served as the
treasurer of the BU chapter of the Mathematical Association of America.
On top of that, she is a talented pianist.
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Dean Elsbeth Melville Scholars Joanna Paladino (UNI'03) and Jenny Chen (CAS'04, MED'07) and Westling outside The Castle. |
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Chen expects to begin her studies at the BU School of Medicine in the
fall of 2003. To complement her studies, she works at the Schepens Eye
Research Institute at Harvard Medical School, where she is assisting with
a study of wound healing in the cornea, and volunteers at the Massachusetts
Eye and Ear Infirmary. Although her academic concentration is in ophthalmology,
she is considering a switch either to cancer study or to a concentration
that combines both fields.
The other Melville Scholar, Joanna Paladino (UNI'03), plans to attend
medical school as well.
A Trustee Scholar since freshman year, she is pursuing a bachelor of arts
in independent concentration, with an emphasis on international women's
health and bioethics.
Paladino had always wondered how she could improve the world, and it was
during an SPH graduate course in health and human rights last fall that
she found a direction: championing the cause of women's health and reproductive
rights. The only undergraduate student ever to take the course, she wrote
her final paper on the high incidence of unsafe abortions in El Salvador.
From there Paladino developed an action plan for addressing the Salvadoran
abortion crisis, which she plans to submit to nongovernmental organizations
and women's health activist groups. She hopes to take time off between
her undergraduate and medical training to work in Latin America.
"I don't want to lose perspective in medical school," she says.
"It's important for me to see what's going on with women's issues
firsthand."
While at BU, Paladino has volunteered in a nursing home and a women's
health clinic, tutored inner-city elementary school children, interviewed
prospective students for the Office of Admissions, and served on the Trustee
Scholar Steering Committee. She is president of the Bioethics Society;
she also has a green belt in tae kwon do.
Case Scholars
The Harold C. Case Scholarship was established to honor the former BU
president upon his retirement in 1967, and each year it goes to at least
10 juniors. One of this year's recipients is Sean Wright (UNI'03), who
has also won a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (see sidebar).
The other Case scholarship recipients and their majors are: Laura Cali
(CAS'03), mathematics and economics with a minor in French; Nichole Gleisner
(UNI'03), independent concentration, focusing on English and French literature;
Alexandra Mazarakis (CAS'03), English; Michael McCullough (ENG'03), manufacturing
engineering; Thomas Metkus (ENG'03), biomedical engineering; Elizabeth
Mostofsky (CAS'03), psychology; Alina Potts (UNI'03), independent concentration,
focusing on human rights; Christopher Szczerban (SMG'03, CAS'03), finance
and political science; and Melissa Vellela (CAS'03), mathematics.
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| Sophomore Trustee Scholars (from left) Anastasia Piliavsky (CAS'04), Jenny Chen (CAS'04, MED'07), and Richard Burkhart (ENG'04), with Westling. | |
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Sophomore Trustee Scholars
The Boston University Trustee Scholarship Program, begun in 1975, offers
merit-based, full-tuition scholarships to outstanding high school seniors
from the United States and around the world. In 1996, Westling expanded
the program to include students who have distinguished themselves during
their first three terms of study at BU.
The Sophomore Trustee Scholarship includes full tuition during the recipient's
junior year and is renewable for the senior year if the student maintains
a GPA of 3.5 or higher. This year, the Trustee Scholarship Selection Committee
chose 3 award recipients from an applicant field of 120 sophomores. Besides
Chen, the new Trustee Scholars are Richard Burkhart (ENG'04), a biomedical
engineering major, and Anastasia Piliavsky (CAS'04), who is majoring in
religion and anthropology.
"I hope that all of you new Trustee Scholars will take full advantage
of this wonderful scholarship that's just been given to you," said
Elizabeth Shannon, director of the Trustee Scholars Program, "and
I hope that you will soon come to realize that it really isn't just a
scholarship, but a community of students and scholars who, like yourselves,
are all academically gifted, and who are stretching themselves to excel
in everything Boston University can offer."
16 May 2002
Boston University
Office of University Relations