BRACK: Collins Hill grad wins “full ride” for Ph.D. at University of Virginia

By Elliott Brack | A Collins Hill High graduate has completed her degree at Clemson University and because of her accomplishments, has won a “full ride” five year program to complete her Ph. D. degree at the University of Virginia (UVA) in economics. One person put the value of the award at $250,000.

15.elliottbrackShe is Melissa Moore, 21, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Don Moore of Suwanee. She begins her studies at UVA on August 19. She finished at Clemson, summa cum laude, with dual majors and bachelor degrees in economics and women’s leadership. She was a Harry S. Truman scholarship finalist in 2014.

Part of Miss Moore’s life at college has focused on an undergraduate program she started at Clemson, “Poverty Ends with a Girl.”  She came up with this idea when a freshman, and by the fall of her sophomore year, it was a full credit course. The program has become part of the curriculum for four semesters now. This program recognizing the need to educate girls in developing countries, as well as in the United States. She says of the program: “There is a positive effect when girls are educated, in developing countries, and here. When girls get at least seven years of education, they have fewer children, remain healthy, and put income back into their families.”

Moore

Moore

Miss Moore has had a distinguished career at Clemson.  She was attracted to Clemson by out-of-state tuition waivers. She also won an Army Aviation scholarship, as her grandfather, Earl Hyers of Ozark, Ala., was a retired helicopter pilot.

She has been the recipient of the College of Business and Behavioral Science Trevillian Award for the Outstanding Senior in the Social Sciences, the Harvey J. Wheeler Award for the Outstanding Senior in Economics, the Doris R. Helms Award for Women’s Leadership and the Thea McCrary Award for Outstanding Service.

In 2014 she was a Clemson representative to the G-20 Youth Forum in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany, where she served as U.S. Minister for the Economy on the Committee for Family and Career Opportunities for Young People.

Melissa is a Dixon Global Policy Scholar and a Dixon Fellow. This program seeks to enhance student knowledge of the issues that shape the world. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Alpha Lambda Delta (Freshman) Honor Societies. She was a member of the Clemson University Singers and Women’s Glee Club, and participated in a concert tour of Italy in 2013.

Melissa interned with Wider Opportunities for Women in Washington, D.C. (2014) and at Rainbow Village in Duluth, (2013). Her volunteer activities have included Family Promise Transitional Housing and Habitat for Humanity. She has been actively involved with Canterbury at Clemson, the Episcopal campus ministry, for the last four years and has helped with leadership for this organization.

Whew!  What a college career! And now even a wider opportunity opens at UVA. No wonder UVA opened the door toward more scholarship for Melissa!

She advises those still in high school who seek a college career: “I’ve seen a lot of students do a lot of activities toward resume building. This is useful, but if they really want to stand out, they have to find something, perhaps just one element, that they to put work into, take on leadership, and do this thing really well. They need to talk about it, care about it, and do something!”

We’ll hear more great news from Melissa Kathleen Moore. She’s going places!

Bidding opens to Buy fourth-from-last Gwinnett history book

15.0508.bookBidding opens today if you are interested in buying the 850 page Gwinnett history book, Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta.  Only four books remain from the second printing; there will be no additional printing of this award-winning book.

Anyone wanting a copy should send in email bids. The minimum bid is now $50, and increases must go up by $5 a bid. The bidding for this copy of the book ends at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 21. Part of the proceeds benefit the Salvation Army. Those bidding will be kept alert to the developing bids by email. 

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