Around the Dell
Packages for Afghanistan
LC’s Greek community joined forces to raise about $1,500 for a service project to send food and personal hygiene items to a U.S. unit in a remote part of Afghanistan. The project was started when Natasha Harkins ’12 asked the local American Le- gion what the students could do to help our troops overseas. Har- rison Kyte ’12 led the charge through the SERVE office, and Allen Francis ’12 produced a video on the project.
www.lynchburg.edu/spring2011 LC
To see Allen’s video, visit
Anna Piddubna ’11 was sitting in her pajamas, working on her sen- ior thesis when her roommate ran in and told her to put on some nice clothes and come to Snidow Chapel. As Anna slid into a seat expect-
ing to see her friend inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, Jan Sigler leaned over and told her, “You’re the Sommerville Scholar.” “They got initial reaction,” Anna
said with a laugh. “I’m shocked. I’m so honored. It’s such a huge honor. I never thought I would get it.” The Ukrainian native was
named the 2010-11 Sommerville Scholar, the highest academic award given by the College in recognition of the culmination of a distinguished academic record. Anna is the fiftieth Som- merville Scholar, joining a long line of distinguished lc alumni.
10 LC MAGAZINE Spring 2011
The 50th Sommerville Scholar Anna modestly says she has
many brilliant classmates, also double majors, who should have received the award. But she is the only one for whom English is a fourth language. She grew up speaking Ukrain-
ian and Russian and from age six, playing the violin. “Violin is like a drug,” she said. “You can’t stay away from it. I really can’t live without it.”
• • • Anna moved to the Czech Re-
public at age thirteen to live with her mother. When a friend de- cided to be an exchange student in the United States, Anna liked the idea. She ended up spending her senior year in high school at Jefferson Forest, in nearby Forest, Virginia. Her host family knew Dr.
Oeida Hatcher, associate profes- sor of music at lc, and after hear- ing Anna play, Dr. Hatcher urged her to join the Lynchburg College Orchestra. Anna decided lc was the place she wanted to be. Anna will graduate this spring
with majors in political science and music. A frequent participant in both College musical theatre productions and performances of the Lynchburg College Choral Union, Anna plays in the Ad Astra Trio, the Community Chamber Orchestra, and is in the first vio- lin section of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra. She also
serves as concertmaster for the lc Wind Symphony and Orchestra. Yet Anna obviously makes
time to study. “She is a serious scholar, as evidenced by the range and depth of the research projects she has undertaken,” said Dr. Julius Sigler ’62, vice president and dean for academic affairs. Anna’s senior thesis ad- dresses how the evangelical movement affects politics. Her decision to add political science to her music studies was made after taking “Quest for Justice,” from Dr. Tim Meinke during her freshman year. That class also laid the foundation for her thesis. The Sommerville Scholar has
her sights on law school or gradu- ate school in political science. In the meantime, she stays busy as a member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society for freshmen, Phi Sigma Alpha Honor Society (political science), The National Honor So- ciety of Phi Kappa Phi, the Music Teachers National Association, lc Paderewski Club, Residential Stu- dent organization, and the Student Judicial Board. She volunteers her musical talent at First Christian Church and has participated in the Alzheimer’s Walk, Recovery Walk for Virginia Community Services, and educational presen- tations at local schools. Anna said her politics and
music professors have inspired her with their enthusiasm and knowledge. “I love Lynchburg College,” she said. “That was one of the best decisions of my life.”
PACKAGE: COMSTOCK/THINKSTOCK
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