Sarah Borron, daughter of Judy and Ronald Borron of Bargersville, Ind., was among six Denison University seniors who were honored by President Dale T. Knobel as this year's "President's Medalists" during the University's annual Academic Awards Convocation on April 19.

Borron is an environmental studies major at Denison and holds a Trustee Scholarship, and is a Robert C. Byrd Scholar. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she was a finalist for the prestigious Truman Scholarship, was one of two seniors nominated by Denison for the USA Today All American Academic Team and was named to Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. A consistent dean's list student and member of the Honors Program, she has served as a teaching assistant in both the religion and environmental studies departments and is also a senior fellow in environmental studies. Her honors project was "Food, Faith and Farming: Catholic Involvement in Sustainable Solutions for Hunger."

Borron was awarded a Young Scholar grant to pursue research in the summer with a faculty member at Denison and also did an independent research project in Nepal. She was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa (international leadership honorary), has served on the staffs of both June and August Orientation programs, and as a host for the admissions office. She is the co-founder of Denison's Turkish Relief Effort group and the Denison International Relief Effort committee. She also has been a leader for four community service "alternative break" trips to the District of Columbia. Borron is a member of the Gospel Choir, served as chair of the Denison Community Association's Cloverbuds committee and helped plan chapel services.

Borron is a graduate of Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Ind.

Presentation remarks:

"Sarah, what emerges from a reading of all your letters is a portrait of a rare blend of intellectual keenness wedded to moral passion, of one who is not content with learning unless it is transmuted into the kind of social action that mitigates the plight of fellow human beings.

"As a Phi Beta Kappa and Environmental Studies major, you have been a model student. As part of your academic agenda you spent a semester studying in Nepal, completing an innovative independent research project in a remote mountainous district. In addition to your academic work -- or rather, one should say in concert with your academic work -- you have been hyper-energetic in your leadership roles outside the classroom, in ways that have had a palpable impact well beyond the Denison campus -- from the instruction of disadvantaged children in Newark, Ohio to the serving of meals to the hungry and the HIV-stricken in Washington, D.C.

"You were co-founder and co-chair of the Turkish Relief Effort after the earthquake in that country; you were co-founder and co-chair of Denison International Relief Fund, organizing fundraisers for the drought in Africa, for the earthquake in El Salvadore, and most recently for the people Afghanistan. And here is a remarkable fact: during all of your winter breaks at Denison -- count them, all four winter breaks -- you have either participated in or led an alternative break group to feed the homeless or prepare food for the hungry in Washington, D.C.

"All of this selfless work has culminated this year in your being awarded The Mickey Leland-Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship Award -- one of 20 in the country -- which will allow you to gain experience at both the grassroots and policy levels in working with the hungry.

"I close with a quote from one of your teachers that sums it all up: 'Although Sarah has experienced the sheer joy of intellectual freedom, of academic discovery, of encounters with beautiful poetry, these are for her not enough if they cannot also serve to enrich the lives of others, to fill them with hope, to alleviate their poverty of spirit and elevate their material well-being.' Sarah, in all these things you have made Denison supremely proud to be your alma mater."