The 2009 Louis Kussmaul Friendship Award, presented to the Denison University student “who has contributed most to the friendly relations between Granville and the college,” has been awarded to two Denison seniors.

Brandi Abrams ’09, from Chicago, and Trevor Smith ’09, from Decatur, Ill., were presented the honor at the the noon Rotary Luncheon on Monday, April 20, at the Granville Inn. The award is conferred by the Granville Area Chamber of Commerce (GACC) in cooperation with Denison University. Both Maggie Barno, executive director of the GACC, and Dale Knobel, president of Denison, were on hand to present the award. Dr. Samuel Thios, Denison vice president for Student Affairs, was the featured speaker for the ceremony.

	Brandi Abrams ’09 and Trevor Smith ’09

This year’s winners exemplify that friendly tradition. Abrams, a women’s studies major from Chicago, began serving as an America Reads tutor at the Granville Elementary School (GES) during her sophomore year. Later she also became student liaison to GES, a position through which she helped to build the America Reads program to 12 tutors serving 22 hours per week. Abrams also has held a leadership position in Denison’s Black Student Union, served as a volunteer tutor in an after-school program in Newark and as student facilitator for Denison’s vocational discernment program, QUEST. This year she organized an alternative spring-break trip to Atlanta to serve persons incapacitated by HIV-AIDS and to prepare and package meals for senior citizens and persons with chronic illnesses.

Smith, a biology major and chemistry minor from Decatur, Ill., has served since 2005 as a volunteer firefighter and EMT with the Granville Township Fire Department and is currently a paramedic student at Grant Medical Center. He also has volunteered exten¬sively with the First Presbyterian Church of Granville through Denison’s Lilly Internship Program and the student group Presbyterians at Denison. As an intern, Smith’s contributions have ranged from cooking for Wednesday evening dinners to working on church mission trips to Mississippi. In addition, he serves Denison’s Office of Religious Life as Webmaster and as a member of its Student Leader Council.

Louis Kussmaul, brother of former printer and owner of the Granville Times, W. H. Kussmaul, was a well-loved character in Granville during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kussmaul was intensely interested in both Granville and Denison and the relationship between them. His good friend Harry Amos, editor of the Cambridge (Ohio) Daily Jeffersonian honored “Lou” in 1947 by funding the annual award. The Louis Kussmaul Friendship Award stands as a testimony to the friendship of the two men and to the importance of friendly relations between a college and its hometown.

Read more about Brandi in the Granville Sentinel.

Read more about Trevor in the Granville Sentinel.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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