Katherine and Darren Ash established the Ash Service Award to help cultivate and support a culture of community service within the UGA Honors Program. Awards go to fourth-year Honors students who have demonstrated a serious and sustained commitment to service—whether it be service to the campus community, the Athens community, or the national/international community.

past Ash Service Award Recipients

Ash Service Awards Recipients for 2009, left to right:
Hannah Barfield, Lauren Fisher, Lila "Eli" Tedesco, and Dave Gupta

Hannah Gabrielle Barfield, from Thomasville, Georgia, is graduating in spring 2010 with bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Women’s Studies. She is honored for her work on behalf of survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, including as a rape crisis hotline volunteer for The Cottage Sexual Assault Center of Northeast Georgia and organizing the annual event Take Back the Night. After graduation, Hannah will be attending a master's program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Clemson University, and envisions a career counseling victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Lauren Marie Fisher, from Fayetteville, Georgia, is graduating in spring 2010 with bachelor’s degrees in International Business and Marketing, and a minor in French. She is honored for her four years of work with the Thomas Lay After School Program—tutoring and mentoring local elementary school students, organizing activities, and managing volunteers. After graduation, she will teach English to elementary school students in France as a French Government Teaching Assistant, and soon thereafter will pursue a master's in Integrated Marketing Communications, with an eye toward eventually working in a French marketing firm.

Dave Raj Gupta, from Macon, Georgia, will continue on for a fifth year at UGA to complete a bachelor’s in Genetics and a Master of Public Health, with a concentration in Epidemiology, in spring 2011. Dave is honored for his work with Promote Africa, including work on a solar ovens project, helping Namibian elementary schools feed students, and Banking Without Borders, a website connecting philanthropic donors with development partners in Africa. He also represented Promote Africa in Copenhagen this past winter at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He envisions a career integrating these experiences with a degree in Medicine, creating models of healthcare adapted to the needs of the developing world.

Lila (“Eli”) Elisabeth Tedesco, from Atlanta, Georgia, is graduating in spring 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs. She is honored for her work in a variety of organizations—as a leader of the campus chapter of Amnesty International, a tutor and student worker for Oasis Catolica Tutoring After-School Program, a summer intern for the Community Skills Development Foundation in Namibia—and for her in-depth research on the reconstruction of New Orleans post-Katrina. She plans to pursue a master’s in International Urban Planning and a career focused on post-disaster reconstruction and planning, ensuring green practices and social justice perspectives are at the forefront of rebuilding efforts.