FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 05/01/2008

Thompson Receives Community Service Award

BRIDGEWATER, Va. — Amber Hale Thompson, a Bridgewater College senior, has received the Melissa D. Jett Community Service Award. The award, presented on April 29, at the annual Awards Convocation, recognizes outstanding leadership in community service at Bridgewater College.

The award is named in memory of Melissa D. Jett, who would have graduated with the Bridgewater College class of 1999. She died Jan. 15, 1997, as the result of a traffic accident on campus. During her life, Jett was dedicated to serving others. The award is presented to a "senior who has demonstrated consistent and exemplary leadership in community service while a student at Bridgewater College."

For her award, Thompson received an inscribed gift and her name will be added to a plaque in the Service-Learning Center.

Thompson, a philosophy and religion major with a minor in peace studies, is the daughter is the daughter of Danny and Martha Thompson of Copper Hill, Va. She is a 2004 graduate of Floyd County High School. At Bridgewater College, she is a member of the Student Ministry Council and has volunteered with Relay for Life serving as a committee captain. She is completing her second internship in the office of the College chaplain.

As a member of the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity, Thompson has participated in two Collegiate Challenge Alternate Spring Break trips to Spartanburg, S.C. and to Johns Island, S.C. She also has volunteered the past two years the the College's annual CROP walk.

She is a member of the Student Ambassador Association and has been a four-year member of the College's deputation teams, which provide programs for churches throughout the mid-Atlantic region. She was selected for the 2008 edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.

Thompson will graduate on Sunday, May 11.

Bridgewater College, a private, four-year liberal arts college, enrolls more than 1,500 students. Founded in 1880 and located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, it was the state's first private, coeducational senior college.

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