Emily Horton ’18 said she “cried a little” when she found out that she’d been selected the 2017 Sommerville Scholar. The annual award, given since 1965 in memory of former professor Richard Clarke Sommerville, is the most prestigious academic accolade presented at Lynchburg.
A Bonner Leader, Horton has volunteered with area nonprofits, among them Lynchburg Grows, Lynchburg Daily Bread, and the local humane society. This year, as a senior intern, she’s helping facilitate the program and run meetings.
“Emily is one of those rare souls that has a compassionate and empathetic heart equal to her keen and sharp intellect,” Anne Gibbons, director of the Bonner Leader Program, said. “She is wise and also warm. She is bright and also beloved. Emily is wicked smart and also warmly sensitive. It has been said that people don’t care what you know until they know that you care. Because Emily approaches her service in the community and her leadership in Bonner with such deep caring, others are then open and able to learn from what she has to teach and to benefit from the skills she has to share. I am thrilled that Emily leaves a lasting legacy of loving leadership as this year’s Sommerville Scholar.”