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September 2005
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ALUMNI NEWS |
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Alumni Scholarship Recipient Completes All-AU Family Legacy Brandon Laks has been coming to AU for as long as he can remember. The freshman says that as a child growing up, every time he and his family would go on vacation or come to the D.C. area, they would stop and visit campus. His parents, Mark, CAS/BA ’76, and Terri, CAS/BS ’81 met at AU. “Supposedly my dad’s roommate’s girlfriend was my mom’s roommate and they met at some party they were both dragged to,” says the Leonard Hall resident. Laks, who won this year’s Alumni Scholarship Award, says he really did look at more than one school when it came time to choose colleges, despite the fact that both of his parents; his older brother, Ryan, Kogod/BSBA ’02; and his sister, Robin, CAS/BA ’04, also boast AU degrees. The cross country runner had his eye on Ohio State, too, but when decision time came, he thought he’d have a better chance to run at AU, and he really liked the enthusiasm and responsiveness of his cross country coach. “I actually didn’t find out about the scholarship until about week before I came to school. It was just something really cool that came out of nowhere. I’m happy about it. It’s good to have a little help,” he says. Although Laks has yet to declare a major, he’s leaning toward the Kogod School of Business, and has his eye on accounting. “It’s not set in stone though,” he adds. His favorite class this semester is about the history of cinema. “We get to look at movies more in-depth,” he says, describing the discussion he and his classmates have had about films from the 1930s and 1940s. “You see more than just the plot, like how they shot it.” Laks admits he’s taken notice of the need to “stay on top of everything more” now that he’s a college student. “It’s tough to study in the dorms,” he adds. “I go to the library.” The Alumni Scholarship was started in 1971 to encourage legacy students to attend AU and is funded through the course registration fees collected when alumni take classes through the Alumni Audit program. In fiscal year 2004-05, 172 alumni registered to audit classes, bringing more than $13,000 into the scholarship fund, which carries a balance of more than $100,000 "Choosing one person to honor is always a challenge," adds Alumni Board President Carey Earle, SOC/BA '88. -Melissa Reichley
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