Newswise — CHARLOTTE, N.C. – May 10, 2011 – An accomplished student, gifted athlete and tireless humanitarian, Darius Law is the 2011 recipient of The Nish Jamgotch Jr. Humanitarian Student Award at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Law, a senior in the Belk College of Business and an All-American track and field star, will receive a $10,000 cash prize.
Since 2004, the award has recognized a student who demonstrated achievement and notable work in the humanitarian field. Political Science Professor Emeritus Nish Jamgotch Jr., who taught at UNC Charlotte from 1966-1993, established this award to honor a student with an established humanitarian track record.
In his letter to the Jamgotch Scholarship Committee, Law said he has been involved in a number of community service projects during his four years at UNC Charlotte, but one really stands out in his memory.
“The Samaritan’s Feet Basketball game on January 19th, 2010, was the most significant community experience of my life,” he wrote. “Entering my senior year, I decided that I wanted to lead a movement on the UNC Charlotte campus to help save children’s lives by providing them with a pair of shoes; believe it or not, a child dies from a foot-related illness caused by not having shoes every 15 seconds somewhere in the world.”
Law said the game – in which Charlotte 49ers Coach Alan Major coached barefoot – helped raise over $2,800 and buy more than 70 pairs of shoes for needy children in the area.
“The best part about it is that we are still not done yet as I’m currently in the process of trying to coordinate an event with Samaritan’s Feet that will allow our student athletes to distribute the shoes that we collected to children in the Charlotte community,” Law wrote. “This award would give me an opportunity to start my true humanitarian work.”
Law, who has a 4.0 GPA, also is involved in such community service programs as Alexander Youth Network, Epilepsy Walk volunteer, mentor for the Wake County Detention Center, Toys for Tots, and Relay for Life. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
His athletic feats are equally impressive. An All-American track and field athlete, Law received the 2010 Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Sports Scholar Athlete of the Year Award, given to the top minority male student-athlete in the nation. He also serves as President of the UNC Charlotte Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and is the Atlantic 10 representative to the NCAA Minority Interests and Opportunities Committee.
In her letter of recommendation to the committee, Athletics Director Judy Rose included a lengthy list of Law’s community service activities. She concluded her letter with a personal reflection on his character that she witnessed at the Atlantic 10 track championship.
A member of the UNC Charlotte track team, Stephen Archer, had died while playing in a basketball game on campus a few months earlier, Rose said. As expected, Law won several individual and relay medals at the meet. Archer’s parents were in attendance and his father shared with the team that his son always talked about “this guy who could fly, Darius Law.”
“At the conclusion of the meet, Darius gave one of the medals he earned to Stephen’s parents in honor of their son,” Rose wrote. “His actions speak louder than his words and his actions are always about others.”
Besides graduate school, he plans to train for the 2012 US Olympic Trials after his graduation from the university.
The other finalists for this scholarship were Cassandra Haran, a senior in College of Education; and Elizabeth Shockey, a graduate student in Geography and Earth Sciences. The scholarship was presented at the Honors Awards banquet on May 2, 2011.
The Jamgotch Scholarship Committee consisted of Arthur Jackson, chairman of the committee and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs; Gary Kohut, a professor in the Department of Management; Anita Blowers, a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology; Al Maisto, Associate Dean and Professor, Honors College; Lawrence Calhoun, a professor in the Department of Psychology; Tyrel Moore, an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, and Barbara Jefferson, retired school principal and consultant with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.
About UNC Charlotte
UNC Charlotte is North Carolina’s urban research university. It is the fourth largest campus among the 17 institutions of The University of North Carolina system and the largest institution of higher education in the Charlotte region. Fall 2010 enrollment exceeded 25,000 students, including approximately 5,500 graduate students. Find UNC Charlotte on the Web at UNCC Home, Twitter, Facebook and follow the UNC CLT_News blog at unccltnews.blogspot.com.
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