Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards Presented to Student and Alumnus

W. Groome Fulton Jr. '60 and Irving Zavaleta-Jimenez '08 received this year’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards at the college’s Spring Awards Convocation, held April 9.

The awards, presented by the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation, recognize extraordinary service by one graduating student and one member of the community each year.

Fulton, is the retired president of Fulton Associates, Inc., a manufacturer’s representative firm based in High Point. He also chaired the steering committee that formed the Bank of North Carolina in 1991, and has served as chair of the bank’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee since its opening.

He has a long record of service both to Guilford College and to the wider community. For the last two years he has chaired of the Board of Directors for Open Door Ministries, a High Point homeless shelter. During that time the shelter expanded to include the Arthur Cassall House for recovering substance abusers and “Project Homefront,” a pilot program of outreach to the chronically homeless.

Fulton and wife Ann helped develop Forest Hills Presbyterian Church starting in 1963, and Fulton has remained heavily involved in the church’s governance. Most recently he has served as chair of the church’s endowment committee, overseeing the disbursal of over $3 million annually.

He is also president of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of River Landing at Sandy Ridge, a retirement community operated by Presbyterian Homes, Inc., and a representative to the corporation’s Board of Governors. Fulton joined Guilford’s Board of Trustees in 1999. He has been a member of the High Point Rotary since 1969.

Zavaleta-Jimenez will graduate May 10 with a double-major French and accounting. A native of Veracruz, Mexico, he emigrated to the United States in 2000 at the age of 14 with his mother and sister, joining other relatives living in Burlington, N.C. At the time, he spoke no English. Much of Zavaleta-Jimenez’s community service is directed toward other Latino students, many of whom hope to be the first in their families to attend college.

As a Bonner Scholar, Zavaleta-Jimenez has personally completed over 2,500 hours of community service during his four years at Guilford. He was a student coordinator of the college’s dedicated site at Glenwood Library, teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to immigrants from several countries. He was also instrumental in developing a new service site, Project HERE (Hispanic Education Retention Excellence), which offers tutoring and mentoring to area middle- and high school students.

Last fall, Zavaleta-Jimenez organized a day-long conference for Latino students in Guilford and Alamance counties called “Soy un Líder” (“I am a Leader”). Geared toward first-generation college applicants, sessions included information on college searches and financial aid opportunities. It brought together 100 students from 13 high schools.

Zavaleta-Jimenez is also vice president of the Student Senate, and has been named to the dean’s list several times. Last November, the North Carolina Campus Compact gave him its Community Impact Student Award, presented to students who have made innovative, significant contributions to campus-based efforts to address community needs.

Fifty select Southern colleges and universities present the Sullivan Awards to students and community members for "excellence of character and service to humanity," as prescribed by the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation. Sullivan was a Virginia-born New York lawyer who was well known for his compassion. Guilford has presented the awards annually since 2002.

During the convocation, Guilford recognized students, faculty and staff who were recipients of awards, departmental honors and scholarships.

April 9, 2008