Sherwood
Lee President Dr. Paul Conn recognized her for this honor during the May commissioning service.
Established in 1955, this annual award is given to a Lee senior who shows the greatest potential for making a significant contribution to Christian ministry, and it is named in honor of the sixth president of Lee who served from 1935-44.
Each department may nominate one student for the award, and of these nominees a winner is selected by a faculty vote.
Sherwood, a native of Ooltewah, graduated from Lee with a bachelor of science in biochemistry with a pre-med emphasis and a bachelor of arts in theater. She is attending the University of Tennessee College of Medicine at Memphis this fall.
Following her studies she plans to serve as a medical missionary to Africa, a goal that was inspired after living in a mission hospital in Kenya for five weeks as a young girl.
“I see my academic work as an act of worship,” she said. “My experience in Kenya was the initial inspiration for me to dedicate my life to spreading the gospel. Medicine is an incredibly powerful way to open the door. Once you tend to the practical needs of the body, you can address the spiritual needs of the soul.”
In 2010 and 2011, Sherwood attended the Experimental Biology Conference in Anaheim, Calif., and Washington, D.C., respectively, where she presented an abstract for her undergraduate research on methods to teach protein folding in high school classes.
Sherwood is a member of honors societies Alpha Chi, Gamma Sigma Epsilon, and Phi Eta Sigma. While at Lee, she played clarinet in the Lee University Symphonic Band for seven semesters.
She was also the stage manager for the Lee Theatre production of “The Glass Menagerie” in 2010 and was cast in the role of Dorine in the Lee Theatre production of “Tartuffe” in 2011.
