April 14, 2008
Lyon College News Bureau

Two Lyon College seniors recently won graduate fellowships awarded by Alpha Chi National College Scholarship Honor Society.

The honored students are Blake Perkins of Smithville and Nathan Reinhardt of Little Rock.

Perkins and Reinhardt won two of only 10 H. Y. Benedict Fellowships awarded nationally by the society, which has chapters on more than 300 hundred college and university campuses. Each fellowship is valued at $2,500 and is intended to support the recipients in their first year of graduate study.

Alpha Chi awards the fellowships on the basis of academic record, faculty recommendation and demonstrated scholarship.

Perkins, who is completing a major in history, submitted a research paper entitled "Race Relations in Western Lawrence County Arkansas." Reinhardt, who is completing majors in both English and music, submitted a research paper examining the conflict between faith and nihilism in William Faulkner's novel "The Sound and the Fury."

The awards were announced at the annual meeting of the society's National Council held in Indianapolis April 4-6. Lyon is the only college or university with two fellowship recipients.

The Benedict Fellowships are the second and third awards given by Alpha Chi to Lyon's chapter this year. Senior biology major Rob Frank from Jonesboro was awarded the society's Pryor Fellowship two weeks ago.

"I am especially proud not only of our three fellowship winners but of the chapter and the college as a whole," said Dr. Tim Lindblom, adviser of Lyon's Alpha Chi chapter, "These awards testify to the quality of a Lyon education."

Lyon's Alpha Chi chapter currently holds the society's President's Cup, recognizing it as the country's outstanding chapter. It was recently nominated to receive the cup a second time at the society's next annual convention.