Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 21, 1990 TAG: 9005210075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
With commencement Sunday, the Hollins College graduate is moving on to Skok a life of public service in New York or Washington.
She leaves a legacy of commitment and civic involvement that reached beyond campus to the Roanoke Valley community.
Skok was a dedicated volunteer for both the American Red Cross and the Roanoke Area Ministries during her four years at Hollins.
She twice organized students to paint the entire interior of the Ram House, a center for the homeless, and led a fund drive that collected more than $1,000 for the poor.
She was instrumental in forming Students Helping Achieve Rewarding Experiences, or SHARE, a civic-minded group, and the Hollins Environmental Awareness Lobby.
And the number of student volunteers for community service projects has jumped from about 30 to 300 annually at Hollins, largely because of Skok's leadership.
"I think that I'm very lucky - all of us at Hollins are - and people who have been blessed like we have have a responsibility to help others less fortunate than ourselves," she said.
For her efforts, the history major from Austin, Texas, was given the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, which each year recognizes a senior dedicated to the spirit of love and helping others.
Skok was one of 229 undergraduate and graduate students to receive diplomas Sunday at Hollins College's 148th commencement.
In his address, retired Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. touched on the issue of community service exemplified by Skok.
"Whatever you do, and I include marriage and becoming a wife and mother, you will have opportunities - in my view a duty - to do more than make money.
"There are cultural and educational boards and agencies in every city that promote the public good. I urge each of you to be active," he said.
Powell also talked at length about his ties to Hollins College. He dated several young women from the school while attending Washington and Lee University in Lexington during the late 1920s.
In addition, he served on the college's Board of Trustees for eight years and his sister and daughter are both Hollins graduates.
Student speaker Karen Barnes of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Hollins College President Paula Brownlee also paid tribute to Skok at Sunday's commencement.
"Every individual, like Lilly Skok, can make a difference by serving in the local soup kitchen or driving an elderly person to vote," Barnes told her classmates.
Sunday's commencement was a bittersweet occasion for Brownlee, who announced earlier this month that she is resigning as Hollins president to become head of the Association of American Colleges in Washington.
She received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree from Sion Boney, chairman of the Hollins College Board of Trustees.
Class president Shelby Newton presented her with a bird bath for her new garden in Washington. Newton asked that Brownlee, an avid gardener, remember the students at Hollins whenever she watches birds in the bath.
by CNB