MPUNZWANA WINS ABAC'S DONALDSON AWARD

Pippa R. Mpunzwana of Harare, Zimbabwe, received the highest honor presented to a graduating student from Abraham Baldwin College at Tuesday’s graduation ceremony. On behalf of the ABAC Alumni Association, ABAC President Mike Vollmer presented Mpunzwana with the George P. Donaldson Award for outstanding scholarship and leadership.           

Donaldson served as president of ABAC from 1947 - 61. Mpunzwana’s award included a plaque and a check for $500, provided with funding from the ABAC Ag Alumni Council.           

A total of 145 students participated in Tuesday’s ceremony, which was presided over by Vollmer. Congressman Sanford Bishop was the guest speaker, and Mpunzwana presented remarks from the students’ viewpoint.          

A fashion merchandising major, Mpunzwana is the reigning Ms. Abraham Baldwin 2004.

While at ABAC, she served as the Student Union President during the fall of 2003 and as the Student Union Vice President during the spring of 2003. Earlier this year, Mpunzwana was selected as Ms. Baldwin 2002-03 in a campus-wide vote. She was a member of the Family and Consumer Sciences Club (FACS), the Student Government Association (SGA), and Phi Theta Kappa (PTK). Mpunzwana was also nominated to Who’s Who at ABAC and Who’s Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges.

Mpunzwana worked as a writing tutor in the Academic Assistance Center (AAC) and was a recipient of the GACS Scholarship and the SGA Senator Scholarship Award. She was also a resident assistant for four of the five semesters she was enrolled at ABAC.

The daughter of Philip and Chipo Mpunzwana, she plans to transfer to Georgia Southern University to earn a B.S. degree in fashion merchandising and apparel design with a minor in business and marketing. She hopes to open her own fashion business, focusing on African heritage.

Mpunzwana said she was attracted to the multicultural atmosphere at ABAC.

“I feel truly blessed that the ABAC community has embraced my uniqueness and my ability to communicate with people from different parts of the world,” she said.

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