Textile Foundation Merit Awards

And

Textile Prestige Scholarships

Applicant: Bradley Keith Cummins

I. Record of School and Community Activities.

1. Academic Honors and Achievements in School:

National Honors Society

Nation Vocational Honors Society

A- Honor Roll, four consecutive years

Four year Scholar Athlete

North Carolina Annual Conference United Methodist Church

Recipient of "One of Five Most Outstanding Seniors"

Recipient of 3 Graduating Cords:

North Carolina Scholars- Red

National Academic Honors- Gold

National Vocational Honors- White

Presidential Honors for Exceptional Grade Point Average

Jr. Beta Club

2. School Clubs, Organizations or other Extracurricular Activities:

College (First Six Weeks):

Tompkin’s Textile Student Council Freshmen Rep.

Textile Society of the Americas Representative

Member of the Scholars Program (currently taking 8 scholars hrs.)

Volunteer Math Tutor for the Textiles College, about 3-4 hours in the

Library after class and on Tuesday nights in Broughton Hall.

High School:

National Honor Society Treasurer

American Field Service (AFS) Vice President

Math Team Captain

National Key Club member

Fellowship of Christian Athletes

Goods Sports Club

Vocational Honor Society

Odyssey of the Mind,

Since 4th grade; Receiving World recognition (two years),

Five years of State Competition, placing in the top two everytime, twice receiving recognition from the Governor of our State

3. Community, Religious, or Civic Activities

Local:

Church Youth Group Two-year President

Member of Youth Council within my Church

Gatekeepers, annual local community service project

Elementary Tutoring, Pope Elementary School

Volunteer at Soup Kitchen

Volunteer for Salvation Army

Clark Street Ministries Volunteer

Special Olympics Volunteer

Numerous School Wide clean-ups (Crew Leader)

Confirmation Mentor,

For a sixth grader, (met once a week during his introduction to the church)

Organized a social gathering of 190 peers with help of friends and

several parents, which proved to be financially self-sufficient, and in fact financed our Spring Break trip to the Beach.

State-wide and nationally:

Frequent member of Lay Witness Missions across the state

Weekend of fellowship and sharing of the Christian faith with, usually unfamiliar churches. Working with a group of about twelve students we would lead the hosting youth group through numerous faith building, and group building activities.

Service-Over-Self (SOS), 2 years;

Intense summer, week-long, work program in Inner-city

Memphis, TN

II. Record of Athletic Participation and Achievement.

High School:

Varsity Soccer Team, started as a Freshman Two year Captain

Varsity Tennis Team, 6th, 3rd, and 2nd seed Two-year Co-Cap.

Team placing top 16 in North Carolina, 4A high schools, in the spring of 1998.

Coach's Award in Varsity Soccer

Coach’s Award in Varsity Tennis

Trainer and Assistant for Girls Varsity Soccer

College:

Ultimate Frisbee, member of the club team

Sailing Team, active participant in the Racing division of the club, placing 4th in the 1998 Oriental Regatta, Sept. 19.

III. Record of Employment During School Sessions or Summer Periods.

Camp Don Lee Staff, instructor of canoeing, sailing, and member of the organizing staff that provides camp programs for up to 160 campers. (Including Camp Rainbow and Camp Hope, from the ECU medical program. These are camps for Sickle-Cell anemia and Cancer patients, duties include the usual instruction with the task of providing for their numerous needs while allowing them to feel like totally able-bodied campers.)

Personal Tutor of Mathematics: I created my own business in order to co-inside within my fluctuating schedule. Within the last three semesters I have spent over one hundred hours in personal instruction of subjects leading up to Calculus II. After one day of speaking to the math teachers at my high school and providing my phone number, I have not had to campaign for any more business, but instead redirect several students to my friends.

Warehouse Worker: Growing up in some fashion of the Textile industry enabled me to gain working experience. I spent one year amidst my sophomore and junior year working in a textile warehouse, US Colors. This was a very unique experience, considering my co-workers and the manual labor to which I was called to perform this lasted until I was contracted for summer work at Camp Don Lee. Within these twelve months I spent between ten to twenty hours a week in the warehouse.

Study Abroad: I was able to travel Costa Rica this summer and study Spanish while totally submerged in the culture, people, family life, and day to day life. This proved to be one of the most rewarding times of my life. I studied and lived in Cartago, Costa Rica for two months. At the Universidad de Costa Rica in San Jose I attended classes for three weeks, for three hours a day. This opportunity came about through an organization in high school to which I was Vice President of, American Field Service or AFS.

  1. Personal Statement.

In approaching this assignment, I thought back to essay after essay that I had written in the past and in an attempt to summarize my accomplishments of the past and feelings toward the future, came up with this one. Since the last essay I wrote, obviously there was something missing- the time that has elapsed since those high school events. I think this summer really reinforced the role of the team concept in my life. I believe this is what I will bring into my profession in the textile industry, a strong appreciation for teamwork.

Perhaps it is the five months that separate these assignments that have given me a chance to underline all that has lead me to my current position. In order to clarify, I had an amazing summer!

Upon leaving high school on May 22 I felt I had approximately the rest of MY summer to recover from the trials I faced in all in which I was involved. Well perhaps it took all of three days before I found myself back to work. With five of my closest friends, who make up my Odyssey of the Mind(OM) team, I traveled to Walt Disney World for the OM World Finals!! Odyssey of the Mind is a world competition during which the team is asked to creatively solve challenges involving short term and long term problems. My team of six had won the North Carolina competition that represented quite an accomplishment since North Carolina has the most participation in OM in the USA. It was how we always planned to finish our high school career, together and competing in something we cherished.

The preparations had been made and, by the Grace of God, we reached our destination. I found out through those five days that the whole essence of my personal development until that point in my life had been greatly affected by being part of a group. So often it had been my church and now I was to find out that it had leaked out it to every branch of my life. One must know a little about OM in order to appreciate our situation completely. To create a group out of six individuals, who are described to be dangerously creative and who all possess immense initiative, results in conflict and discussion more often than not. However, in retrospect, we brought the best out in one another, and that is the power behind a group. We reaped the benefit of this preparation by placing in the top twenty in the world.

I continued to observe, throughout the summer, the role group- building had taken in my life, and I was never able to conclude. Simply because in our day and time it is ever present, and always needed. The most wonderful example of group work thus far in my life has proven to be my days spent at Camp Don Lee. This river-set Methodist camp has interwoven the principles behind friendship, honorability, and loyalty into my character. Growing up and attending this camp since fourth grade has brought me to a position to actually teach these gifts to young campers, with whom I am constantly in touch with during the summer. I feel the example that I set there is by far the furthest reaching impact that I can have on a child, and I have taken it to be exactly that important!

My experiences continued for as long as I could remember, and seemed to always spawn from my background with Christ. It is the values that I have been blessed with, in growing up in the church, which will lead me to always strive to seek success with the added ambitions of those to whom I work with.

The reason I felt secure in writing, to this length, about my foundation in group-relations is because industry, particularly the textile industry, is underlined and in fact depending more and more on teamwork. I have had a first-hand look at the power behind numbers, in a controlled sense, throughout my entire life, and find it essential to possess the capability to work in numbers. Personally, I have a passion for this and an even greater passion to learn. It is through my desires and prayers that I have been BLESSED to find myself in this College of Textiles, surrounded by (there is only one way to put it) my new family. Thanks…BKC