'USA Today' honors two Penn students

Two Penn students have been named All-Americans -- but this time, it's in the academic realm.

College senior Dana Hork and College and Wharton student Paul Bergman have been named to USA Today's All-USA Academic First Team, an honor that recognizes students who excel not only in scholarship but also in leadership roles on and off campus.

The All-USA Academic Team annually gives awards to 60 students from across the country, naming them to three different levels of academic teams.

Along with a resume of their credentials -- including other honors and awards that they have won, campus activities and community involvement -- the applicants must submit three letters of recommendation from different professors at their university.

The 20 students named to the first team will be featured in USA Today on Feb. 27. Each award recipient receives a trophy and a $2,500 cash prize.

"Penn frequently has more than one student named to this honor," School of Arts and Sciences spokeswoman Loraine Boehmcke said.

For Bergman, who has studied in five different countries during his academic career, winning the award puts the final feather in his cap of achievements.

The award "was a final challenge before I graduated," Bergman said. "I wanted to see if I could win it."

Hork, who serves as chairwoman of the Undergraduate Assembly, said she is grateful to the professors she has studied under during her time at Penn.

"I've been truly lucky to have professors who have taken such an interest in my education," Hork said.

Applicants must also submit a brief description of what they consider to be their most outstanding academic endeavor.

For Hork, her most rewarding venture was the founding of Change for Change, a charitable organization designed to encourage college students to participate in philanthropic activities. The program has grown and developed at Penn since its founding three years ago, and this year, a new chapter was founded at Amherst College.

"I'm proud of how far Change for Change has come in the past three years," Hork said.

In Bergman's submission, he described the details of a 1999 research project that he did on various businesses in South America. This trip marked the second of his five study abroad experiences.

"I began my quest to understand the challenges of small and medium enterprises in the developing world," Bergman said.

The study included interviews with approximately 90 business executives and government officials in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay and culminated in the publishing of the results of his study.

Even with these outstanding endeavors to add to their long lists of achievements, both on and off Penn's campus, neither Hork nor Bergman expected to receive the recognition from USA Today.

"I really wasn't expecting to get this tremendous honor," Hork said. "I looked through the list of recipients selected for last year's team and was truly amazed by the outstanding caliber of these students. I was really humbled and very honored."

Bergman also expressed excitement over winning the award, as well as gratitude toward all the professors who had helped and encouraged him during his time at Penn.

"I was happy for all the professors and all the people at Penn who have helped me along the way," he said. "They opened up my mind to the way I approach academics, making the sky the limit. They made me believe that anything was possible."

Although the award is given to students who are approaching the end of their undergraduate careers this academic year, Hork stressed that winning this award by no means signifies the end of her achievements.

"This isn't an ending point," she said. "It's a nice stop along the way."

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