With style and grace
Cheely decided to attend the College in large part because of its social and cultural diversity and its hospitability to majoring in English while fulfilling pre-med requirements. He has juggled the crushing workload of a double major in addition to fulfilling pre-med requirements with aplomb. Professor of English David Sofield commented on Cheely's range as a writer, "[he] writes fiction and critical papers about Shakespeare and Richard Wilbur and then about the bar scene in Amherst equally well." His renowned work ethic translated into an invitation into Phi Beta Kappa his junior year, a distinction afforded only to the top one percent of his class.
And then there are the myriad awards and recognitions he has received. Most recently, he was a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Recipient (a national scholarship for science students, junior year), a Rhodes Scholar Semi-Finalist (senior year) and a Fulbright Scholarship Alternate (senior year). Additionally, he has been the recipient of the George C. Plimpton Fellow (for a senior with "outstanding scholastic ability and promise") and the Frank Fowler Dow Prize from Amherst, granted to the pre-med student with most promise of success in a career in medicine.
As if this list were not impressive enough, Cheely has also been actively engaged in campus life through a variety of activities such as being a Student Health Educator, a staff writer for The Amherst Student (his recent beat was covering the Amherst bar scene), a member of AIDS and HIV Awareness Group and of the Student Advisory Group for Chemistry, and a participant in the Cooley Dickinson Hospital Pre-Med Shadowing program. His summer involvements are equally noteworthy, ranging from working as a scrub technician to doing biology and chemistry research at Princeton University to working at a mountain lake biological station.
A "novel" thesis
Cheely's senior year was filled with the sometimes tedious, and yet very rewarding task of writing a senior thesis, or "senior project" as it is referred to in the English department. Cheely wrote the first 80 pages or so of a novel. "[It is] about a guy going to college with a lot of problems from home, who has to make a home for himself at college. It was a different undertaking than a short story, but it was nice to explore that difference a little."
About George
The writing process did not interrupt his ability to enjoy and make the most of his senior year, however. Said his roommate Tim Danner '03, "George is that kind of person who is able to achieve a seamless separation of intensity and relaxation, and his senior year has really been a culmination of his love for Amherst in many ways."
For George, the education he has received here reaches beyond the classroom; "I have been lucky to find a good group of friends that have become a family away from home. They have been a fun experience and taught me a lot about how people interact and how lasting friendships can be forged."
It is not this stellar list of accomplishments, but rather, Cheely's warm manner and the glowing praise from so many of his friends and professors, that are most striking. "George never complains, and would never let you down ... He really is the perfect example of a Southern gentleman … but what makes George George is his manner. He has changed my whole outlook on life-what it means to work hard and how to always be there for your friends … I am honored to be one of his best friends," said Tucker Sowers '03, another roommate.
Cheely is deciding between Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania Medical Schools for next year. His hard work has paid off, and Cheely is certainly someone who should celebrate his accomplishments whole-heartedly. As Professor Sofield joked, "perhaps he could clone himself a few hundred times and send the clones to Amherst, Class of 2025. Worth a try, anyway."
So here's a toast to George Cheely (his favorite drink is bourbon and ginger ale) for four years of hard-work and great friendships, two things he'll surely carry with him wherever else he succeeds.