Emily Faye Bruce of Gainesville, Ga., Earns Prestigious Brenau University Scholarship

2013 Sep 17

Emily Faye Bruce from Gainesville, Ga., recently joined the ranks of a select group of Brenau University students who excel academically and actively serve their community. Bruce, a freshman English major and graduate of North Hall High School, is one of four young women called Brenau Scholars for the class of 2017.

As a Brenau Scholar, winners receive a full scholarship for all four years at Brenau. That's about $22,000 each year. Brenau Scholars must maintain at least a 3.3 GPA and commitment to serving the community. The pressure is one more reason to push themselves to excel.

Growing up in Gainesville, Brenau freshman Emily Bruce knew immediately there was one major benefit to coming to school at Brenau: She would never get lost.

"I know a lot about this area, so I don't get lost as easily," says Bruce, one of four Brenau Scholars named for the 2013-2014 academic year. "And it's definitely cool because I get to see my friends and family whenever I want."

Bruce's parents are Vera and Jeff Bruce, also of Gainesville.

As an English major, Bruce is relishing the chance to surround herself in the richness of literature and storytelling. Because, as she sees it, her English major isn't just laying the groundwork for future graduate studies. Instead, as a writer, she's planning on building on the novels she's already written in high school. "It's kind of what I really want to do," she says. "I think what started it is I really love reading, and that progressed to writing."

But when she's not writing her own stories, she's playing musical ones instead. Bruce has always been involved with music, she says, and performed in her high school's chorus at the state level. She also plays keyboards in a band at her church, where they perform at services and special events.

Bruce says being a Brenau Scholar isn't intimidating, but it's likely to propel her to push herself even more. As it is, she's signed up for 18 credit hours for her next semester -- "I like to stay busy," she says -- and knowing she needs to maintain a 3.3 GPA, along with performing some community service duties, is just one more way she can keep herself driving to succeed.

"I definitely like loading up my schedule," she says. "It's good to have pressure. It kinda pushes you forward."