Heather Couch Wins College of Wooster's Carpenter Pre-Law Prize

Award established in memory of corporate lawyer and Wooster alumnus David L. Carpenter

Heather Couch

WOOSTER, Ohio - Heather Couch, a senior international relations major at The College of Wooster and a graduate of Cloverleaf High School, has been chosen to receive the 2008 David L. Carpenter Pre-Law Prize. The $5,000 award is presented to Wooster's top pre-law student. Couch's selection was the result of her exemplary record of academic achievement, as well as her participation in Wooster's Pre-Law Advising Program, her experience as a student leader, and her commitment to personal honesty and integrity.

"I am so honored to have been chosen to receive the Carpenter Prize," said Couch, who plans to pursue either corporate law or health law after law school. "I know the high caliber of the pre-law students made the decision very difficult this year. I am very grateful to Wooster's Pre-Law program for its help in my law school search and application procress. I know my experience at The College of Wooster will help me in law school and in all my future endeavors. I would especially like to thank Professors Henry Kreuzman and Mark Weaver for their support and advice throughout my pre-law career."

Couch, who was accepted at five law schools, will attend Loyola University Chicago School of Law in the fall. Her activities at Wooster included the highly successful Moot Court team and the Equestrian team. She also served as referral coordinator for the Wooster Volunteer Network. In addition, she was elected to Pi Sigma Alpha political science honor society, and received the Shirley Snider Ryan Scholarship. Her senior Independent Study project is titled "Setting the Stage for Terrorism: Non-State Actors Taking Advantage of State Failures."

Established by the Figgie Family Foundation in 1999, the Carpenter Prize commemorates the life of the late David Lyle Carpenter, a 1965 Wooster alumnus who became a leading tax and corporate lawyer and a partner in the Cleveland law firm of Calfee, Halter & Griswold L.L.P. Prior to his death in 1999, Carpenter was recognized by Best Lawyers in America for excellence in the category of corporate law. He was also an active member of the Heights Christian Church and served on the board of the National Conference for Community and Justice. At Wooster, he won departmental honors in economics and lettered in track and field. He later attended the University of Michigan, where he earned both an M.B.A. and a J.D.