From the November 1954 edition of The Scroll

The first Arthur R. Priest award was given to Kirk Terry Dornbush, Vanderbilt ’55. This award has been established to name the undergraduate member who best exemplifies the teachings of The Bond of Phi Delta Theta. From nominations presented by chapters throughout the country Terry Dornbush has been selected as fulfilling most completely these qualifications.

Dornbush presented a record of unusual service to his chapter, his university, and his community. Within the chapter he has participated in the general committee assignments and intramural athletic activities. In his junior year he was very successful in guiding the chapter through rushing under new university regulations. And now in his senior year he is president of the chapter.

Five areas of campus activities have benefited from his leadership. During each of his undergraduate years he has been elected by the entire student body a senator-at-large to the Student Senate. Each year he has been elected to the cabinet of the Student Christian Association. He has been a member of the staffs of both the campus newspaper and yearbook! He has been a representative to the Interfraternity Council each year and is president for his senior year. He has been regimental commander of the ROTC and has received awards for his outstanding performance as a cadet.

Behind his affiliation with these activities is a story of great leadership and service. One of the most interesting projects he led came under his guidance as chairman of the Interfraternity Council committee on Help Week. Help Week was instituted to replace the old fashioned Hell Week. Dornbush appealed through the newspapers for community projects. Two of the largest projects resulting from this appeal were a fund raising campaign for an educational television station for Nashville and the restoring of a historic site on the outskirts of the city. As a by-product of this activity Terry was named a member of the Nashville Citizens Committee for Educational TV.

All of his many extra-curricular interests have not kept Dornbush from attaining a scholarly record. In his freshman year he was elected to Phi Eta Sigma and now in his senior year he is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He is a member of the Peachtree Road Presbyterian Church in Atlanta and while in college regularly attends the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville.

The Arthur R. Priest Foundation Award has been made possible through the bequest of the residue of the estate of the widow of the late Arthur R. Priest. Madge Headley Priest was always deeply interested in Phi Delta Theta while her husband was executive secretary. This interest in the Fraternity continued to her death and she expressed her sincerity by this bequest for scholarship purposes.

A committee of five alumni residing in the Oxford Community was named by the General Council to administer the Foundation and to select the award winner each year. The funds received were invested and the income obtained makes it possible to award a sum of $350 for the year 1954–55.