David Robert Lewis Scholarship Award

        David Robert Lewis was the first African American to graduate with an engineering degree at Purdue University. He received his B.S.C.E. from the School of Civil Engineering in the year 1894. He became an educator and businessman. In a letter to a colleague he wrote about his students:"To make each one think to make himself reliant, to feel the responsibility of his own efforts is a constant aim and endeavor.”He was a member of the Carlyle of Society, a Purdue University literary Society. He taught Mechanical drawing at Virginia's Hampton Institute for 12 years before settling into a successful career as a real estate broker in Pittsburgh.
        The Black Graduate Association Scholarship Award is awarded to a student who shows a persistent strive towards academic excellence. It is a known fact that African Americans must often perform twice as well as their counterparts in order to receive the same opportunities. The recipient of this award carries on the torch of excellence passed on to them