Pictured, from left to right, are Scott Miles, Haverty Furniture vice president of Stores; Clarence Smith, Haverty president and CEO; Melissa Dorsch, Dr. Richard Bennington, professor and chair of Home Furnishings Marketing; and Steve Burdette, Haverty Furniture executive vice president of Stores.
Melissa Dorsch, a senior at High Point University majoring in home furnishings who will graduate in May, was recently awarded the prestigious 2011 Haverty Cup, an annual award that honors the most outstanding home furnishings graduate at HPU.
Dorsch will receive a $2,500 cash award and an engraved replica of the Haverty cup. Her name will be engraved with the names of previous winners on the permanent cup, which is on display at HPU.
The award was established in 1988 by Rawson Haverty Sr. to encourage students to pursue a career in the home furnishings industry. Haverty’s is a full-service home furnishings retailer with 118 showrooms in 17 states in the Southern and Midwestern regions.
The award was presented by Clarence H. Smith, president and chief executive officer of Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc.; Steve G. Burdette, executive vice president of Stores at Haverty; and Scott T. Miles, vice president of Stores and Development of Haverty.
“Receiving the Haverty Cup was a very special moment for me,” Dorsch says. “It is such a true honor and serves as justification that all of my hard work for the past four years has really paid off. High Point University has been a wonderful place. It’s given me access to great resources in the industry, and has provided me with internship opportunities and tons of experiences. I’m thrilled that my desire to work in the home furnishings industry led me to HPU.”
During her time at HPU, Dorsch has been active in the Interior Design and Home Furnishings Club and Delta Mu Delta National Honor Society in Business. She received the Wall Street Journal Student of Achievement Award and has been a Leadership Fellowship Scholar. In the spring of 2010, she studied abroad at Bond University in Australia.
She also took part in two internships with local businesses during her senior year – a marketing internship with Edward Ferrell/Lewis Mittman, a contract furniture manufacturer in High Point, and a sales design internship with FurnitureLand South, a large home furnishings retailer.
“Melissa is an outstanding student who is sincerely interested in a career in the home furnishings industry,” says Dr. Richard Bennington, Paul Broyhill Professor of Home Furnishings at HPU. “She is an excellent student who can be counted on to do her best in each class. Her internship supervisors rate her as being a very intelligent person who can work independently and effectively on whatever project is assigned to her. She is actively searching for a meaningful position in the home furnishings industry after graduation. Her enthusiasm and creative thinking will be an asset to her in her future career. We are proud that she is our 2011 recipient of the Haverty Cup.”
At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people. HPU, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is a liberal arts institution with over 4,200 undergraduate and graduate students from 51 countries and 46 states at campuses in High Point and Winston-Salem. It is ranked by US News and World Report at No. 3 among Regional Colleges in the South. Forbes.com ranks HPU in the top 7 percent among “America’s Best Colleges.” Parade Magazine lists HPU in the top 25 private schools in the nation. The university offers 50 undergraduate majors, 43 undergraduate minors and 14 graduate degree programs. It is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference. Visit High Point University on the Web at highpoint.edu.