Unconventional Hotelie earns top award

For Molly Clauhs '10, choosing the most interesting route has often meant taking the road less traveled. Now, her independence is paying off.

Clauhs is this year's recipient of the $15,000 Drown Prize, the largest monetary award given to an undergraduate in the School of Hotel Administration (SHA), awarded annually by the Joseph Drown Foundation to a graduating senior in the school. Recipients are chosen by a committee of SHA faculty members.

The Sellersville, Pa., native said her experiences during summer internships in Alaska, Ireland and Costa Rica taught her that mixing work and pleasure is possible, and rewarding.

"I learned how essential it is to combine personal interests with career choices," she said. "I want all Hotelies to know that you can take a nonconventional path and learn incredible amounts."

Among other extracurricular positions, Clauhs is president of the SHA Ambassadors, serves on the SHA Student Advisory Board, and has been involved in Hotel Ezra Cornell. She is also a Cornell Tradition fellow and a member of the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity.

Drown Award semifinalists are Christina Heggie, Alison Harrigan, Michael Scheinman and Isabelle Calderon. Each received $1,000.

After graduation, Clauhs will take two weeks to travel, then start work as general manager of The Pines Inn in Pine Plains, N.Y.

She plans to use some of the prize money for a car, but most of it will go into the bank. "My goal is to start saving now, at age 21, so 10 years down the road I can truly be an entrepreneur," she said. "I also paid my parents back for all the money they lent me this semester."

Hotelier Joseph Warford Drown, who died in 1982 at 75, began his career with Conrad Hilton and later owned many prominent hotels, including the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles. He was known to be hard-driving when making business deals, yet extremely compassionate of those less fortunate.

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz