After high school, Emma Shaw Crane did not expect to attend an elite university like UC Berkeley. Still, she took 25 minutes to apply at the urging of her coworkers while working for a non-profit organization in Mexico.

Since then, Shaw Crane has received a 4.0 grade point average and developed an extensive resume to which she will soon add the prestigious University Medal, which is awarded annually to the top graduating senior.

Shaw Crane will speak at the May 22 commencement ceremony and receive a $2,500 scholarship with her award, which requires applicants to have at least a 3.96 grade point average.

"It was only midway through my junior year that I was like 'Oh, I do have decent grades,'" she said. "But it was never a goal."

Shaw Crane-who majored in Interdisciplinary Studies­ with a focus on race, gender and political economy-comes from Graton, a small agricultural town near Santa Rosa. She said she was motivated to succeed because many members of her community and family did not have the opportunity to attend universities like UC Berkeley.

"Clearly there's some kind of really intense ... apartheid process preventing folks from having access to Cal," she said. "And so if I'm going to be given access, then I need to be up there working as hard as I can."

After graduating, Shaw Crane said she will work for eight months with indigenous women and girls in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico on a media and poetry project funded by a Judith Lee Stronach scholarship.

Afterwards, she will study HIV in Colombia with a Fulbright scholarship.

Ananya Roy, associate professor at the Department of City and Regional Planning and Shaw Crane's former professor, said she was not surprised to hear Shaw Crane would receive the award.

"She is a warrior, one who is both fierce and gentle," Roy said in an e-mail. "She is fierce in confronting various forms of social injustice and in seeking to remake the race and class divides of our society. But she is gentle and humane in her love for communities, cultures and peoples."

As one of her many extracurricular activities, Shaw Crane volunteered at Berkeley Technology Academy where she helped students produce CDs of their work and a radio documentary about race in cities.

Despite her academic successes, Shaw Crane said she has loved all her classes and has been able to maintain a fulfilling social life.

"I never felt like I had to give up having fun to work hard," she said, adding that she enjoys running and dancing in her spare time.

Shaw Crane said that attending UC Berkeley comes with a "tremendous amount of responsibility" and that students should realize their purpose at the university.

"I think ... when you're (at UC Berkeley), the thing to do is to work very hard but also do what you love," she said. "Having a lot of fun but also having a clear sense of why you're here is really important."

Tags: UNIVERSITY MEDAL, COMMENCEMENT