Law School Alumnus Is a Community Service Wonder

By Hope J Smith

Bobby Blount, Jr., J.D. '92, is a very busy man. He volunteers for nearly a dozen projects that help children, works as an engineer for a public interest nonprofit corporation in San Antonio, Texas, and competes in national powerlifting competitions. For his extensive service work, Blount was awarded the prestigious Community Service Award at the 1998 Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference, held in Baltimore earlier this year. "I get a lot of enjoyment out of these activities," he says. "When you work with children, you see results on a daily basis."

Blount's greatest accomplishment is the Texas Region Solar Race Car Event, a hands-on method of introducing children to science. Nearly 200 children in San Antonio, Houston, and Austin work in groups to build a solar-powered race car. The race is the final test of their accomplishments. For many of these children, who are primarily Hispanic and African American, the program is their first major science and engineering project.

Coaching a children's basketball and soccer teams, mentoring at-risk fourth-grade students in San Antonio, and serving as the director of his company's Adopt-a-School program are among his public service activities. He is also the vice president for grants at San Antonio's Northside Education Foundation.

Blount feels very committed to his service projects; his professional accomplishments fuel his desire to give back to the community. "I've been given opportunities to succeed, and I think I have a responsibility to give as many opportunities to others as I can." When he isn't serving the community, Blount enjoys spending time with his wife and children or lifting weights, an activity that brought him fourth-place honors in last year's National Powerlifting Championships.