The Boyer Scholar Program
The Boyer Scholar Program recognizes Messiah College seniors based on their exemplary scholarship, leadership, service, and demonstrated potential to make a distinctive contribution to society. The program, which includes educational and celebratory initiatives throughout the academic year, encourages students to examine Boyer's vision and to consider their own service to the larger community. Meet the 2011-2012 Boyer Scholars:
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Kate Abel Majors: Nutrition and Dietetics; Sociology and Anthropology My hope is that we would see an end to the health disparity that plagues our world. All over the globe, there are communities at an extreme disadvantage in terms of health because they simply do not have access to the resources needed to prevent disease and obtain adequate care. For this hope to be realized, I believe it will take a huge but necessary paradigm shift, from focusing on temporary treatment to focusing on sustainable education and prevention practices, and from individualism and complacency to a commitment to Jesus’ call to care for our world’s hungry, sick, and overlooked.
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Guillermo Arboleda Major: Christian Ministries We live in a world full of evil and brokenness and there are many problems that no one individual can fix. But we are a part of the global Body of Christ and the broader human race. God has charged us collectively as Christ Followers with the task of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, tending the sick, lifting up the lowly, and comforting the brokenhearted. My hope for today is that Christians unite across all denominational, racial, cultural, economic, and social divides to live out Jesus’ vision for God’s Kingdom: to exist on earth as it is in heaven.
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Natalie Burack Major: History I hope for increased literacy on behalf of the global community. The ability to read and write raises one’s quality of life and provides opportunities to improve one’s self and community. I believe that literacy and education would benefit underprivileged people who could use education to empower themselves and achieve social justice. As an avid reader and writer, I place a high value on literacy. I have researched education and literacy in Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan, and I wish that illiterate individuals, such as young girls in rural Pakistan, to be given the same joy through reading as I have.
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Elena Casey Majors: Spanish; English "Once you learn to read, you will forever be free." For Frederick Douglass, literacy was not a passing mark on the entrance exam into dominant white society, but a means of changing that society to hear and include the voices it suppressed. As a Spanish and English major who has lived, learned, and worked alongside people from many walks of life, Douglass's hope is my own: that our world might learn to treasure and understand the multiple literacies of its people so that we all might truly be valued members of the global community in which we live.
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Emily Dincher Major: Nursing One hope I have for the world is to see the day where HIV transmission through childbirth is completely eradicated. Currently there are over 2.1 million children under the age of 15 years who are living with HIV and an estimated 280,000 deaths from AIDS. These children are primarily from underprivileged parts of the world where HART therapies are scarce. HIV and the AIDS epidemic have destroyed the lives of many, but there is hope for future generations. Having a great interest in reproductive health as a calling, I am eager to help bring this hope of life to fruition. |
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Katherine Garland Major: History My hope for the world is contentment. Too many people (myself included) sacrifice their lives for the dream of success in the future. The desire for the perfect grades, career, body, spirituality level, community reputation, or anything else can become overwhelming. While success is not innately evil, when linked with perfectionism, it has devastating physical, emotional, and spiritual effects. I am not advocating laziness, but healthy expectations and reliance of God’s grace in difficult times. People must learn to enjoy life rather than waste it worrying about flawlessness and unattainable goals. |
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Amanda Gray Major: Nutrition and Dietetics If the people of the world were able to think beyond themselves, and be genuinely concerned with the interests of others across the globe, the world would be a different place. So many of the problems we encounter on a global scale are effects of selfish interests and lack of consideration for others. If every time a decision was made, we thought about its impact across the world and how other lives besides our own would be affected, not only would better choices and policy be made, but a worldwide community would be formed to strengthen and encompass a wider variety of people. |
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Morgan Lee Major: Politics There is a cutting irony that the “off” mode of every technological toy we utilize today transforms the device’s screen into a mirror. The face we see when we stare at these tools ought to remind us that although these appliances have brought us speed and convenience, they have also helped reinforce the lie that life is all about fulfilling our desires immediately. Indeed, in a sea of screens promising instantaneous entertainment, information and camaraderie, I hope that our world can see beyond this superficiality to realize a fulfilling life is a selfless life and only the result of personal sacrifice and perseverance. I wish to see a shift in ideals from ease to endurance where personal choices are not made based on individual expediency but where living on behalf of others is the primary motivator. |
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Kristen Listor Major: Environmental Science My hope for the world today is that as global citizens we would develop a love of learning. A passion for knowledge has the power to motivate individuals to find answers to personally perceived problems, which may become answers to globally realized problems. By developing a love of learning, individuals would be motivated to learn from one another and become a global learning community. I believe that this passion is contagious. I hope to inspire others to learn how they can become stewards of God’s Creation and live in a way that has a smaller negative impact on the environment. |
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Kevin Manieri Major: Engineering One hope I have for the world is to reduce and diminish our dependence on fossil fuels and instead to utilize our renewable energy sources. Switching to renewable energy takes us off the path leading to the depletion of earth’s natural resources and instead promotes sustainable living. This hope is particularly consequential because of the rapid industrialization of the third world. Developing countries look to the already developed countries for guidance when modernizing their country. If we make the change now, developing countries will also adopt it, thus eliminating a large problem which future generations would be forced to face. |
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Jonathon Martin Major: Engineering I desire that all people, especially young adults, would have the opportunity to be closely engaged in an intentional community. In my own experience, I have had the chance to develop friendships and mentoring relationships with both peers and older adults that have challenged me to grow in my faith, broaden my worldview, and confront the injustices I observe in the world around me. These relationships break down insecurities and provide a safe space for Christians to urge each other on toward growth. “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10 |
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Nathan Myers Major: Nutrition and Dietetics As a nutrition and dietetics major, my education focuses on specific and quantitative scientific, social, and psychological aspects of wellness. However, the broader philosophy behind the concept of nutrition-based wellness is the idea of balanced, holistic living – that health, work, relationships, faith, learning, and recreation are all vital components of life and that each aspect deserves respect. I hope that our world will leave behind the fractured, selfish, unbalanced style of life that is currently pursued by people all over the globe and that all people will embrace the philosophy of appreciating and engaging all facets of life.
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Carolyn Partridge Major: Elementary and Special Education Though “unity” may seem cliché, it is a deep-seated hope I have for the world. Unity implies oneness, and those who are in union with one another find wholeness together. Yet, unity also involves a conscious effort to understand one another. This is what the world needs—a unity among peoples which does not simply tolerate differences, but accepts them and seeks to learn from them. It is a truth I have stumbled across again and again. For, it is in seeking unity with others and God that I am both encouraged and challenged to look beyond myself to others. |
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Xu Ren Major: Politics My one hope for our world today is to have a maximally efficient distribution system, one that is free from all barriers. A plethora of research has been done showing that our world produces enough food, health care and medication, enough fiscal capital, as well as enough human capital for everyone to achieve a certain standard of living. What is preventing this from happening is a fundamental flaw in our distribution system. Working together to breakdown various barriers to distribution is a realistic and feasible hope that we can start working towards today in order to create a better world. |
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Jenna Sweitzer Major: English It is my hope that all people would have the opportunity for an excellent education. Schools in the U.S. have fallen short of this aim: The highest performing schools in the nation are available only to those who can afford them – or – to those who are selected at random to attend Poorer nations, like Haiti, have little funding for their schools overall. Opportunities for education are important to me as someone who plans to become a teacher. A good education, I believe, is crucial for fulfilling peoples’ personal needs (esp. career needs, self-esteem/aesthetics) as well as the needs of the community at large (schools prepare people for civic involvement, fuel the work-force, etc.).
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Samuel Woodworth Major: Health and Physical Education My hope for this world is that all people will have the opportunity to hear and witness the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My hope is that followers in Christ will be bold and confident enough to share the Good news of God’s love and spread it around the world. If Christ’s love was a bond all people of this world shared, I think the other issues like hunger, poverty, and social injustice would be defeated. Through worldwide exposure to the Gospel hardened hearts will be softened, timid faiths will be spurred on to greatness, and God’s love will permeate the fabric of all nations. |
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BOYER SCHOLAR NEWS: |
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Congratulations to two of our Boyer Scholars on this Nov 16, 2011 announcement! Friends of Murray Library is pleased to announce the recipients of the 10th Annual Library Research Grants:
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