Undergraduate Commencement held indoors for first time in two decades

In 2017, Messiah’s 108th Undergraduate Commencement made history May 13. The ceremony—held indoors for the first time in two decades due to rain—conferred degrees on 616 graduating seniors.

Commencement speaker and social justice lawyer Bryan Stevenson reminded students to seek justice and to “be proximate” to the marginalized as followers of Christ.

Honors presented during the ceremony included the following:

•  Joel Johnson ’17 received the Donald and Anna Zook Alumni Merit Award.
• Chemistry Professor Alison Noble and Professor of Engineering Randy Fish received the Dr. Robert and Marilyn Smith Awards for Outstanding Teaching, awarded to Messiah faculty members who have demonstrated a commitment to their students and the content they teach.
• Residence Director Bryce Watkins received the Outstanding Cocurricular Educator Award.

To celebrate tradition—while also making room for the future—we’ve profiled several undergraduate students from the Class of 2017.

Within this group, you’ll find newly minted alumni heading off to law school, seminary and new careers. 

Jocelyn Chavous ’17

Garnet valley, Pennsylvania

Until Messiah College reached out to Jocelyn Chavous to ask her to join the basketball team, she’d never heard of the school that was less than two hours west of where she grew up.

“Listen to your gut,” she said. “After visiting other schools, I thought, ‘I want to be at Messiah.’”

A Martin Scholar, she jumped right in to the college experience. She served on the Student Government Association as the vice president of diversity affairs and as a work-study for the assessment of student learning. With the women’s basketball team, she traveled to the Dominican Republic with AROMA to show the love of Christ through sports by visiting orphanages and nursing homes.

“The Dominican Republic opened my eyes to feeling and sensing God,” she said. “A language I didn’t know, my first time out of the country. I could feel Him there and this overwhelming peace.”

The AROMA trip gave her the confidence to travel even farther from home. With the sociology and anthropology department, she flew to Fiji to work with Give Clean Water to maintain water filter systems. She then returned to the U.S. to join the Civil Rights Bus Tour, talking to leaders along the way.

“Messiah College has provided many opportunities for me in life, helping me discover who I am and what I want to do,” she said.

This fall, she is attending graduate school at Shippensburg University to major in counseling and student personnel. She says she hopes to one day work in student affairs at a school or university.

Elliot Rossomme ’17

Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania

Messiah College wasn’t the first choice for Elliot Rossomme ’17. Then Massachusetts Institute of Technology put him on the wait list. A teacher at his small Christian high school asked if he’d ever considered attending Messiah. Rossomme regrouped and headed to Grantham.

“We learn to trust God a lot more when things don’t go the way we want them to,” said Rossomme. “God has changed my perspective on what it means to succeed and do well.”

At Messiah, he learned to wrestle with the tension between ambition of self and following the humility of Christ.

“Where do these two things meet? Messiah is a place where I’ve learned to ask questions like that,” he said, “providing you with a network of Christians who have striven to be of the world and not in it in broader society.”

 Messiah also provided him with opportunities to spread his wings academically, spiritually and geographically. He spent his junior year studying abroad at Oxford, which further shaped his faith.

“The Christians I met there were confident in their faith,” he said. “It defined them. It didn’t sidebar their lives.”

In the summers, he stayed busy as a researcher at Georgetown University and the University of Georgia. After graduation, he headed across the U.S. for another adventure: graduate school. He’s pursuing a doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley as a chancellor’s fellow.

“I’m going to Berkeley, because there’s a need for the Gospel there while pursing excellence,” he said. “It includes a humility and willingness to serve that’s not glamorous.”

Emmeline Zhu ’17

Chelmsford, Massachusetts

The daughter of missionaries in China, Emmeline Zhu ’17 says attending Messiah just “felt right.” The studio art major culminated her four years at Messiah with a senior art project titled “Becoming of Place,” a trio of wood block prints of three places she has lived: Beijing, China; Chelmsford, Massachusetts; and Orvieto, Italy, where she spent a semester abroad.

In her artist’s statement, she describes the wood block printing process: “Each color layer is printed after carving away more material on the same wood block. This physical loss of material renders the process irreversible, yet only by doing so can a more complete image be revealed. Just as this displacement of material realizes a more complete image, the separation of ourselves from a familiar place transforms who we are. In the process of this loss, we become more human.”

At Messiah, Zhu says she learned to “see faith” and apply it to art. “It’s important that my faith is connected to my art,” she said. “I don’t think faith should be its own area, because it’s closely knit into my everyday life.”

After Commencement, Zhu along with other Messiah volunteers helped Professor of Art Daniel Finch complete “The Lemoyne Passage,” a mural depicting the history of transportation, commissioned by the borough of Lemoyne.

Ryan Gephart ’17

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

As a Center for Public Humanities fellow, politics major Ryan Gephart ’17 conducted research on mass incarceration and the criminal justice system. He will continue that passion for social justice when he attends law school at Georgetown Law.

“Combatting racial discrimination,” said Gephart, “is a great opportunity to show God’s love and compassion.”

Gephart, who says he wishes he could do all pro bono work, acknowledges he has a “privileged ignorance” to racial discrimination as a white, male Christian. He says he has a moral obligation to work on remedying that.

“You can define what the end should be,” he said. “You can call for that rectification, because you have this megaphone. This is where people like me fit into this dialogue. I have a great opportunity to ask people to rethink things.” 

He also acknowledges an important caveat: If the oppressor class gets to define what equality looks like for the oppressed, we aren’t throwing off the yoke of oppression at all.

“I’m well positioned to draw attention to certain injustices that many people may overlook,” he said, “but it’s not my place to determine what true equality and justice looks like. That is something I believe is to be reserved for those people that society has wronged.”

Looking at the system in new way also includes viewing it through a Christian lens. Gephart, whose mom is a pastor, says his faith has always been there. Messiah, however, broke down barriers for him of what faith is.

“Without being at Messiah, I think I would’ve retained that dichotomy view, just gone along as a typical Christian. I learned to look past the metaphorical temple we construct and distill it to its central tenets. It becomes less dogmatic and more beautiful. It reframed the whole creator-creation relationship, which has been awesome to figure out on my own.”

Leslie Giboyeaux ’17

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

For Leslie Giboyeaux ’17, the Messiah College always has been a familiar place. A Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, native, she grew up going to summer camp on campus. Even her research centered on the city she knows so well.

As a Center for Public Humanities fellow and young theologian in residence, she worked on a church history project about racial segregation and integration of the churches in Harrisburg. A double major in biblical and religious studies along with ethnic and area studies, she brought a unique voice to the room of the other fellows.

“A lot of our conversations ended up being about race—mass incarceration, stories of resistance,” said Giboyeaux. “Race issues kept coming up, thinking about how race works at Messiah as a Christian campus. We looked

at the theological implications of the work we do.”

She says the Messiah faculty was instrumental in giving her the freedom to do research.

“They’re very supportive in helping you find the answers to your questions,” she said, “even if it’s not part of their original syllabus. I ask a question in class, and they’ll come back the next day with five books. ‘Here are some resources.’”

A commuter during most of her time at Messiah, she credits the Martin Scholars Program with helping her meet other students. She also chaired the Multicultural Council and La Alianza to become further involved on campus.

Accepted to Princeton Seminary and Yale Divinity, she ultimately decided on Princeton and will begin classes in September. She says to hope to pursue a Ph.D. afterward.

Yacoub Seyni ’17

Maradi, Niger

Only one of four Christians in his entire high school, Yacoub Seyni ’17 grew up in Niger, where 99 percent of the population is Muslim. In search of a college with a combination of excellent academics and a Christian environment, he says he had never traveled outside his home country before flying to the U.S. to attend Messiah. The chaplain team bought him a jacket.

“I didn’t know it would get this cold,” he said of the Pennsylvania winters.

Seyni also didn’t realize how large of a role his professors would play outside the classroom. He says Scott Weaver, assistant professor of computer science, inspired him by displaying patience with students. Also, David Owen, associate professor of computer science, included him in family events.

“He invited me to his house for dinner, to his church, to his son’s concert,” said Seyni. “That just proves the professors are interested in you outside of academia.”

In Grantham, Seyni found his niche, majoring in computer information science and leading the programming team and the math club. He also participated in the Department of Computer and Information Science’s mentoring program and managed the database for the Agape Center.

Seyni says he plans to work in the U.S. then attend graduate school. His goal is to help with the educational systems in underdeveloped countries.

“I am thankful for the Lord and for all the four years he has been with me,” said Seyni. “Being able to succeed academically and in my personal life, it took so many people. It took hundreds of people—in any area I’ve ever interacted with—to get me through the four years.”

Olivia Mingora ’17

York, Pennsylvania

For Olivia Mingora ’17, gardening serves as a ministry and a form of therapy. Although she came to Messiah planning to pursue biblical and religious studies, she switched in her sophomore year to a degree in psychology with a pre-counseling and therapy minor.

“You don’t need to major in ministry to pursue ministry,” she explained. “I felt called to counseling.”

She’s specifically interested in horticulture therapy, using gardening and farming as a therapeutic process to help others heal. After her father died last year, she says working in the Community Garden allowed her to grieve.

“The garden was the first place I found healing. Jesus was working through that medium to provide the closure I needed,” she explained. “Some days, I was in the garden, and tears were streaming down my face. Some days, I was praying. Some days, I felt peace. Some days, I was angry. I was able to work through and allow those thoughts to happen. It’s a big reason why I want to pursue gardening therapy.”

She credits her psychology professors and Director of Sustainability Brandon Hoover for making a personal investment in her life. “[Hoover] supported me in so many areas: leadership, gardening and what it means to take care of the earth and take care of relationships,” she said.

After graduation, Mingora spent the summer working on a community farm in Maryland. This fall, she begins a one-year position at High Spirits Community Farm in Massachusetts working with adults with intellectual disabilities.

As her career takes root, she describes her favorite part of gardening. “I like planting the best,” said Mingora, “planting the seeds, knowing that you’re planting it into nutritious soil. It’s all weeded, and it’s going to grow into something productive. Something that’s useful starts from one little seed.”

 

—Anna Seip