The Messiah Fund and Scholarship Aid asks for your help

The role of a godparent is to guide a child with a religious upbringing. For Pauline Deutcheu Tchouako ’23 (right), her godparents took it a step further and helped her choose a college.

Although she was born in Cameroon, she and her family came to the U.S. when she was a child. Growing up in Maryland, she heard of Messiah because her godparents’ children attended here.

So, I came up for a weekend, went to a soccer game,” she said. “They showed me how to order the best combination of food from the Union. Seeing it from their perspective, I could see myself being here.

Engineering a plan

“I knew I was going to be an engineer since my freshman year of high school,” she said. “Seeing the Collaboratory was very compelling. There was a lot of access to equipment. It was very hands-on. Other schools didn’t have a program like that.”

Messiah had the major she wanted, but could she afford it? As a Martin Scholarship recipient, an important piece of the puzzle fell into place.

The Martin Scholars program seeks to foster scholars in academics, service and leadership while encouraging a critical awareness of race, diversity and reconciliation. The scholars are equipped with the tools to engage in university-related activities. They are also connected with faculty mentors for the purpose of establishing healthy lifestyles with respect to opportunities for service, exploring a major or field of study, career goals and personal and/or spiritual growth. Students are encouraged to use this knowledge and experiences to promote justice an equity on campus and beyond.

Recipients also come into the program as a cohort. “There are 13-15 spots, four of them are full tuition. Messiah is really intentional about having the cohort of students be multicultural and diverse,” she said. “My cohort are my closest friends. Knowing there’s a set group who’s seeing the world from my point of view was really helpful my freshman year in navigating Messiah. That’s a feature of the scholarship that makes the experience so much better.”

Collaboration

Now a senior, she began her term this summer as student body president, working in the Office of Student Engagement laying the groundwork for the bigger ideas from her campaign.

“I’m in charge of the diplomatic corps of students,” she explained. “We want students to have a broader voice in decision-making.”

She also stays busy with the Collaboratory, serving on the wheelchair team making prototypes that can be replicated and repaired in underserved communities in Nepal.

What advice would she give to a prospective student? “Messiah as a university really pushes for exploratory conversations, different views,” she said. “You can still be a Christian and believe the exact opposite of me, and that’s OK. Let’s talk about it.”

Here's how to give:

Generous alumni, parents and friends of Messiah have helped us achieve the $75M goal of the Campaign for Messiah University: Learning for Life, Transforming the World. We are continuing to raise additional funds, specificallyto support the Messiah Fund and Scholarship Aid. Your gift will have an immediate and direct impact on the life of a student, such as Pauline, who deeply desires a Christian education and needs financial assistance to fulfill that dream.