Undergraduate Commencement
Messiah University celebrated its 115th Commencement May 11, conferring degrees on 579 graduating seniors at Starry Field.
Kiersten Gilmore ’24
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Kiersten Gilmore ’24 knew she wanted to be a teacher. After visiting some other colleges, she decided to just “take a look” at Messiah. After all, it was only 20 minutes from where she grew up in Harrisburg. She visited more than once.
“During my final visit, before committing, I met with the then-Dean of Education Don Murk. After that individualized meeting, he asked me if I would like to come sit in one of his classes before I left. Nearing the end of that class period, when student teachers shared what they had learned from their experience, he asked if it would be okay if the class could pray over me. The fact that they took time out of their full class period to pray over an average high school senior still deciding where to continue her education changed it ALL for me,” said Gilmore.
She also learned that it’s OK to stop by during professors’ office hours just because.
“One thing Messiah does differently is how professors truly want to get to know their students. They truly want you to stop by when they post their office hours on their doors and add them to their syllabus. Throughout my time at Messiah, I learned that you don’t always need to stop by with a question regarding a class,” she said. “The professors at Messiah are there for the students wholly! I don’t know anywhere else where you would find professors more dedicated to student growth than at Messiah.”
Even though she started her college career during COVID-19, she says Messiah was intentional about creating a space where students could experience and grow their faith.
“During our freshman year, we had different life groups. While we had to sit six feet apart and wear masks, we talked about how we saw the Lord moving throughout our lives. Another thing that was significant in my Messiah career was Powerhouse. It was a time when students gathered in the chapel to worship freely together. Going to Powerhouse every Thursday night was almost like a battery recharge. People came in from really good days and really hard days. Despite what may be going on in our lives, we were able to come together and worship!” she said.
After working at Milton Hershey School the summer after Commencement, she is now a full-time K-2 teacher at Sara Lindemuth in Susquehanna Township School District.
“I am forever grateful for the Messiah Education Department’s impact on my life. My friends and professors were pillars in my academic and spiritual growth these last four years,” she said.
—Anna Seip, MBA ’24
Kiana Haldeman ’24
Manheim, Pennsylvania
As a Spanish major with a K-12 certification and a public relations minor, Kiana Haldeman ’24, knows the value of language immersion in the classroom. That’s how she learned Spanish in high school.
“In my high school, we were taught in all Spanish. We weren’t allowed to use English. It was very exclusively Spanish only unless there was an emergency,” Haldeman said. “This is how I want to teach.”
For the Honors Program Senior Project, students develop a paper, a creative work, a presentation, etc., culminating in a final public presentation. Haldeman decided to create a YouTube channel.
“I wanted to make a series of different videos that future teachers and current foreign language teachers can utilize to see why this is beneficial and how we can implement it in the classroom,” she said.
She interviewed her high school teachers who advocated for immersive language learning, consolidating their ideas into a series of videos.
“My high school Spanish experience was so pivotal in my career choice. I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but Spanish really changed it all. My teacher made me fall in love with the language and she really showed her students that she cared,” Haldeman said. “She would come to my dance performances, or she would just give me additional support. So the teacher can change the world of a student and really make a difference in the students’ lives. That’s what I want to do for my students,” she said.
Knowing Spanish has allowed her to study abroad in places like Spain and go on trips to Guatemala. Even at home, it has allowed her to cross cultural divides.
“Language opens up so many different doors of opportunity for students and people in general because you’re able to be a bridge between cultures and be a cross-cultural communicator,” Haldeman said. “I worked at Chick-fil-A over the summer, and people will come through the line who couldn’t speak English. When I started to speak Spanish to them, their eyes would light up. The idea of being able to bridge that communication gap is really cool.”
—Samantha Neal ’24
Allie Mast ’23
December graduate
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
After attending field hockey camps at Messiah in high school, Allie Mast ’23 already knew the campus well when it was time to pick a college. When she toured Messiah’s politics department, she was drawn to the program and the hospitality.
“I visited the school and then I knew that regardless of whether or not I played field hockey there, I would be attending the school,” Mast said. “I only applied to Messiah. I banked on it. Being on the field hockey team and learning leadership skills and what servant leadership looks like has been so huge for my growth in the classroom and as a person,” Mast said.
In the course of her studies, she took a Constitutional Law class and loved it. She also spent a semester interning for the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, in Washington, D.C., in her junior year.
“I came in not excited to work for them because I’m not a conservative. I was like, is this going to be the worst spring of my life?” she said. “Being in D.C. at a conservative organization where I was one perspective among many rigorously competing, diverse and oppositional perspectives was a personal confrontation with how I understood my previously held convictions. I am grateful for how Messiah’s experiential learning initiatives gave me the opportunity to engage with the kind of learning that cannot be taught in the classroom.”
She is starting law school at the University of Buffalo, where she will earn her J.D.
“I had to make the hard decision not to pursue a Ph.D. for now,” she said. “After my visit to Buffalo, and talking with the two departments, which I loved, I realized that doing both simultaneously wouldn’t allow me to get everything out of the law school experience that I want. I’ll still be focusing my studies on judicial process, administrative law, constitutional law and environmental law. I was accepted into the James Kent Faculty Research Scholar Program at the law school, as well, which will allow me the opportunity to pursue the research aspect of law, which is what I was so excited for with the Ph.D.”
—Samantha Neal ’24 and Anna Seip, MBA ’24
Moises Ramirez-Gomez ’24
Reading, Pennsylvania
Moises Ramirez-Gomez ’24, an international business major with a double minor in music and pre-law, originally wasn’t sure he would attend Messiah, his sister’s alma mater.
“I kind of wanted to go to another institution, kind of make a name for myself. I didn’t want to be known as her little brother,” he said.
However, every time he visited his sister, he connected with Messiah professors and students.
“I just found it so amazing to see how professors were so willing to pour into my life, even though I wasn’t even a student yet. Or just the fact that they cared to get to know me for who I was. So that really stuck out to me,” Ramirez-Gomez said. “I think we use the word community so often it becomes a buzzword, but truly the community at Messiah really attracted me to it.”
In his time as student body president, he served as the bridge between the student body and Messiah administration, addressing the needs of current students while also planning for future ones.
“The beautiful and hard thing about a place of higher education is that every four years you’re getting a whole new cycle of different students with different mindsets and different passions,” Ramirez-Gomez said. “So this year I kind of struggled with the idea of how we can best structure it so we best meet the needs of our current student body but also start planning for the future and for that next generation that is still coming.”
One such change involved visitation policies, enacted this past spring. Another accomplishment Ramirez-Gomez he says appreciates is the facilitation of conversations surrounding current events.
“A lot of things can be very polarizing,” he said, “but as Christians who have been called to be peacemakers, who have been called to love our brothers and sisters, it was really interesting just hearing that perspective of loving those who are suffering and how we can best facilitate conversation in these times of contention.”
Ramirez-Gomez believes his time at Messiah has strongly shaped his faith journey. He had grown up in a Christian household but coming to Messiah exposed him to new questions about faith.
“I had become very complacent in my faith journey and my walk with Christ. So with that came a lot of challenges of figuring out who I was, my identity in Christ, but also how I want my relationship to Christ to look like,” he said. “Do I want it to be something that is surface-level or do I truly want to pursue a relationship where I am in all of who he is and God’s goodness and God’s love toward me?”
Ramirez-Gomez will be continuing his education with Messiah’s accelerated MBA program. He says his time at Messiah has holistically prepared him for his future.
“I hold the lessons that I’ve learned outside of the classroom to the same value that I do the lessons that I’ve learned in the classroom,” he said. “I think my major classes have really equipped me for the future, but I think a lot of the lessons that I’ve learned outside of the classroom, through leadership positions, through mentors pouring into me, have contributed to me being equipped just as much.”
—Samantha Neal ‘24
Sydney Schappell ’24
Lebanon, Pennsylvania
A campus open house is what got Sydney Schappell to attend Messiah.
“I thought I wanted to go to a bigger school, but I had a friend who was already here and was like, ‘Hey, we’re having an open house. You should pop by.’ Our tour guide knew someone everywhere on campus, which was nice to see that there are people that know each other instead of being lost in the shuffle of a really big school. That’s why I ended up picking Messiah. It felt like a good place from the second I stepped on campus,” she said.
A political science major, she says a sophomore project about food deserts really inspired her. A local nonprofit provides its own currency to those in food desert areas and reached out to her research methods class.
“So we did the intake and we did research in Harrisburg communities. We reached out to a bunch of different businesses and partnered with them to get this nonprofit brought to Harrisburg. It’s in full swing now. I was with my dad in Harrisburg a couple weeks ago, and we were walking around and there were a couple different storefronts that had the little symbol of this company in the doorway saying that they accepted that currency as a form of payment for this food. I had a part in making that happen and bringing it to Harrisburg, which I thought was really cool,” she said.
She also spent three years on the Student Activities Board (SAB), including the past year as president.
“One of my favorite memories with SAB specifically was running Coffee House. Because of the nature of Messiah, we’re able to shine a spotlight on students that may have talents and passions for things, but not necessarily what they’re majoring in. So I loved being in charge of that and getting to work with people and find ways that we can let them showcase their passions and their talents to the student body that doesn’t require them to dedicate their entire life to doing this one thing,” she said.
She also credits Messiah with helping her see diverse viewpoints.
“When you’re talking with people who have different experiences, you see things in a different light. Being in an area that is Christ-centered and there’s so many people that you know, we share a moral baseline a moral foundation But then obviously from there, you know positions differ on everything. It’s been really, really cool for me to be able to just learn from other people and listen to other people who have had different experiences than I have,” she said.
In the fall, she will continue her studies at Syracuse College of Law.
“Once I declared my politics major and I was taking more of the law-centered classes, I thought this is something where you can make a real tangible difference in people’s lives,” she said. “We also need to be good stewards of what Jesus taught us and how we should live our lives. There’s just so much negativity in the law and the politics field. So not only is it something that I’m passionate about, but I think there’s always room in these fields for the type of people that come out of Messiah.”
—Samantha Neal ’24 and Anna Seip, MBA ’24
Krystalyn Super ’24
Blandon, Pennsylvania
Krystalyn Super ’24 started her educational journey as an environmental engineering major but she graduated with as a sustainability studies major with a concentration in conservation and agriculture along with a minor in biology. She hopes to go into research to help solve environmental problems.
“I want to go into more environmental research and work on trying to create some different environmental solutions to fix what’s going on, whether that be climate change, better land use, water use,” she said. “I can see myself working on policy for a nonprofit, working on environmental justice cases for people who don’t have clean water and serving those people well.”
She plans to attend graduate school at American University in Washington, D.C., where she will pursue a master’s program in environmental science. She also will serve as a research assistant for professors on specific projects.
“One of the programs that we would be doing would involve looking at BPAs in the Potomac River and nearby river sediments,” said Super.
In reflecting on her Messiah experience, she says she feels gratitude for the support that the sustainability program has given her.
“I definitely just want to say thank you to the department as a whole, all the professors I’ve interacted with,” she said. “It has been such a phenomenal learning experience that not only allowed me to grow as a person, but also grow in my studies with all the tools I need to achieve my goals.”
—Samantha Neal ’24
Micah Wu-Clark ’24
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Micah Wu-Clark ’24, an electrical engineering major with a mechanical engineering minor, is passionate about using his skills for practical problem-solving.
“I have always loved the maths and sciences and engineering is a practical application of the two that can be used for benefiting people and solving real problems,” he said.
To pursue this passion, he sought out a Christian university that would help him reach his goals. That’s where Messiah came in.
“Messiah is an accredited, Christian liberal arts school that has a strong engineering program that is close to home (for me) and was generous with aid, making it a reasonable cost for a strong degree and experience,” he said.
During his college journey, he completed multiple internships in researching, designing and creating a product for a marketplace.
“My first was at a nearby engineering firm called Katapult where I worked in their makerspace designing and prototyping a STEM kit that used my programming, electrical, CAD and creativity skills to produce a product in a cooperative (and competitive) environment,” said Wu-Clark.
Another internship helped him develop his research skills.
“At the undergraduate laboratory internship at NREL, I spent [last] summer doing research and design work on a glove prototype that harvested energy from the forces in a human hand as a demonstration-scale model of the technology my team was developing,” he said. “This internship made me realize I have a passion for research work, gave me some great connections and let me gain insight from research professionals on how they got to where they are and helped inform my path going forward.”
After graduation, Wu-Clark will begin working at PPL Electric Utilities on the interconnections team.
“I will help process applications and run studies for solar and other generation on the grid. These studies will help ensure grid protection and reliability and increase renewable energy in Pennsylvania,” he said.
—Samantha Neal ’24
Justine Maendel ’24
Farmington, Pennsylvania
Studio art major Justine Maendel ’24 underwent no formal art training before attending Messiah.
“Art has always been something I’ve done as a reflex and as a hobby growing up” she said. “Being visually creative has always been very connected to who I am and what I love to do.”
In her junior year, Maendel studied abroad with the Gordon in Orvieto program in Italy for four months. In this program, she took one class per month, albeit without many textbooks.
“We were really encouraged to use the local people and the city and the Italian art and architecture and landscape and everything from that country as our textbook and learn from that,” Maendel said. “So it was just a really, really different approach to education and academics.”
With only one hour of Wi-Fi allowed per night, the program fostered a lot of conversation and creativity. Maendel and her classmates learned to slow down and take in the scenery.
“[Intentional community] was something that was just wonderful about that program,” said Maendel of her time in Italy.
After graduation, she will begin her career teaching art at a private boarding school in New York. She says her dream would be to be a part-time artist and a part-time teacher, at whatever level.
“I’m going to always be making my own work at the same time and improving,” Maendel said. “I mean, who knows? Maybe I’ll go to grad school, maybe not. I’m not sure, but I think there are so many avenues of art that I haven’t yet explored and tapped into that I’ve just got a flavor of here at Messiah.”
—Samantha Neal ’24
Abigail Cheong ’24
Selangor, Malaysia
An international student from Malaysia, Abigail Cheong ’24 says she appreciated how Messiah University helped guide her through the process of studying nursing in the United States.
“When I first entered the nursing field, I didn’t know how U.S. hospitals work,” Cheong said. “I didn’t know how insurance works, but going through classes and the way you slowly get exposed to everything is really helpful. They’ve always been supporting me, my advisors and just people constantly checking up on me, which I think is really helpful.”
Before coming to the U.S., Cheong had attended one of Messiah’s partner schools in Malaysia when she met a representative from the University who encouraged her to visit the campus. She also grew interested in the nursing program by listening to alumni and current students.
“The 100% pass rate was great to hear because it showed that Messiah prepared nurses really well!” she said.
As she made her way through the classes, Cheong found the clinical experiences at Messiah especially helpful. At a recent job interview, the employer told her that they liked Messiah students because they were always well-prepared from these myriad clinical experiences.
“So, for instance, we do flight nursing. You go on a helicopter with other nurses,” Cheong said.
She had experiential learning with home health nursing, lactation consulting, nursing leadership and evidenced-based practice projects that focused on human trafficking in the emergency department, just name a few.
“My favorites were the community health nursing clinicals, because we had the opportunity to see the patients in their home environment and get to know them better and more holistically,” said Cheong.
After graduation, Cheong plans to work in critical care nursing, which would place her in an emergency care department or an intensive care unit.
—Samantha Neal ’24
Elizabeth Hargrove ’24
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Hargrove ’24 originally came to Messiah as a biomedical engineering major but graduated as an electrical engineer with a biomedical engineering minor.
“I started with a major in biomedical engineering because I thought it would be an interesting way to engage with the medical field without directly dealing with blood or disease,” she said.
After graduation, she traveled to West Africa to intern with Trans World Radio (TWR) for two months. She worked on transmitter stations to ensure dissemination of the Gospel via radio.
“The intent of my time in West Africa was to discern if God is calling me into long-term missions overseas or not. Through this experience, I have learned that missionaries are ordinary people who want to serve God,” she said.
At the end of her two months, she did not get a clear answer, and that’s OK.
“Right now, the answer may be ‘wait.’ Before Joseph became second in command over Egypt, God was humbling and preparing him through Joseph’s time as a slave and prisoner in Egypt. Likewise, God may still be equipping me for long term service abroad, both technically and socially,” she said.
Hargrove says her host family and other missionary families were welcoming and helpful as she adjusted to new languages and culture.
“I have had the opportunity to apply aspects of nearly every engineering course I have taken at Messiah,” she said.
In addition to the engineering work of her internship, she had the opportunity to take part in Christian outreach to children.
“On Tuesdays, we wash their clothes, play soccer with them, talk about the Bible and feed them. Saturdays, we play soccer and talk about the Bible. I am very limited in my ability to speak French or the local tribal languages, but I can still engage with local kids through soccer and show that I care about them through my actions,” she said.
Now that the internship is complete, she will begin a job as an associate electrical engineer at EnerTech in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
—Samantha Neal ’24 and Anna Seip, MBA ’24