wfn.org | Five religious journalism students receive scholarships

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

April 17, 2001	News media contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.     10- 71B{184}

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Five students pursuing careers in religious
journalism have received scholarships from United Methodist Communications
(UMCom) for the 2001-2002 academic year.

The churchwide communications agency offers two awards annually: a
Stoody-West Fellowship for graduate students and a Leonard M. Perryman
Communications Scholarship for Ethnic Minority Students.

This year, the $6,000 Stoody-West Fellowship was awarded to two students
pursuing careers in religious journalism at an accredited graduate school or
department of journalism, and a runner-up received $3,000 in graduate
assistance. Two students were each awarded the $2,500 Perryman Scholarship,
given to ethnic minority juniors or seniors planning careers in journalism.

The Stoody-West Fellowship honors the Rev. Arthur West of Lebanon, Ohio, and
the late Rev. Ralph Stoody, who were staff executives of UMCom or one of its
predecessor agencies.
 
Leonard Perryman was a journalist for the United Methodist Church for more
than 30 years before his death in 1983.

"As religious journalists, we must open the minds of the public to a greater
understanding of how faith affects their lives and the lives of the world
around them," said Andrew J. Schleicher, a recipient of the Stoody-West
Fellowship. He is attending Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in
Evanston, Ill., and plans to become an ordained deacon in the United
Methodist Church.

A member of Denton Faith United Methodist Church in Belleville, Mich., he
will begin studies this summer at Northwestern University's Medill School of
Journalism in Evanston, in the school's new religious journalism term. He
said that an in-depth understanding of religious foundations can assist in
describing many of the major conflicts in the world, and the knowledge and
skills developed at Medill and Garrett-Evangelical will help him raise
public awareness.  

Schleicher wants to work with a faith-based publication and expand or
develop its ministry through the Internet.

Kyung-hee Sa, the other Stoody-West recipient, is a seminary student at Drew
University, the Theological School, in Madison, N.J.  She is a student
pastor at Scotch Plains (N.J.) First United Methodist Church and a U.S.
correspondent for the Chung Dong Foundation English Magazine of Chung Dong
First Methodist Church in Korea. She also contributes articles to church
newsletters and other magazines.

"The church and the secular world meet for the religious journalist," she
said. "My personal belief is that when journalism is coupled with religious
idealism, it is likely to transcend in social value the journalism which
remains a business."

Christian journalism "can serve as a guiding beacon for the world by
lighting it through the gospel of Jesus Christ," she said, and "I, as an
ethnic minority Christian, can play a pivotal role in Christian journalism
to fill the changing niches of Christianity worldwide."

Michael R. Finch, a teacher's aide at Byron Bergen Middle School in Bergen,
N.Y. is the runner-up for the Stoody-West Fellowship. He will receive $3,000
to help cover costs of attending the Washington Graduate Journalism Center
in Alexandria, Va., a campus of Regent University. He attends Bergen (N.Y.)
United Methodist Church.

After completing Regent University's two-year journalism program, he plans
to study the Russian language and then become an Eastern European
correspondent. He hopes to influence people for Christ in any way he can, he
said. "I believe that I will be able to influence my co-workers by my godly
lifestyle and by witnessing to them verbally. ... I desire to be a
journalist in the world, but not a journalist of the world."

The Perryman scholarships were awarded to Alfred L. Roberts and Esther M.
You.

Roberts, a rising junior at Tennessee State University in Nashville, is
majoring in communications with a concentration in radio and television. He
hopes to make an impact in broadcast journalism as a station manager.

A member of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church in Dallas, he wants
to become highly skilled in communications and management.

The broadcast industry should be more positively involved in the
African-American community, Roberts said. "The media can and should impact
community involvement and improvement."

You, a native of Honolulu, is a rising junior at American University in
Washington and a member of Metropolitan United Methodist Church. She is a
co-anchor, reporter and senior news correspondent at American TV News,
American University's on-campus TV news source, and a writer for The Eagle,
the school's newspaper.

"As an aspiring religious journalist, I hope to be a positive role model for
students and members of the community by reporting about church events and
activities in an honest objective manner," she said. "I want to serve the
church as a liaison that helps communicate the messages of the church to the
community."

For more information on UMCom's annual awards or for applications, visit the
agency's Web site at http://www.umcom.org/scholarships or call Mickey
Slayden, scholarship administrator, at (615) 742-5407.

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United Methodist News Service
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