wfn.org | Five students receive UMCom scholarships for 2002-03

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

April 16, 2002  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71B{162}

NOTE: This report may be used as a sidebar to UMNS story #160.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Five students will receive aid through two United
Methodist Communications (UMCom) scholarship programs in the coming academic
year.

Jennifer Su, a student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., was
named winner of the Leonard M. Perryman Communications Scholarship for
Ethnic Minority Students. The scholarship provides $2,500 to an ethnic
minority junior or senior pursuing a career in journalism. The late Leonard
Perryman was a journalist for the United Methodist Church for more than 30
years.

Lilian K. Ringera, a student at United Methodist-related Iliff School of
Theology in Denver, and Manya Brachear, a student at Columbia University in
New York, will receive full Stoody-West Fellowships of $6,000 apiece.

Receiving $1,500 each as runners up for the Stoody-West award are Shante'
Morgan, a student at the University of Southern California, and Sarah
Schroeder, who will be attending George Washington University in Washington.

The Commission on Communications' scholarship committee chose the winners
during its April 11 meeting. The commission oversees UMCom. All of the
scholarships are for the year 2002-03 and are awarded on a one-time basis.

Su, of College Station, Texas, was chosen from among three candidates for
the Perryman scholarship. She is studying magazine journalism at
Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. She is founder and editor of
mustardseed, a Christian magazine, and has worked on campus publications at
Northwestern and on her hometown paper, The Eagle. She is a member of the
First Evangelical Free Church in Chicago.

"My journalistic experiences have taught me that if Christian journalists
speak with boldness, God's Word will spread," Su wrote in her application. 
 
Ringera was the first scholar chosen from among 10 Stoody-West applicants.
She will graduate in 2003 from Iliff, which she has been attending since
last fall on a dean's scholarship. She attends Evanston United Methodist
Church in Denver.

A native of Kenya, she earned her bachelor of education degree from the
University of Nairobi in 1980; a postgraduate diploma in mass communications
from the university in 1996; and a master's degree in media from Natal
University in South Africa in 1999. Her career has included work as a
lecturer at Daystar University in Nairobi, a communications consultant at
Nazarene University in Kenya, and an administrator and public relations
person at the University of Nairobi.

"My interest in religious communication/journalism developed when I saw the
role the church was playing in my country during the ethnic clashes," she
wrote. Through the organization of workshops "with the youth, politicians,
local leaders and civil society, dialogue was started that enabled people to
come together to talk about the conflict." After she receives her degree,
she wants to return to her country and write about peace building in the
world in general, and in Kenya and Africa specifically. 

Brachear of Waco, Texas, worked as a staff writer and correspondent for the
News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., before going to graduate school at
Columbia University in 2001. She is pursuing master's degrees in journalism
and religious studies through a new dual-degree program, and has received
two other scholarships - one for feature writing and the other for women
journalists. She earned her bachelor's degree in communications from
Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., in 1996. 

In the last two years, she has attended more than 50 churches, then written
about her experiences, according to her Stoody-West scholarship application.

"When I graduate in May 2003, I intend to work as a full-time religion
correspondent," she wrote to the scholarship committee. "My hope is to
dedicate my career to broadening Americans' perspectives on international
issues of faith."

Morgan, of Sand Oaks, Calif., has been pursuing a master's degree in
journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles since
1999, and expects to graduate in 2003. She earned two bachelor of arts
degrees - one in journalism and one in pan-African studies - in 1990 from
California State University, Northridge. 

Returning to school "has been one of the best divisions I have ever made,"
she wrote. "It has allowed me to focus on God's mission and plan. I now have
the time to rededicate myself to serving God through the church and my
writings."

Since August, she has been a journalism instructor at California Lutheran
University, and also has worked in a similar position at California State
University. Her journalism experience includes working as a reporter for the
San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service, the Los Angeles Daily News
and the Pasadena Star-News. She also is a contributing writer to a number of
magazines.

Schroeder, of College Park, Md., has been accepted as a graduate student at
George Washington University in Washington, where she will pursue a master's
degree in media and public affairs. She earned her bachelor of arts degree
in 1996 from North Central College in Naperville, which she attended with
support from a United Methodist scholarship. Her most recent work experience
was as an editorial assistant at the American Horticultural Society in
Alexandria, Va., where she worked from March to December 2001.

She belongs to Community United Methodist Church in Naperville, Ill., and
currently attends University United Methodist Church in College Park, Md. 

Schroeder wrote that the college experiences that had the most impact on her
were related to her involvement in campus ministry organizations, including
the United Methodist Student Organization. Later, through the church's US-2
program, she worked for a child advocacy network. "My career goal," she
wrote, "is to blend my interest in social justice and public policy with
journalism and work for a church-related publication or a religiously
affiliated nonprofit organization either on staff or as a free-lancer."

More information on UMCom scholarships is available by contacting Barbara
Nissen or Mickey Slayden at (615) 742-5400, or going to www.umcom.org
online.
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