2023-24 Steinfeldt Scholars

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Alyssa Matthews

Alyssa Matthews

I believe that Jesus commands us to serve others, those who are in need, whether experiencing poverty, marginalization, grief, or more. This is something I strive to practice regularly in my own life, and I also have a heart for inviting other people into a space of service. It is a duty that many often put off and neglect, and I find the same tendency in myself at times. Sometimes people have the heart to serve but do not know where to begin. I am a student in the George Fox Honors program, built on a pedagogy of developing the human person, specifically their virtue. This happens through reading great books and absorbing the ideas within, yet I believe true development requires active practice of the virtues as well. I wanted to create a way for students to engage in this God-given command to love their neighbor and serve the marginalized. One marginalized population in Newberg is the elderly. There is a need for community and often just for a change of pace, to have people around them to talk to and hope with.

Over the last few months, I have worked to develop a friendship between George Fox Students and Friendsview residents. I take a group of students to Friendsview once a month to engage with the residents in various crafts, activities, and especially conversation. These events are advertised to the Honors community but are also not limited to Honors students. The hope is that these events would develop community among the residents and the students over time and that it will be a lasting connection that will continually provide a space for those in Honors to serve those around them and to provide community for those residents lacking it.

Emmalee Johnson

Emmalee Johnson

During my sophomore year at George Fox, I took a class called Social Change, where we created a project or initiative that would drive change on campus or in our community. While we could design a project without fully executing it, my class partner and I wanted to create real social change at Fox and Newberg. I had just finished a summer internship at an immigration law firm in my hometown of Walla Walla, WA. As I learned more about the difficulties immigrants go through to apply for legal status, I was disheartened by the way the media was reacting to the immigration crisis. I believe that as followers of Christ, we are called to be empathetic to our neighbors, including immigrants.

To me, that meant Christians should be the first people to offer a helping hand to immigrants, regardless of the political goings-on around the issue, but I felt like that was not the case among many of my peers. My partner in that class shared my belief, and we dug into researching Christians' attitudes toward immigrants and brainstorming how we might impact our campus. Since then, I conducted a simulation in a communication capstone class that allowed students to experience a glimpse into what immigrating to the United States looks like in order to have a greater sense of understanding and empathy. Helping immigrants has become one of my life goals, and in the future, I will become an immigration attorney. In the meantime, I am studying how language learning influences one's perception of culture and diversity. I am always looking for opportunities to help more people grow their empathy toward immigrants in the United States.

Savannah Hamilton

Savannah Hamilton

In many ways, our emergence from a global pandemic brought many facets of what we took for granted to light, including the reliability of medical professionals bearing the front lines. Yet when these soldiers took on this mighty calling squarely upon their shoulders, we soon realized they were human, too. The significant prevalence of burnout and compassion fatigue among these healthcare workers undermines the quality of care today's patients receive. This is why my advocacy goal is not only for the faint in body and spirit but also for those who restore, revitalize, and reconcile within their community.

In a world that seems only to follow a heartbeat of efficiency and hurry, I plan to use this empowerment in order to bring these qualities of peace and justice not only to my patients but also to my coworkers and peers. God's calling for me to pursue a career in nursing has led me to serve the needs of others, both inside and outside of the patient care setting. Through strategies that promote peace amidst chaos, grace in the face of hardship, and adequate rest when the tempo of the world demands work, first responders can set an example that evidences the importance of self-care when combating burnout.

As someone who has always been inspired by these "unsung heroes," I believe that the best way we, as followers of Christ, can make His grace stand out is through being His hands and feet, even when it requires to attend to the least of these. Only in the Lord can we find a balance between active obedience and abiding in Him. In doing so, we embody His character by personifying hope and advocacy daily.

Timothy Fehn

Since high school, I have had a growing drive to serve the poor in local organizations. Coming then to college and studying the early church fathers, their service was different: it was not evangelism, serving only to get people into heaven, but it was the actualization of the kingdom now on earth. And in God's care for our life here on earth, I was deeply convicted by the Bible. Our Lord says in the Gospel of Luke, "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." I could not escape these words: they settled into my soul not as an allegory but a command.

Out of this command, God opened the door for me to serve this past summer in Romania with an organization called Word Made Flesh. I lived for two months with a local Romanian family, and I worked with kids down in the floodplains, trying to support them into educational success: graduating eighth grade. I would help with games and lessons (with the grace to teach several times through translation), and would be a witness to the possibility of life. In our free time, our team would read Scripture and references to 'the poor,' 'the orphan,' and 'the oppressed,' in which God's radical response of love to the least of these became undeniable.

And so, when I returned, I not only shared my story (and am learning how to do so better), but I sought opportunities to serve the local poor. I am trying to get connected with the Newberg Emergency Shelter, and I had the joy of working with kids in FPNO. I recognize this is not enough; I recognize the two coats in my closet, the food on my table, and the abundance required to travel. The dissonance of my longings and my courage have been a constant petition of prayer that I am praying to this day. I am writing this from Oxford, where I am studying this Spring Term. As my capacity to create a strong project was greatly limited, I looked for new ways ceaselessly to serve while here, like partnering with local food pantries or simply learning the names of the homeless on the street and talking with them. I am learning to recognize the tension of service: you cannot do everything, and yet you must try. Only then can we find the boundaries to where God calls each of us.