UMCom scholarships enable telling church’s story
|
|
Jenielle Wong |
April 28, 2005 By Linda Green* NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (UMNS)—Two students interested in journalism careers will receive
aid through United Methodist Communications scholarship programs in the
coming academic year. Jenielle
K. Wong, a junior at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.,
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. The
Rev. Luther J. Oconer, a doctoral student at United Methodist-related
Drew University in Madison, N.J., will receive a $6,000 Stoody-West
Fellowship. The Stoody-West Fellowship was named for the late Rev.
Arthur West of Lebanon, Ohio, and the late Rev. Ralph Stoody, who were
staff executives of UMCom or a predecessor agency. The
Commission on Communication’s scholarship committee chose the winners
from six Stoody-West applicants and a Perryman applicant during its
April 12 meeting. The commission oversees UMCom. All of the scholarships
are for the 2005-06 year and are awarded on a one-time basis. “Both
the undergraduate scholarship and the graduate fellowship for
communications students are important because the church needs to
continue to help nurture and develop strong religion communicators to
tell the stories of the impact of our Lord and Savior in profound and
life-changing ways,” said Amelia Tucker-Shaw, resource consultant at
United Methodist Communications. “Without
the religion communicator, how will we continue to make disciples for
Jesus Christ and continue to tell the historical stories of how God sent
His beloved son for the tsunamis, the unchurched and those seeking to
know God?” she asked. Wong,
a native of Castro Valley, Calif., and member of Chinese Community
United Methodist Church in Oakland, Calif., is a communication major and
serves on the executive board for two professional student
organizations. She is district director of the Lodi region for Brian
Hurricane, a Michigan-based company that offers supplemental educational
resources to underprivileged children in the Stockton and Lodi areas. “I
am honored to be the recipient of the Perryman scholarship,” she said.
Being supported by such a “worthy cause as the United Methodist Church
is wonderful,” she added. She
wants to use her communications skills in working with children. “I
feel that God has blessed me with effective communications skills, and I
hope to use these as a director for an educational institution for
children. Wherever God leads me next, the basis of communication will
always be rooted in my religion.” Oconer,
who was ordained in 2004, says receiving the Stoody-West Fellowship
will help him with his goal of rehabilitating the Methodist Publishing
House in Manila when he receives his doctorate degree. A student at Drew
University, Oconer is from Sta. Maria Village II in Balibago.
|
|
Luther Oconer |
He wants to
combine his journalism experience with his Wesleyan and Methodist
studies “to write relevant … materials to help inform and educate the
United Methodist Church in the Philippines.” He is redesigning his
Website at www.philmethodist.com
into a Filipino Methodist Internet news magazine, which he said could
lead to the creation of a Filipino Methodist News Service, similar to
United Methodist News Service. “I
have high hopes for our church in the Philippines. It is important for
communications and publications—print and Web—to inform people there,”
Oconer said in his application. He lamented that “Methodist publishing
work in the country has been (in) a sorry state, and I hope to take an
active role in the rehabilitation of this effort in the coming years.” More
information on UMCom scholarships is available by contacting
Tucker-Shaw, at (888) 278-4862, or by visiting UMCom’s Web site at www.umcom.org. *Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
| 
Korean News
