WESTMINSTER Searching church for diversity

Pastors will choose one person from their congregation for the scholarship.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Westminster College has found a unique way to diversify its student population while forging a stronger relationship with Presbyterian churches nationwide.
The Young Presbyterian Scholars program is offering 150 four-year, $44,000 scholarships to next year's freshmen based solely on the recommendation of their church pastor. The only requirement is that the student must have at least a 3.5 grade-point average.
"Our goals are to form a strong connection with Presbyterian churches as a Presbyterian-related college and to reach out to some churches that are beyond our normal recruitment basin," said Doug Swartz, the college's dean of admissions.
The scholars program idea came from college President R. Thomas Williamson, whose father was a Presbyterian pastor.
Each pastor can choose only one graduating senior from the congregation for the scholarship. The college hopes to make the awards yearly.
Response
The response has been promising, said Carey Anne Meyer LaSor, coordinator of the Young Presbyterian Scholar Program.
Pastors "are very happy that the college is choosing to upgrade its intention of being a resource for the denomination and for the church itself," she said.
"I think it's a fantastic opportunity," said the Rev. Linda M. Jaberg, pastor of Thomas Presbyterian Church in Eighty Four, Pa.
Along with the scholarship, Presbyterian scholars will be encouraged to participate in a core program designed to help them develop their faith as well as their academics, Meyer LaSor said.
The Rev. Ms. Jaberg said college is often a time when youngsters test their faith and can often lapse.
"It's a questioning time. They hit college and begin to question things as their minds expand. If they don't have someone to mentor them, they sometimes have a tendency to wander away from the church," she added.
Mass mailing
A mass mailing went out to 10,000 churches last month. Swartz said they aren't concerned about a deluge of applicants, but do plan to give out the scholarships on a first-come, first-served basis.
"We know that we are not going to get a student from every church. It's going to take a lot for a student from Montana to come to New Wilmington, Pa., but we wanted to put that opportunity out there for someone to make that decision from, say, Montana or California," he said.
Adding students from different areas should help foster a great learning environment, college officials say.
"A word from the outside is always a good thing to make you appreciate what you have and always look at things and say, 'I guess the world's a little bigger place than the world I've been living in,'" Meyer LaSor said.
Swartz said students from 22 states now attend Westminster, but the majority of its 1,400 students still come from western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.
The $44,000 scholarships will be stretched out over four years, paying for about half of the $26,000-per-year tuition.
cioffi@vindy.com