Emily Rose, a senior at S.S. Murphy High School, in Mobile, Alabama, has been named recipient of Graceland University's fifth annual Prestigious Honors Scholarship. Emily's scholarship will cover tuition, room and board, and fees for the four years she plans to attend Graceland, an award worth more than $80,000.
Emily Rose's story is a familiar one for Gracelanders. She has known all her life that she wanted to attend Graceland University. Her grandmother, Betty Rester, of Mobile, graduated from Graceland in 1947. Emily's parents, Roger and Anne (Rester) Rose, also of Mobile, both graduated from GU in 1984. Emily heard much about Graceland at the Mobile Community of Christ congregation she attends. She has been to Homecomings in Lamoni and this summer she will return for her third straight SPECTACULAR, a week-long, athletics/academics/fine arts experience in Lamoni for more than 1,000 high school students from around the world. Graceland also operates a campus in Independence, Missouri, in the Kansas City metro area.
"I only applied to one school, Graceland," Emily said with a laugh. "My guidance counselor thought I was crazy." Emily was that sure she wanted to go to college at Graceland. An accomplished flautist with her high school band, Emily will pursue music at GU but she plans to major in History. She thoroughly enjoyed visiting with veteran, Graceland History Professor Bill Juhnke when she was on campus. "He'd better not retire until I have a chance to take his courses," she said. Bill has taught at GU for three decades.
Emily is also "extremely interested" in Graceland's growing Outreach International Club and she plans to get immediately involved. She has already worked on ‘Hunger Challenge' awareness retreats in the Mobile area, proceeds of which went to Outreach International. She is "really looking forward to a Winter Term experience" overseas with OI.
There were 14 candidates who attended the Prestigious Honors weekend held on the Lamoni campus February 2 - it was postponed in December because of the tremendous ice storm that struck the Midwest. Candidates are at the top of their high school classes academically, have posted excellent ACT and SAT scores and have exhibited communication and leadership skills in their schools and communities. They each write an essay illustrating their level of achievement in an academic area. The applications are reviewed by a selection committee, comprised this year of professors Brad Mercer, Chemistry, Barbara (Hiles) Mesle, English, and Bob Mesle, Religion; and, former Prestigious Honors Scholarship winners Lisa Ash and Nicky Kerr.
Three other high school seniors from around the country received full-tuition awards this year as part of the Prestigious Honors Scholarship program. They are: Jordan Mercer, of South Stokes High School in Walnut Cove, North Carolina; Daniel Vogelsang, of Derby High School in Derby, Kansas; and Paige Webberley, of Camas High School in Camas, Washington.
In her essay for the Prestigious Honors application, Emily explored the pro-choice/pro-life abortion question. She explained how a class she took recently called Theory of Knowledge helped shape her understanding of the distinction between morals and ethics, and how that helped her pin down her own stance. She wrote, "My bumper sticker would say ‘God is Pro-Choice, Choose Life.'"
Emily is seemingly interested in everything. Besides awards she has won in music, she has also been honored in Fine Arts for her print making and for Physics experiments at Science Fairs. She balances her many interests while maintaining academic excellence in Murphy High School's International Baccalaureate program, the most rigorous, high school academic curriculum offered in Mobile.
She attended a worship service at Graceland when she was here in February and was delighted to see Campus Minister Dave Heinze strumming his guitar. She and her family knew Dave and Dustee Heinze from the couple's years working for the church in Florida. Emily is excited about getting involved with Campus Ministries and especially the Community of Christ Leadership Program. It sounds as if Graceland will be seeing a lot of Emily Rose.
One last thing...how does Emily feel about living in a small town like Lamoni? "Well, my high school does have more students than Lamoni has people," she mused. "But, I like the atmosphere there. You feel a real sense of community in Lamoni and at Graceland."
Graceland University was established in 1895 as a non-sectarian liberal arts institution by the Community of Christ, headquartered in Independence, MO. The university offers more than 50 academic programs to students from more than 40 states and 35 nations. For more information about Graceland University, call 866-GRACELAND or visit www.graceland.edu.
