Three Bethel students will start off the 2024-25 school year with a boost from two different special scholarships.
Junior Patricia Huerta, McPherson, has been awarded one of 21 Green and Gold Scholarships from the Kansas Independent College Foundation.
This was the third year of a different approach to awarding a portion of the annual donations to the KICF Gift Fund, which is “to recognize particular students through a competitive process [as] a powerful way to help bring attention to the high quality of our students and the work of our independent colleges across Kansas,” according to a KICF press release.
Huerta received one of three New Horizons Scholarships, which recognize students from underrepresented backgrounds and/or first-generation students.
Huerta is a natural sciences major and a member of Bethel’s women’s tennis team, and maintains a 3.6 GPA. Her goal is to pursue dentistry after graduating from Bethel.
Announcing the 2024 Green and Gold Scholarship recipients, KICF President Matt Lindsey said, “Everyone deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and achieve their goals, regardless of their background or circumstances. Kansas will succeed when it supports all students. These scholarships are our contribution to that support.”
Senior Josué Coy Dick, North Newton, and junior Samuel Hernández, Liberal, Kan., will each receive an MEA Scholarship for BIPOC Students from Mennonite Education Agency of Mennonite Church USA. They were among 13 awardees from five MEA partner schools.
MEA created the scholarship, starting with the 2023-24 school year, for students who identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Color, are members or active participants of an MC USA congregation, and attend or plan to attend a Mennonite college, university or seminary that partners with MEA.
The scholarship selection committee looks particularly at student leaders on campus and in their congregations and communities.
This is Coy Dick’s second year to receive a BIPOC Scholarship. He was born in Guatemala and grew up in North Newton, with roots in the central Kansas Mennonite community as well as the Maya Q’eqchi in Alta Verapaz, Coban, Guatemala.
He is majoring in Bible and religion, peace and conflict studies and, as a violinist, music performance at Bethel. He is co-president of the Bethel College Community for Justice and Peace and is a member and attendee of Shalom Mennonite Church in Newton.
Coy Dick says, “I am not sure yet what exactly will be my vocation, but I am guided by my Christian faith to serve others and live alongside the marginalized. I am interested in ministry, education and social work.
“Wherever it is I end up working, I will seek to live out my faith, to be guided not by a pursuit of wealth but by a desire to bring about the kingdom of God, to make the world more just.”
Hernández is in his third year studying elementary education at Bethel, with the goal to be able to reach out to kids and teach them about life and how to overcome challenges.
Hernández says he was raised to “follow Jesus and serve out [my] calling.”
He attends Camino de Santidad in Liberal, and expressed gratitude to Pastor Moises Romero, who has known Hernández since childhood and always pushed him and believed in him. “He’s been a rock for me and our church,” Hernández says.
“The purpose of the scholarship is to encourage the next generation of church leaders,” said MEA Executive Director Michael Danner. “The schools that partner with MEA … are working to fulfill the educational [goals] of Mennonite Church USA – to create disciples of Jesus. We hope the scholarships encourage student leaders to complete their education and continue serving the church.”
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel ranks at #23 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of “Best Regional Colleges Midwest” for 2023-24. Bethel was the first Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see http://www.bethelks.edu
