Christine Miller | Laura Kesl

Christine Miller

Since October 2006, I have had the amazing opportunity to travel as a volunteer chaperone with the African Children’s Choir, accompanying 26 children around the U.S. and Canada. The African Children’s Choir (ACC) seeks to help Africa’s most vulnerable children break out of poverty through education. Money is raised from the touring and performing for audiences around the world; the money is used not only for various educational programs, which include around 7,000 children, throughout Africa but also to support the choir children through university level. It is the hope of ACC that through this support, the children will grow up to become leaders in their communities and in turn help Africa tomorrow.

photo of Christine Miller

Because of my college education at Seattle Pacific, and more specifically because of the Family and Consumer Sciences Department, I graduated with a feeling that I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone. The FCS core classes I took got me thinking about my role in society and the world and how I could help make a change to better the welfare and safety of others. Two months after graduation, I attended an ACC concert for the first time and found myself drawn to the mission of the organization; I believe it is in part because it parallels that of FCS, offering hope to individuals and families.

So when I heard God’s call to travel as a chaperone, teacher, and advocate, it felt natural to step into the role. Not only did my classes stir the desire in me to do this type of work, but also taught me a lot that has proved to be helpful along the way while working with children and a team of adults! My four years in the FCS department was a very valuable experience.

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Laura Kesl

Campus Program Coordinator Andrea Ide calls Laura Kesl the “poster child” for taking advantage of every opportunity available to her while in college. “I have been so impressed by her motivation to not waste a moment or an opportunity,” says Andrea. “She’s going to continue to impact the world around her long after leaving SPU!”

The magna cum laude graduate in individual and family development attended SPU for two years, thanks to a Washington state program that enables high school students to simultaneously earn high school and college credit. Laura was a full-time student at Bellevue Community College during her junior and senior years of high school, earning an associate’s degree.

“I knew that my two years at SPU would fly by, and I wanted to make the most of it, so I hit the ground running and haven’t slowed down since,” says the Sammamish, Washington, native. “When you love what you’re doing and what you’re studying, it’s easy to go go go.”

Here’s a list of how Laura kept “go go going.”

“I feel very blessed to have lived in such an active community, and I’m grateful for everything that SPU offered me,” says Laura. She is the recipient of the Philip W. Eaton scholarship, awarded to students who demonstrate a record of academic competence and whose lives have demonstrated their commitment to the vision and ideals of Seattle Pacific. She also received the Dorothy Kreider Memorial scholarship, given to a “serious-minded and spiritually-sensitive family and consumer sciences student.” Her future plans include volunteering, working, and applying for graduate school.

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