This article is from the EMU News Archive. The approximate date of publication was in September 2003. Current EMU news is available at www.emu.edu/news
EMU Students Win Essay Contest
 Aram L. DiGennaro |
 Rickard L. Eby |
 Sara Hershberger |
 Paul J. Yoder |
Four Eastern Mennonite University students have been named winners in the 2003 John Horsch Mennonite History Essay Contest.Aram L. DiGennaro, a second-year student in the master of divinity program at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, won first place for his paper, "Christ at the Center: The Concept of Discipleship in the Writings of Desiderius Erasmus and Balthasar Hubmaier." DiGennaro is originally from Rolla, Mo., and now resides in Harrisonburg.
Rickard L. (Rick) Eby, a 1991 EMU graduate who is taking M.A. in education courses through EMU's Lancaster, Pa., campus, won second place with his entry, "The role of temperament in the 1847 Mennonite Church split and its applications for today’s church." He is from Pennsburg, Pa.
DiGennaro and Eby were among 14 students who submitted papers in one of three academic levels.
Paul J. Yoder, an EMU sophomore, placed third in the Class II division with his paper, "Virginia Mennonites and the Question of Race: A History of Trial and Progress." He is a history and social sciences major with secondary education licensure from Harrisonburg.
Sara Hershberger, a 2003 Eastern Mennonite High School graduate from Harrisonburg, now a first-year nursing major at EMU, tied for second place in Class III with her essay, "How Shall We Serve?: Pacifist Nursing During World War II."
In each class, first-place winners were awarded $100, second place, $75 and third place $50. First place winners will also receive a one-year subscription to the "Mennonite Quarterly Review," and all entrants receive a one-year subscription to the "Mennonite Historical Bulletin."
Winning papers will be posted on the Historical Committee web site: www.mcusa-archives.org.
This year’s entries were judged by Perry Bush, professor of history, Bluffton (Ohio) College; Leonard Gross, Goshen, Ind., member of College Mennonite Church and retired executive director of the archives of the Mennonite Church; and Mark Metzler Sawin, assistant professor of history, EMU.
The annual contest is sponsored by Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee, Goshen, Ind., and is named in honor of John Horsch (1867-1941), the German-American Mennonite historian and polemicist who did much to reawaken interest in Anabaptist and Mennonite studies in the 20th century. The deadline for submission of entries for next year’s contest is June 15, 2004.
Posted: September 30, 2003
