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Honored Student Leads List of Covenant Youth Involvement
IRON MOUNTAIN, MI (May 8, 2004) - First Covenant Church's Toni Strutz was
named the 2004 Valedictorian at Finlandia University in Hancock,
Michigan, with a 4.0 grade-point average while majoring in Social Sciences.
A transfer student from Michigan Tech University, Strutz has been
involved as house manager of an abused women's shelter along with her
academic efforts. Strutz was also among 22 students at Finlandia
University named to this year's Who's Who Among Students in American
Universities and Colleges as national outstanding campus leaders.
Strutz is one of many young adults and youth from Evangelical Covenant
Church congregations who are making a difference in their communities.
Following is a list of others gleaned from local church newsletters,
grouped by conferences and region:
CENTRAL
- Chicago, Illinois: North Park Covenant Church had several young
people honored for their academic pursuits in history during the spring.
Sophomore Helena Swanson-Nystrom of Von Steuben High School produced a
PowerPoint presentation on the Columbian World's Fair in the late 1800s
for a local history fair and her efforts earned her a trip to the city
finals. She combined with classmates Roxanne Bertrand and Anne Renaud to
complete the project. At the junior high/middle school age level,
Helena's sister, Annie (who is from North Park Elementary School), was
part of a team that competed in the Illinois Science Olympiad finals in
Champaign. Meanwhile, Peterson School seventh grader Kaitlin Hindaileh
produced a project on the Lost Boys of Sudan and earned a trip to the
Illinois state history fair. She researched work by Grace Covenant
Church on Chicago's north side as they helped Sudanese refugees
integrate into the United States. Megan Ramos, a seventh grader at
Solomon Public School, was also invited to the state finals, with
Bethany Roeschley, from Grace Covenant Church. The girls presented their
project on Swedish immigration to Chicago from 1840 to 1930. Kaitlin,
Megan, and Bethany all received superior ratings for their projects.
And, an eighth grader from Peterson School, Kjersten Johnson, also made
the city finals with her project on a local peace museum.
- Chicago, Illinois: Alex Anderson of Ravenswood Evangelical Covenant
Church played with his St. Phillips grade school team in a national
tournament in Indiana recently involving Lutheran schools that qualified
by winning regional tournaments or league titles. Alex also had the
leading role in the school's musical production of "The Emperor's New
Clothes."
- Galesburg, Illinois: The Covenant Church of Galesburg's Emily Larson
was named one of five Illinois State Scholars from ROWVA School District
this year and Blake Peterson was awarded the Steven Matthews Future
Farmers of America Agricultural Scholarship at the organization's
banquet at ROWVA recently.
- Mount Prospect, Illinois: Northwest Covenant Church's Alicen
Prikkel, a senior at North Park University in Chicago, was selected for
the "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges"
recently. The award honors outstanding campus leaders for their
scholastic and community achievements. Before graduating, Prikkel (a
Music major) had a Senior Recital at the school on May 2.
- Stillman Valley, Illinois: Valley Covenant Church confirmed Scott
Adams, Tara Beach, Toni Boatman, Travis Bond, Bill Clift, Aaron Deets,
Ben and Mitch Detig, Jim Feimster, Jessica Fowler, Andy Francis, Grace
and Kirsten Theden and Heather VanBuskirk on May 2 during Confirmation
Sunday.
- Wilmette, Illinois: Courtney Sharp of Winnetka Covenant Church
performed as a senior soloist for the New Trier High School Symphony
Orchestra on April 23. Others from the church involved in the concert
included Madeline Sharp and Mark Shelton. The concert was broadcast live
on local cable television channels and on a local Internet site.
- Iron River, Michigan: Grace Covenant Church's Anders Lindwall
qualified for nationals in four "slopestyle" skiing events in the Upper
Peninsula and then placed second in one event at a competition in New
Mexico. Lindwall competes in a unique form of skiing, using "twin-tip"
skis that allow him to go forwards and backwards.
EAST COAST
- East Bridgewater, Massachusetts: About 60 youth from Community
Covenant Church, Covenant Congregational Church in Boston and People's
Baptist Church in Roxbury participated in a March Madness 3 on 3
basketball tourney. Kids from all three churches were divided up into
teams for the tourney. The winning team included Jason Green and Desmond
Brown from Covenant Congregational and Katrina Mislauskas from Community
Covenant. Marie Jones of Covenant Congregational won the 3-point
shooting contest and fellow parishioner Jeff McNair was the
sportsmanship award winner. The Most Valuable Player was Larry LaMonica
of Community Covenant.
- Cranston, Rhode Island: Calvary Covenant church youth Kyle Saliant
recently won the 82-pound weight class for middle school wrestlers in
Rhode Island.
ECCAK
- Eagle River, Alaska: Spencer Stingley of Community Covenant Church
recently placed third in a "Create A Community" contest in Anchorage.
The process involves writing an essay and submitting a poster showing
how the community would be created. Meanwhile, a high school student
named Kim Eisberg submitted two photos that appeared in an Alaska travel
magazine called "Mileposts."
GREAT LAKES
- Jamestown, New York: First Covenant Church's Nathan Johnson earned
the Coaches Award at the Jamestown High School sports team banquet.
Johnson is a high school boys swimming team member though he is only in
seventh grade. Ashleigh Rough received Most Improved Player honors for
junior varsity girls basketball and Ashley Jones earned a varsity Lady
Raider basketball award at the event.
MIDWEST
- Clyde, Kansas: Lynette Brax of Brantford Evangelical Covenant Church
was initiated into Kappa Delta Pi, an international Honor society in
Education at Kansas State University, and was recently accepted into
membership into the Golden Key International Honor Society during a
campus ceremony. The society was founded more than 25 years ago and
provides academic recognition to college juniors and seniors in the top
15 percent of their class. This summer, Brax is headed to Santiago,
Chile, to work with the Ibero Ministries for two months. She will work
with the children's program there, along with a college roommate, in one
of the poorer areas of the city.
NORTH PACIFIC
- Seattle, Washington: First Covenant Church's Peter Perkins, a second
grader, was recently selected for the Northwest Choir.
NORTHWEST
- Duluth, Minnesota: Ashlee Boerner, Becky Franklin, Kayla
Kassing-Scheer, Amanda Pfuhl, Alex Rosengren, Mara Scheer and Reece Zimm
were confirmed by First Covenant Church during worship service on April 25.
- Richfield, Minnesota: Bethany Covenant Church confirmed Amy Peterson
and Alyssa Fallon at a worship service on April 4.
- Willmer, Minnesota: First Covenant Church's high school group put on
a musical called "The Witness" that was performed on April 9-10 as a
tool to present the gospel in a fresh way. The story of Jesus is told
from the view of Peter - the witness - and by others who knew Jesus best.
- Ellsworth, Wisconsin: Levi Blodgett, Mike Gilliland, Brittany Hayes,
Quinn Kaufhold, Troy and Tyler Mattson, Greg and Nate Spence and Alison
and Ryne Stockwell were to be confirmed at Zion Covenant Church during
its morning worship service on May 2.
SOUTHEAST
- Plumtree, North Carolina: In late March, 55 teens from a host of
North Carolina Covenant congregations participated in the mission
retreat sponsored by Bridge Ministries at Teen Valley Christian Ranch.
They did construction work and painting, among other things, said
Southeast Conference superintendent Kurt Miericke in a recent email
newsletter to conference pastors.
- St. Petersburg, Florida: Faith Covenant Church's Tess Mullinax
recently participated in an All-Star game between Hillsborough and
Pinellas counties held at Hillsborough Community College. A
5-foot-8-inch senior guard from Shorecrest Preparatory High School,
Mullinax scored her 2,500th career point in a state Class A division
playoff loss to Northside Christian to close out her high school career.
She averaged 17.9 points per game scorer this season, she is headed to
Eckerd College in St. Petersburg to play basketball next fall for the
Division II Tritons. Since seventh grade, Mullinax has been a top-notch
shooter for her high school program as Florida allows those who aren't
in high school the opportunity to play for smaller high schools if they
are enrolled in the school's K-8 institutions. She set her school's
scoring record as a prep freshman. Mullinax scored her 2,000th point in
February 2003 with 24 points against Tampa Prep - she averaged 25 points
per game as a junior and made the All-County team. Along with being a
stellar basketball player and an honor student (a 3.6 grade-point
average on a 4.0 scale), Mullinax is also a student leader for Faith
Covenant's youth group, said youth pastor Brian Alnes.
To keep abreast of what's happening with youth and young adults in the
Covenant, regularly visit this online Covenant news report at
www.covchurch.org. To send information for consideration in the online
news report, email Covenant Communications at newsdesk@covchurch.org or
call 773-478-4676, extension 117. Information may also be sent by
regular mail to Covenant Communications, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue,
Chicago, IL, 60625.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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