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BY BARBARA COWARD
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT

On Nov. 27, congregations throughout the country will observe United Methodist Student Day by providing much needed funds for college and university bound students.

More than $500,000 was raised last year to help tomorrow?s Christian leaders finance their education.

Nearly 60 of the undergraduate and graduate scholarship holders this year are from the Baltimore-Washington Conference. And while 20 percent of these recipients are seminary students, others plan to minister to their communities in a number of ways.

David Thornton, a junior at the University of Virginia, is one such candidate. For the past two years, this civil engineering major from Galesville UMC has received a $1,000 annual scholarship from The United Methodist Church.

'It is a huge help to buy books and help my parents defray some of the costs associated with school, especially math books which are very expensive,' Thornton said. After graduation, he plans to work for a civil engineering firm.

Thornton, whose father is director of West River Center and mother is an elementary school librarian, heard about the scholarship from a neighbor who was also a recipient.

Bethany Lee of Potomac UMC is a recipient of a United Methodist ethnic scholarship. A history and English major at Duke University, she received $500 her freshman year and $1,000 in her sophomore and junior years and has used the funds to pay for books.

Active in her youth group before college, Lee now helps out regularly at the church when she is home on school breaks. In the spring, she participates in the church?s strawberry festival that raises more than $18,000 for local women?s shelters. In the summer, she teaches Sunday school when the regular staff is away.

Her service continues each winter when she helps her youth group raise money to buy Christmas presents for 30 children who live at the Board of Childcare. With money raised from pizza sales, Christmas wreath sales and car washes, Lee buys, wraps and delivers gifts for each child. Each child ? who would otherwise wake up to an empty tree on Christmas morning -- receives four or five presents from their wish list.

After graduating, Lee plans to attend law school to prepare for a career in international law and hopes that her education will enable her to 'blaze a new trail.'

Kina Beale, of Ebenezer UMC in Lanham, also received a United Methodist general scholarship. As an undergraduate student at Loyola College, she received the Gift of Hope Scholarship and the United Methodist Ethnic Scholarship.

'I was raised in The United Methodist Church,' said Beale, who is now studying at Harvard Business School.

'This year I was awarded a scholarship in the amount of $700,' she said. She also received a $1,000 undergraduate scholarship and a second for $800.

After graduation, Beale hopes to secure a position with a strategy consulting firm.

Some recipients are not entirely sure what they will do after graduation but hope to serve their communities as Christian leaders in any career they pursue.

Already, Abigail Bruckart, an art history sophomore at Dickinson College, has shown Christian leadership skills at her college.

This past summer, Bruckart worked at Noah?s Ark, a white water river camping program in Colorado, which is run by a Christian organization. There she witnessed leaders who provided 'joyful service' and decided that she wanted to carry this philosophy back to the people in her life.

When she came back to campus this year she became a leader in her campus fellowship group where she participates in Bible study and prayer groups.

Her service on campus is made possible in part by the $1,000 general scholarship that she received from The United Methodist Church.

'I am lucky and thankful for the scholarship,' said Bruckart. 'I hope to live up to my life philosophy to be a joyful servant to others on campus so they may come to know Christ.'

NOTE: The United Methodist Scholarship and Loan Programs are funded through offerings, wills, annuities and other designated gifts. Scholarships are awarded for an academic year and loans are available for a maximum amount of $2,500. Undergraduate scholarships are available to students at more than 100 United Methodist-related colleges and universities. Most of the scholarships for graduate students are for people pursuing a degree in theological studies or higher education administration or for older adults changing careers. Scholarships for racial and ethnic undergraduate and graduate students are also available. For more information visit www.gbhem.org