By: Jolie Winemiller ’18
Lebanon Valley College will celebrate its 149thCommencement; among those who will receive degrees include the first-ever graduates to be awarded the John Bowman Allwein Scholarship.
The Allwein Scholarship is a full-tuition scholarship awarded to incoming freshmen and pays for four undergraduate years of study. Students who receive the scholarship are chosen based on class rank and involvement in extra-curricular activities.
Nate Gibbons, a physics and mathematics major, was awarded the scholarship in 2014. After his graduation, he will pursue a PhD in Aerospace Engineering.
“Being selected as an Allwein Scholar was ultimately my deciding factor in coming to LVC, which I truly believe is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life so far,” Gibbons said. “Just being at LVC has given me so much, a fantastic education, lifelong friends and the chance to be a part of the men’s soccer family to name a few, and none of that would have happened here if not for the scholarship.”
Allwein scholars are also given a $2,500 stipend each year at LVC for research, travel or educational opportunities.
Ciara Marshall, a biology and molecular biology major, will pursue a summer research opportunity at Penn State Hershey Medical Laboratory and complete a year of research at the National Institute of health before she pursues a M.D.
“In the summer of 2016, I traveled to Spain to participate in the Atlantis Project,” Marshall said. “This program placed me in a hospital where I shadowed physicians in three fields of medicine otolaryngology, plastic surgeries, and maxillofacial surgery and in addition to receiving cultural education, I was permitted to observe surgery’s and experience the daily workday a career in surgery would imply.”
Andrew Meglathery, actuarial science major, is among the Allwein Scholars set to graduate in May. He plans to move to Chicago and work for Allstate Insurance. Megalathery reflects on what the scholarship gave him.
“This scholarship has helped me to realize how much of an impact the gifts of alumni make on college students,” Meglathery said. “Being given so much motivates me to give back to the school so that future students can enjoy the kinds of experiences at LVC that I have.”
For some graduating seniors, the future can seem uneasy. However, for the Allwein scholars, the scholarship has contributed to being prepared.
“I know that the experiences I’ve been through with the help of the scholarship have prepared me perfectly for anything I want to do in the future,” Gibbons said. “As I move forward toward graduate school, I know that I’m ready, and I owe a lot of that preparedness to the Allwein Scholarship.”
The scholars suggest future recipients should use the stipend in a way to better their collegiate experience and thus, impact their own lives.
Pictured are Allwein Scholars and seniors Nate Gibbons, Ciara Marshall, and Andrew Meglathery.