Communications agency awards scholarships
By Linda Green*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)--The role of a Christian journalist is to share the good news and to reach out to people and meet their spiritual needs, says the winner of the annual graduate fellowship from United Methodist Communications.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)--The role of a Christian journalist is to share the good news and to reach out to people and meet their spiritual needs, says the winner of the annual graduate fellowship from United Methodist Communications.
Milse Furtado
Milse Furtado, 23, is recipient of the $6,000 Stoody-West Fellowship for Graduate Study in Religious Journalism for the 2008-2009 academic year. A native of Brazil, she is a 2007 mass communications graduate of United Methodist-related Rust College, Holly Springs, Miss.
A scholarship committee of the Commission on Communications selected Furtado in April to continue graduate study in religious communications at an accredited U.S. college or university. She was selected for her "excellent skills, academics, experience and continued commitment to religious communications." The commission is the governing body of United Methodist Communications.
The committee also selected Aloise H. McCullough, a rising junior at United Methodist-related Oklahoma City University, as the recipient of the $2,500 Leonard M. Perryman Communications Scholarship for Ethnic Minority Students, given annually to a United Methodist undergraduate student pursuing a career in religion journalism.
Graduate study recipient
Furtado, who is the daughter of a United Methodist pastor, is no stranger to church communications. In 2007, she became the 10th recipient of the Judith L. Weidman Racial Ethnic Minority Fellowship and has spent the year working in the denomination's North Texas Annual (regional) Conference.
She believes church communicators have "taken a pacifist role in the life of the church" and become "caught up in writing about church events and end up forgetting about the needs of the unchurched." Christian journalists, she said, should be bold and proactive in addressing teenage drug abuse and suicide, as well as the hurts and needs of people living on the edge.
The needs of the unchurched have prompted Furtado to want to round out her journalism career with graduate study in psychology, in order to understand human beings and their behavior.
"This is the dream that God has put in my heart for my contribution to the future of the church communication--to step up and meet the needs of His children, whether it is telling the history of the church or helping people struggling with depression, drugs, suicidal thoughts and many issues afflicting humanity today."
The fellowship is named for the late Rev. Arthur West of Lebanon, Ohio, and the late Rev. Ralph Stoody--both staff executives of United Methodist Communications or a predecessor agency.
Ethnic minority recipient
The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, including being personally impacted, inspired McCullough to become a journalist as she observed journalists in the Gulf Coast being "the eyes and ears for communities worldwide." She and her family evacuated New Orleans for Oklahoma the day before Hurricane Katrina hit.
McCullough, also the daughter of a United Methodist pastor, wants to report on events through the lens of spirituality, faith and hope. A 2006 internship through the United Methodist Board of Church and Society "stretched my desire to help create hopeful possibility in the world," she said.
She wants to be "an African-American religious communicator because I believe journalism is a tool that can help connect people around the world, as it did through the Hurricane Katrina stories, and because I want faith to be in the news equation."
The scholarship is named for Leonard M. Perryman, a journalist in The United Methodist Church for more than 30 years before his death in 1983.
Both scholarships provide financial resources to help young people pursue careers in religious journalism and to ensure professionalism in communications, said the Rev. Larry Hollon, chief executive of United Methodist Communications.
"The importance of training journalists who can cover religion knowledgably and with keen insight has never been more important," Hollon said.
For more information on the annual awards, visit http://www.umcom.org/, e-mail scholarships@umcom.org or call (888) 278-4862.
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn
Milse Furtado, 23, is recipient of the $6,000 Stoody-West Fellowship for Graduate Study in Religious Journalism for the 2008-2009 academic year. A native of Brazil, she is a 2007 mass communications graduate of United Methodist-related Rust College, Holly Springs, Miss.
A scholarship committee of the Commission on Communications selected Furtado in April to continue graduate study in religious communications at an accredited U.S. college or university. She was selected for her "excellent skills, academics, experience and continued commitment to religious communications." The commission is the governing body of United Methodist Communications.
The committee also selected Aloise H. McCullough, a rising junior at United Methodist-related Oklahoma City University, as the recipient of the $2,500 Leonard M. Perryman Communications Scholarship for Ethnic Minority Students, given annually to a United Methodist undergraduate student pursuing a career in religion journalism.
Graduate study recipient
Furtado, who is the daughter of a United Methodist pastor, is no stranger to church communications. In 2007, she became the 10th recipient of the Judith L. Weidman Racial Ethnic Minority Fellowship and has spent the year working in the denomination's North Texas Annual (regional) Conference.
She believes church communicators have "taken a pacifist role in the life of the church" and become "caught up in writing about church events and end up forgetting about the needs of the unchurched." Christian journalists, she said, should be bold and proactive in addressing teenage drug abuse and suicide, as well as the hurts and needs of people living on the edge.
The needs of the unchurched have prompted Furtado to want to round out her journalism career with graduate study in psychology, in order to understand human beings and their behavior.
"This is the dream that God has put in my heart for my contribution to the future of the church communication--to step up and meet the needs of His children, whether it is telling the history of the church or helping people struggling with depression, drugs, suicidal thoughts and many issues afflicting humanity today."
The fellowship is named for the late Rev. Arthur West of Lebanon, Ohio, and the late Rev. Ralph Stoody--both staff executives of United Methodist Communications or a predecessor agency.
Ethnic minority recipient
The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, including being personally impacted, inspired McCullough to become a journalist as she observed journalists in the Gulf Coast being "the eyes and ears for communities worldwide." She and her family evacuated New Orleans for Oklahoma the day before Hurricane Katrina hit.
McCullough, also the daughter of a United Methodist pastor, wants to report on events through the lens of spirituality, faith and hope. A 2006 internship through the United Methodist Board of Church and Society "stretched my desire to help create hopeful possibility in the world," she said.
She wants to be "an African-American religious communicator because I believe journalism is a tool that can help connect people around the world, as it did through the Hurricane Katrina stories, and because I want faith to be in the news equation."
The scholarship is named for Leonard M. Perryman, a journalist in The United Methodist Church for more than 30 years before his death in 1983.
Both scholarships provide financial resources to help young people pursue careers in religious journalism and to ensure professionalism in communications, said the Rev. Larry Hollon, chief executive of United Methodist Communications.
"The importance of training journalists who can cover religion knowledgably and with keen insight has never been more important," Hollon said.
For more information on the annual awards, visit http://www.umcom.org/, e-mail scholarships@umcom.org or call (888) 278-4862.
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn
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