From time to time, someone comes along who could be considered a “model EMU student.”
Matt Garber graduated magna cum laude in 2008 with a major in nursing and a minor in Bible & Religion. He was a well-loved student leader, musician, and clinician, known for his strong faith and good sense of humor. In 2008, he was awarded the blue and gold Cords of Distinction for exemplifying EMU’s highest ideals.
Matt had an almost otherworldly desire to help people, to heal them. Whether through medicine or music, he always gave selflessly of himself in service to others. Associate professor of nursing Laura Yoder, PhD, RN remembers teaching Matt in the clinical setting, classroom, and during cross-cultural in Costa Rica.
“He impressed me with his critical thinking abilities, emotional intelligence, and sensitivity to spiritual matters. I always felt as if I was interacting with a trusted friend, someone willing to give and receive council in ways that helped him and me to keep growing in faith and understanding. I saw him interact with his peers and patients in the same way, with utmost respect for each person.”
Matt died two months after graduation while swimming off the coast of Costa Rica. Before taking his dream job as a nurse at Lancaster General Hospital, he wanted to take some time off to serve the people he met on his cross-cultural by farming alongside them. He drowned when his group was unexpectedly caught in a riptide in an area not known for dangerous waters. July 1st, 2018 marked ten years since his death.
At his memorial service, friends and family expressed their regret not only that he died, but that so many others would not have the opportunity to know him. As a result, the Matthew R. Garber Endowed Scholarship was established to honor his legacy by providing need-based financial aid to at least one full-time student studying nursing or music at EMU. A fully funded endowed scholarship will provide approximately $2,500 each year to a student in need.
In his 2008 senior seminar class Matt Garber was challenged to write a statement about how he would like to be remembered. He wrote:
“Matthew Garber was a man after God’s own heart. He tried to live simply and show God’s love to everyone he met. The influence of his life is not finished with his death, just as he had hoped. The love he showed will live on in the hearts of the people he touched.”
On the tenth anniversary of his death, help us raise the final $10,000 to fully fund the Matthew R. Garber Endowed Scholarship. Your gifts provide urgent financial assistance to current students in nursing or music and ensure the influence of Matt’s extraordinary life continues to be deeply impactful.
Please consider making a gift today. Thank you!
Like Matt, you know that everything else in life stems from great relationships and strive to make them a priority.
You laud treating the whole patient - spirit as well as body - as each of our students are inspired to do.
You were comforted by Matt’s solo from Handel’s Messiah in the video above and moved by the high caliber of music our students produce.
Like Matt, you are selfless in service, knowing that the world needs a little more empathy and that it begins with you.
You believe, as Matt did, that music can heal as well as medicine and that when the two go together a kind of magic occurs.
You feel deeply that nursing is a sacred covenant; a means to live out the daily call to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
You are passionate about Matt’s legacy of empathy, selflessness, and service to others and are committed to help graduate many other servant leaders like him.