{"id":54472,"date":"2023-10-19T09:59:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T13:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=54472"},"modified":"2023-10-18T17:03:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T21:03:44","slug":"student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/","title":{"rendered":"Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Roughly 250 generous donors and contributors filled Yoder Arena on Friday evening to celebrate another banner year of philanthropy. <strong>President Susan Schultz Huxman <\/strong>updated them on the school\u2019s <em>Forward Together<\/em> fundraising campaign and celebrated two new additions to the executive leadership team: <strong>Tynisha D. Willingham <\/strong>as provost and vice president of academic affairs and <strong>Dr. Shawn Ramer \u201983<\/strong> as chief operating officer and vice president of finance. Huxman also updated guests on the new track and field complex set to open next spring. The five student storytellers recognized at the banquet shared their journey of transformation at EMU thanks to donor giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a data-flickr-embed='true' href='https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/easternmennoniteuniversity\/albums\/72177720311962012' title='Homecoming 2023: Donor Appreciation Banquet by EasternMennoniteUniversity, on Flickr'><img src='https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53261785297_d3c7aecff9_c.jpg' width='800' height='600' alt='20231013-Donor Appreciation Banquet-001'><\/a><script async src='https:\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js' charset='utf-8'><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Nate McGhee<\/strong>, a senior marketing major from Newport News, Virginia, spoke about his first days at EMU as a transfer student and the sense of comfort he immediately felt upon stepping onto campus. He talked about how he felt instantly welcome on the men\u2019s volleyball team and how proud he felt to represent the U.S. on a team in Italy this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese are opportunities that I wouldn\u2019t have ever thought would come my way when I was just an 18-year-old kid wondering what his next steps would be,\u201d he said. \u201cThere I was, thinking I was a failure when I just needed to trust the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ashley De La Cruz,<\/strong> a sophomore studying elementary education from Veracruz, Mexico, spoke about her experience as a first-generation college student and how the supportive environment has encouraged her to explore her passions and pursue her goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe hurdles I have overcome and the lessons I have learned have fueled my desire to create a more inclusive and equitable educational environment for others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hannah Beck<\/strong>, a senior from Linville, Virginia, majoring in psychology, shared the story of how her close friend diagnosed with a brain tumor was rushed to the hospital for surgery and later died, and how EMU helped support her during such a challenging time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think, perhaps at another school, I may have gotten lost in the heaviness of my journey,\u201d she said. \u201cI may have fallen behind in studies and slowly forgotten why I came to college in the first place. Instead, at EMU, I found ways to keep living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ray Ray Taylor,<\/strong> of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, a second-year grad student earning a master\u2019s of science in biomedicine, talked about the welcome she received at EMU as a transfer student. The track star said she had been nervous about the team accepting her, but those nerves were \u201cquickly wiped away\u201d on the first day of practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe all became a family at the track and almost every day was filled with positive energy and good vibes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First-year grad student <strong>Amanda Gilbert,<\/strong> of Lanham, Maryland, who is earning her master\u2019s of arts in counseling, shared how she had been nervous about entering college during the pandemic, but was soon making new friends and building positive relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDuring my time in the counseling program, I\u2019ve been challenged academically and supported immensely. I can see my professors\u2019 dedication to seeing me succeed as a counselor, and I am now living the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roughly 250 generous donors and contributors filled Yoder Arena on Friday evening to celebrate another banner year of philanthropy. President Susan Schultz Huxman updated them on the school\u2019s Forward Together <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":54473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,60],"tags":[17897,17894,17895,17893,17896],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-54472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-homecoming","tag-amanda-gilbert","tag-ashley-de-la-cruz","tag-hannah-beck","tag-nate-mcghee","tag-ray-ray-taylor"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Roughly 250 generous donors and contributors filled Yoder Arena on Friday evening to celebrate another banner year of philanthropy. President Susan Schultz Huxman updated them on the school\u2019s Forward Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-19T13:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/10\/16161145\/20231013-Donor-Appreciation-Banquet-008-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/\",\"name\":\"Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/10\/16161145\/20231013-Donor-Appreciation-Banquet-008.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-19T13:59:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/10\/16161145\/20231013-Donor-Appreciation-Banquet-008.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/10\/16161145\/20231013-Donor-Appreciation-Banquet-008.jpg\",\"width\":2500,\"height\":1667,\"caption\":\"2023 Homecoming &amp; Family Weekend Donor Appreciation Banquet.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf\",\"name\":\"Ryan Cornell\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet - EMU News","og_description":"Roughly 250 generous donors and contributors filled Yoder Arena on Friday evening to celebrate another banner year of philanthropy. President Susan Schultz Huxman updated them on the school\u2019s Forward Together","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2023-10-19T13:59:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/10\/16161145\/20231013-Donor-Appreciation-Banquet-008-1024x683.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ryan Cornell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ryan Cornell","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/","name":"Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/10\/16161145\/20231013-Donor-Appreciation-Banquet-008.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-19T13:59:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/10\/16161145\/20231013-Donor-Appreciation-Banquet-008.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/10\/16161145\/20231013-Donor-Appreciation-Banquet-008.jpg","width":2500,"height":1667,"caption":"2023 Homecoming &amp; Family Weekend Donor Appreciation Banquet."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/student-storytellers-share-the-impact-of-giving-at-donor-appreciation-banquet\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Student storytellers share the impact of giving at Donor Appreciation Banquet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf","name":"Ryan Cornell"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54472"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54687,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54472\/revisions\/54687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54472"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=54472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}