Dewhurst receives state HHE Scholarship
February 26, 2007
KOKOMO, Ind.—Indiana University Kokomo student Christopher Dewhurst of Fairmount has received the Hoosiers for Higher Education Scholarship. Dewhurst is in his second year as an English major at the Kokomo campus.
The presentation capped Hoosiers for Higher Education Day, during which Indiana University students, alumni, and other supporters talked with state legislators regarding budgetary support for university programs. Some 80 representatives of IU Kokomo participated.
Raised in Frankfort, Ind., Dewhurst is pastor of Pilgrim Holiness Church, which he describes as “a small start-up church in Fairmount.” He and his wife, Constance, have a daughter Madelyn, 1 1/2, and a son Joshua, born in January.
Dewhurst holds a bachelor’s degree in religion from Union Bible College in Westfield. He enrolled at IU Kokomo one year ago, pursuing an English degree with a licensure to teach secondary English. Dewhurst said he decided to return to school both to be able to supplement his pastor’s salary with a second career, and to reconnect with the stimulation of higher education.
“Academic networking is a very important part of my life. I have a very supportive family and church congregation and good friends. But I thrive on the mental stimuli one gains only from members of the academic world.”
He hopes to switch to the new Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education degree program, expected to begin in fall 2007 at IU Kokomo. “I intend to go to school as long as it is financially realizable for me—grad school and beyond.”
Dewhurst said he has been “extremely impressed” with the quality of teaching at IU Kokomo. “Math and science are particularly difficult subjects for me. Lea Gilbertson (his instructor for geography) and Linda Krause (math instructor) have assisted me greatly,” Dewhurst said. Professor of Sociology Earl Wysong, Ph.D., and Professor of English John Rudy, Ph.D., have helped him “see the world through other eyes, so that I could better connect with the world from my own corner of it.”
Dewhurst faced the biggest challenge to his education at the start of 2007, when his son Joshua was born one-month premature and faced medical complications. “I was afraid for the effect this would have on my schooling,” Dewhurst said. “But my teachers were overwhelmingly supportive with statements like ‘Stop worrying about school and worry about what really matters—your son. Take care of him, and we’ll sort everything else out later.’
“My wife and daughter have been overwhelmingly supportive of me, and it was so special to see that when my back was against the wall my teachers returned the favor.
Even little Madelyn seems to understand that her daddy is doing something special at IU Kokomo, the pastor said. “Every time my daughter wakes up and I’m gone, she turns to my wife and asks, ‘Daddy cool? (Is Daddy at school)?’ ”
Dewhurst was selected to receive the Hoosiers for Higher Education Scholarship from among student constituents of State Senator David Ford of Hartford City. Indiana University recognized Ford on HHE Day with its Welsh-Bowen Distinguished Public Official Award, given every year to a veteran state legislator for contributions to higher education and to IU. Both men received their honors from Indiana University President Adam Herbert.
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Some 80 students, employees, and friends of IU Kokomo took part in Hoosiers for Higher Education Day February 20 at the Indiana Statehouse
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