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Mental Athletics
ORU Seniors Put the Pedal to the Metal
By Laura Raphael
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ORU's 2003 graduating seniors recently showed off their "mental athleticism" at a reception held on the third floor of the Graduate Center. Professors, staff, and fellow students were invited to learn more about the projects from displays and the students themselves.
Meet three recent seniors from the pack who successfully finished their own, very different "marathons" – yet discovered, when they reached the finish line, some of the same great personal, educational, and spiritual rewards.
From China to Florida: Hannah Newlin
Tampa, Florida, may seem like a long way from China, but in Hannah Newlin's mind, they are much closer than you think.
The first place is where she's going after graduation and the second is where she's been, but both mark milestones in her learning and faith journeys.
Newlin's senior project, which explores the similarities and differences in organizational culture between China and the United States, has made her more aware of organizational styles, an awareness that will help her in her new job at Peter Lowe International – in Tampa, Florida.
"You grow up thinking that your country is the best," Newlin said. "This project really taught me that things are more complex. The United States has some incredible strengths, but I'm concerned that, in our pursuit of freedom, we're losing our higher purpose. China does not have the freedom that we do, but they have other strengths that we lack. Basically, we have a lot to teach each other."
Describing herself as having a "flair" and a passion for overseas travel, which took her to China while in high school, Newlin is excited about her new position in Florida despite its American location.
"I just know I'm supposed to be there. It's the heart of God," Newlin says about her job at the company which books speakers such as Zig Ziglar and President George W. Bush around the country and the world. The business seminars always end with ten minutes of gospel and praise, a prospect that Newlin finds exciting. "Every year, tens of thousands of business people get saved at Peter Lowe seminars. I really feel that the Lord works through this company."
Loving the Artist of All Ages: Jill Melissa Wallace
When Jill Melissa Wallace was last in her home country of Scotland, she often saw her lips drive by.
That's right. You see, Wallace's major is graphic design, and as part of a summer internship at a design firm in Aberdeen, Scotland, she used her lips (actually, her lip-prints) to communicate the idea that a certain milk brand is "Irresistible." Now the simple yet striking ad she designed is in magazines, newspapers – and on the sides of buses, where she frequently caught sight of her lips the last time she was in Scotland.
Wallace's senior project is an extensive portfolio that includes the lips/milk ad along with a variety of other sketches, brochures, fine art, advertisements, and even a Web site. (To see her designs, go to www.jillwallace.com). Each piece has a story, and each shows her dedication to learning her craft and fulfilling the gift of art that the Lord gave her.
"I believe that the Lord has bestowed this special talent upon me so that I can reach a world that is full of corrupt and perverse imagery to offer something clean, dynamic, and refreshing," Wallace wrote in her senior project description. "Having a personal relationship with the Artist of all ages gives the Christian designer that unique 'edge.'"
She should know – that "edge" has already resulted in a job offer from Lighthouse Designs in Aberdeen, Scotland, which Wallace has happily accepted. She plans to eventually open her own design firm and possibly return to school to earn further degrees in marketing and business.
Creative...Chemistry? JohnMark Derryberry
Most people would not put "poetry" and "chemistry" in the same category. JohnMark Derryberry is not most people.
For one, he received a prestigious research grant from the National Science Foundation last summer to study with other students from around the country, an honor bestowed on very few. Two, he has been accepted into one of the nation's top graduate schools in organic chemistry – the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – where he plans to pursue a Ph.D. and become a full-time researcher.
Finally, there's his senior project – cutting-edge research into the development of a synthetic version of a cancer-fighting drug normally found in Australian sponges. When he speaks about it, you begin to see the "poetry" of the process.
"I really enjoy the challenge of getting from A to B, and then from A to Z, that you find in this kind of research. Every day there's something new to figure out. There's really a creative aspect to finding how to do things [like this]."
Derryberry's senior project, which had its beginnings in his summer research experience through the National Science Foundation, has helped him discover a love for research he didn't know he had. "I found that – unlike other students who would try to get out of the lab as quickly as possible – I wanted to spend more and more time in the lab to see if I could answer my own questions," he said.
Being a student from Oral Roberts University, Derryberry says, has helped him in more ways than one, from the nurturing environment that has encouraged his intellectual and spiritual growth to the Christian values that have helped keep him on a holy path. "This summer [during the National Science Foundation research experience], while the other students would all go out to bars and drink, I would be in the labs, working." It paid off with multiple rewards, including the publication of Derryberry's paper and an invitation to present at the National American Chemical Society – something that none of the other students could claim.
"I feel so cared for at ORU," Derryberry concluded. "Professors see you as an individual here. God has been very good to me."
