Recent graduates win first and second place in annual historical essay contest

GOSHEN, Ind. – Two 2008 Goshen College graduates were top winners in this year's John Horsch Mennonite Historical Essay Contest, sponsored by the Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee. Jonny Gerig Meyer won first place for his paper and Andre Shenk tied for second place in the undergraduate category. Both double majored in Bible and religion and history, and both are now studying at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary this fall.

Gerig Meyer's paper was "Sending Mixed Messages to Congress: Mennonite Involvement in Proposed National Health Care Reform 1992-1994." He detailed the conflicting messages from Mennonite Mutual Aid and Mennonite Central Committee's Washington Office as each lobbied Congress during President Clinton's failed attempt to revamp the U.S. health-care system. Gerig Meyer is a 2004 graduate of Bethany Christian Schools. He is the son of Rich and Brenda Meyer of Millersburg, Ind.

Shenk wrote "A Crisis Among Mennonites: Competing Traditions in the Mennonite Church in the Early 1980s." Shenk is a 2004 graduate of Lancaster Mennonite School. His mother Juanita Barter is from Branchport, N.Y., and his father J. Elvin Shenk is from Lancaster, Pa.

All award-winners receive cash prizes, while the first-place finishers also get one-year subscriptions to Mennonite Quarterly Review. Excerpts from Meyer's paper will be published in the January 2009 issue of Mennonite Historical Bulletin, the magazine of the Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee.

Judges for this year's contest were Lee Roy Berry, a lawyer and political science instructor at Goshen College; David Rempel-Smucker, a historian and writer from Lancaster, Pa.; and Rachel Waltner Goossen, a history professor at Washburn University, Topeka, Kan.

The annual contest is named for John Horsch (1867-1941), the German-American Mennonite historian and polemicist who did much to reawaken interest in Anabaptist and Mennonite studies in the 20^th century. The contest is open to students at the graduate school/seminary, undergraduate and seminary levels. This year's contest drew 12 entries. There were no submissions in the high school category.

– By the Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee

Editors: For more information about this release, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, "Colleges of Distinction," "Making a Difference College Guide" and U.S.News & World Report's "America's Best College's" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.