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Building leaders NextGen scholarships are allowing future teachers and pastors to prepare for their calling
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ince their launch in the fall of 2022, NextGen Scholarships have provided $2 million in support of education and theology students at Walla Walla University. For many of these future leaders, God placed a call on their hearts to serve and yet the education they needed seemed unreachable. Deih Niang is just one example of a student whose response to their calling was made possible by a NextGen scholarship.
Long before thinking about her education or her calling, Niang escaped her home country of Myanmar with her family in 2010, becoming a refugee in Bangladesh and India before moving to the United States four years later. She described her childhood as something that most children would never be able to envision. Arriving in the United States did not ensure a smooth road moving forward for Niang. Attending school in a foreign country with an unknown culture proved to have its own share of difficulties for Niang, and studying a new language and culture simultaneously forced Niang to develop a new understanding of resilience. On starting high school, she applied these lessons in grit to the United States Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) with the plan to join the Marines and dedicate her life to the military. Niang excelled in her program and reached an officer status, usually reserved for seniors, during her freshman year. When she received a scholarship to attend a college in her home state of Kentucky, she believed her life’s course was charted out. Despite her progress, Niang felt lost and unfulfilled. Her interest was aroused when her brother received the opportunity to attend a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school. When another student backed out, a spot became available for Niang to join her brother. A summer evangelistic program hosted by the school gave Niang the opportunity to canvas door to door and promote the Adventist health message. It was during this time that Niang recalls God turning her life around and begin to redirect her path. Struggling with doubt and comparison, Niang began talking with mentors, reading the Bible, and asking God to reveal what he wanted for her. Becoming a resident assistant at her school allowed Niang to be a refuge for other girls that needed someone to talk to. “I realized that God had a purpose in putting me where I was,” Niang said. “I decided to do everything in my power to understand him and understand his plans for me.”
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Westwind Fall 2023
I learned that the hard times I’d been through had not been for nothing ... ”
Niang’s personal and spiritual breakthrough came when she realized that the hardships she had endured put her in a unique position to help lift others out of similar situations and be a stronghold for them. “I learned that the hard times I’d been through had not been for nothing, and that was really impactful,” said Niang. It was this understanding that sowed the seeds in Niang’s heart to become a youth pastor. Financial barriers made Niang’s pursuit of an Adventist higher education and a career in ministry challenging and even scary. After a great deal of prayer, she learned about an offer of free tuition for new theology students at WWU through a partnership with the North Pacific Union Conference. She met with Carl Cosaert, dean of the School of Theology, who encouraged her to attend WWU. Niang had less than a week to make a decision, which didn’t allow her to base her decision on whether she
