Columbia Friendship Circle Scholarship Recipients Announced

BY REV. AMY BAER, MDIV ’08, COLUMBIA FRIENDSHIP

That’s why for the past 74 years, the Presbyterian Women of the Synod of Living Waters (Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky) and the Synod of South Atlantic (Georgia, Florida, South Carolina) have supported students at Columbia Theological Seminary through the Columbia Friendship Circle Scholarship Program. Every year, CFC Scholarships are awarded to PCUSA students who have matriculated to the seminary with their families and who demonstrate academic ability, financial need, and a commitment to serve the church upon graduation.

It is with great joy and hope for the future of the Church that the Columbia Friendship Circle announces this year’s scholarship recipients!

Dana Abu Ghazaleh, her husband, and her three daughters Teya (15), Tara (12) and Talia (10) emigrated to the United States from Dubai in 2018. In her early years, Dana began a career as an electrical engineer, but after arriving in the United States, Dana experienced a deep struggle for meaning in her professional life. After a night when she cried herself to sleep, she says she awoke with a clear call to enter the ministry. However, since women in her home country of Jordan are not allowed to serve as ministers, she was uncertain of the path she might follow. Yet since that awakening, God has continued to clear the way for Dana and her family. Upon receiving the news of her scholarship award, Dana wrote, “I am truly and genuinely humbled by this scholarship. Just when you feel that things are getting tough and challenging, just when you feel doors are closing and paths are tighter, our gracious God opens a door so wide that I am left speechless and humbled. Words can’t express how happy, excited, and overwhelmed I am by this news. God is so good, and his grace is abundant.”

Nicole Jiskoot is a third year dual-degree student who is also a wife and mother to two children, Layfe (7) and Lovinia (2). She knew from early childhood that God wanted her to be a teacher and she spent her early professional career as a middle school history and English teacher. For years, she encouraged and supported her husband Bjorn as he pursued his degree and certification to teach Special Education. One year after he completed his program, Nicole received a clear call from God to vocational ministry. Nicole began attending Columbia classes via Zoom, and shortly after their daughter Lovinia’s first birthday, they sold their home, packed up and moved to Decatur. Nicole says, “The CFC Scholarship gave us a chance to rely once again on God for support since we do not have enough to cover what we will need for my fourth year at Columbia. I cannot describe the feelings I felt when I read the news that you had thought of me for this scholarship. Besides feeling honored for even being recognized, this is further confirmation that I am where God intended me to be and that, as always, God continues to provide in mind-blowing ways!”