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S C H O L A R S H I P SGratitudeOn April 25, nearly 300 people, including donors, faculty, staff,and scholarship students gathered to celebrate gifts from theAugsburg community that make an Augsburg education possiblefor many students. Donors enjoyed the opportunity to meet thestudents who receive their scholarships.During 2009-10, 716 gifts to scholarships totaled over$529,000. Eight new scholarships were started last year:• L. Gracia Christensen English Scholarship• Inez Olson Schwarzkopf English Scholarship• Hazel Stoeckeler Art Scholarship• Judith (Olson) Nelson Health and Physical Education Scholarship• Jorgensen Sethre general scholarship• Dr. Lowell and Janice Kleven Scholarship for pre-medicine• Leonard and Winifred Leifgren Scholarship for students of color• Jerome and Winifred Formo Music ScholarshipSimple GiftsPeter Miller graduated in May 2010 with a major in English and isthe son of an ELCA pastor. He is now studying at Luther Seminary.Here are excerpts from his talk at the Scholarship Brunch on behalfof scholarship students.It is truly a gift to honor student success, engaged scholarship,and active citizenship knowing that each of these simple componentsis intertwined in my own story. This is a story about how simplegifts transform a community into a simple reality.… When I was a child, I used to love to listen to my mom playthe dulcimer. She would play “Simple Gifts,” an old Shaker hymnwhile my brother and I would run around in the yard.’Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free; ’Tis a gift to comedown where we ought to be, And when we find ourselves in aplace just right, It will be in the valley of love and delight. Whentrue simplicity is gain’d, To bow and to bend we shall not beasham’d, To turn, turn will be our delight, Till by turning andturning we come round right.As I recall my mom singing this song and my brother and I turningand turning until we were dizzy, I have come to value the messagein these simple words.We celebrate the success of students because simple gifts arefreeing, liberating, and life changing. Getting into college is a bigdeal and it changes you. As students are groomed in success, simplegifts allow us the freedom to engage fully in what we are learningand to develop into the leaders we ought to be, in a collegethat is just and right. With an Auggie-assemblage of strong leaders,Peter Miller ’10 spoke on behalf of students at theScholarship Brunch.we continue tobuild a neighborhoodand a city oflove and delight.And we, too, havean opportunity toinvest in true simplicitywhere allpeople bow andbend and neverare ashamed.Simple giftsspark the cycle towarda simple reality.I have seen thespark of a simplegift in the eyes offirst-year studentsas they acknowledgethat Augsburgoffers them more financial aid than any other school. And Ihave seen this simple reality come to life when a former scraping,struggling business major takes a few philosophy and religionclasses and gets all 4.0s. I have watched it in a group of interfaithfriends who never stand still long enough to watch the paint dry,whether they are doing service projects at a mosque down thestreet, a local church, or a nearby women’s center.That spark, that simple gift that I saw as an orientation leader,ignites a question—how do I become a part of this simple reality?But that was the spark in my eye, too, in the trust that somehowmy family and the Augsburg community would help me afford ameaningful education and turn my gifts and theirs into somethingsimple and beautiful. I had to turn from procrastination to participationin simple things like interfaith dialog, global carbon emissionregulations, and ending poverty in Minnesota by 2020.I didn't say it was easy. I said it was simple. It is painting with abroad brush, or like we did at the mosque, with rollers and a tastefor new colors. This is a simple reality.Ultimately, I believe the simplest gift is who we are and howwe spend our time—the time to sing a song in the springtime,study hard, write a thank-you note, share a story, paint, or sparesome change.I want to thank you all for your simple gifts and the countlesshours you have given to Augsburg, for bowing and bending to theneeds of this community and providing the spark for so many to bea part of this story. Together, we are a simple reality.32 Augsburg Now