Amy Ford wins national essay competition

2015 Mar 9

The recent Jubilee conference attended by 115 Malone community members included a college student essay competition hosted by The High Calling. Students were asked to submit a short essay describing how God is at work in their lives, and how they hope to one day serve Him in their careers as a result. From all entries, three finalists were chosen to have their stories shown as videos at the national conference.

Amy Ford, a senior community and public health promotion major from Westlake, Ohio (aeford1@malone.edu), and a graduate of Lutheran West High School, has been living with - and managing - juvenile diabetes since the age of 10. She accepted the High Calling challenge and went to work, telling her story (see video above).

"Over Christmas break, I took the time to write an essay about my life with Type 1 Diabetes and how it has affected my faith and calling," she said. "At first, it was just a great time of reflection and looking back on where I've come over the past three years here at Malone. I never thought it would be chosen as one of the three finalists!"

The result - Why Won't God Cure Me? - is a beautifully done treatise, exploring with honesty those questions that can plague us when facing adversity.

As a finalist, Ford was shadowed by a professional camera crew as they filmed an average day in her life.

Later, she recorded her essay as a voiceover for the video.

Having attended Jubilee last year, Ford looked forward to this year's conference.

"The opportunity to grow and share our faith with each other was a really valuable experience that I wouldn't trade for anything," she said.

And there was something more. The winner of the 2015 High Calling essay contest and its $1,000 prize was ... Amy Ford!