Steven Baker Annual Scholarship

I am a proud Lewis University alumnus of the Class of 2003. Getting a college degree was a challenge for me. I have a disability that has affected me since I was very young. Because of my disability, I could not drive. I had to attend college on a part-time basis because getting there was difficult. I took two buses in the morning and depended on other people for rides back home. Getting through classes was also difficult for me. However, the instructors at Lewis taught me how to work around the obstacles in order to obtain my degree. There is no doubt that I got through college due, in part, to the help of others.

After graduation, I took part in a mission trip to South Africa and returned with an overwhelming sense of wanting to help people in any way that I could. That trip, along with my experience at Lewis and 26 mission trips I have since taken, made me realize that it is our obligation to help others. I also realized that graduating from college was not an ending. It is a beginning – an opportunity to grow and to reach out to others.

I realize that God’s call is for all of us to help each other because each of us has a story about how people have helped us along the way. It is like the song, Pass It On:

Once you’ve experienced it,
You spread the love to everyone
You want to pass it on."

This scholarship is about helping other people with disabilities. It is also my way of saying, “Thank you,” to Lewis University for all that they have done for me.