Summer Discovery Grant
Bluffton University encourages you to take a break from wage work for part of your summer to create an experience that allows you to consider new vocational possibilities. This is an opportunity for you to dream a little!
With a Summer Discovery Grant, current first year or sophomore students can design their own 4-6 week summer experience to explore the relationship between vocation and faith. A Summer Discovery Grant may help you discover your calling!
Up to two students will be awarded grants in the amount of $1,500 each summer.
Grant funds are provided by the Karl Schultz Discovery Funds, an endowment established
through the gift of Bluffton alumnus, Karl Schultz.
Summer 2025 application
Application for Summer 2025 grants must be submitted by April 15, 2025.
Decisions will be made by April 30.
2024 Summer Discovery Grant Recipients
Kayla Nartker will explore the possibility of teaching in a Catholic school. She will be observing two schools (one Catholic and one public) to determine which experience best fits her career and vocation goals.
Addie Hilden will explore dental school and gain dental observation hours. She plans to observe approximately ten doctors to explore various specialties.
2023 grant recipient
Leah Bowman ’24, a social work major, completed an internship at Community Action Partnership of Lancaster.
She worked with children who are living in a domestic violence safe house or transitional
housing.
2022 grant recipient
Shelby Stammen ’25, a biology major, shadowed dentists in the Lima area. “To apply to dental school,
you need at least 100 hours,” said Stammen. “You put in a lot of time and energy to
do that.”
2021 grant recipient
Haley Gill ’23, a nutrition and dietetics major from Indianapolis, Ind., designed an internship
that allowed her to volunteer at the Leipsic Community Center and learn more about
her field of study.
2020 grant recipient
Meghan Ream ’22, a triple major in biology, pre-medicine and nutrition and dietetics, explored the
link between diet and fertility while researching polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
She collaborated with 2018 Bluffton graduate Laura Galley, a research assistant and
student in the nutrition science Ph.D. program at Cornell University.
2019 grant recipient
Rowena Zuercher ’20 a social work and Spanish double major, created her own internship at Lighthouse
Ministries in Canton, Ohio. Her goal was to determine whether to pursue the clinical
or administrative route of social work in graduate school.
2018 grant recipients
Timothy Bender ’20, a history and biblical and theological studies double major, spent the summer discovering
what he wants to do with the rest of his life.
Becky Boban ’19, an art and writing major, learned practice really does pay off. Boban attended a writing workshop and devoted the majority of her summer break to the written word.
Guidelines for eligibility
- An interest in designing an experience for yourself that will allow you to creatively explore vocation
- Open to current first years or sophomores
- Registered for classes at Bluffton University for fall of the year for which you are applying for funds.
Experience guidelines
Typically these experiences are:
- Organized for a 4-6 week period of time during the summer
- Positions that you will not be paid for in addition to the $1,500 grant
- Not experiences for which you hope to gain college credit.
Application guidelines
To apply, please submit the following items:
- Completed application form and grant proposal
- Current Bluffton University transcript (upload unofficial copy on the electronic application)
- Two recommendations
- one from a Bluffton University faculty member
- the second from another Bluffton faculty member or from a Bluffton staff member