Impact Story:Justin Eddy

Senior illustration major, Justin Eddy is the Assistant Resident Director of J. Alvin residence hall and one of more than hundreds of endowed and annual scholarship recipients currently attending JBU.

"If I had not been blessed with scholarships, I wouldn't be here. It's as simple as that," says Eddy.

The $20M Endowment Challenge is a key initiative of the Keeping Faith $110M Capital Campaign. The challenge is a five-year matching gift program established by an anonymous donor to encourage JBU alumni and friends to raise $20 million in new endowment. This endowment will be used for scholarships and essential programs to help keep JBU tuition and fees more affordable for students.

Eddy still remembers his first visit to campus and the impression JBU made on him.

"There was an overwhelming sense of community," says Eddy. "When I visited a few colleges as a prospective student, JBU was the only school where I felt truly welcome and at home. I felt that way when I enrolled, and I've enjoyed that ever since. The sense of community and closeness here is the main reason I chose JBU."

Last summer, Eddy traveled to New Zealand and Fiji, where he and visual arts classmates spent a month serving with Marine Reach, the mercy ship ministry of Youth With A Mission (YWAM).

Eddy's standout memory is a day spent in remote Fiji.

"We traveled several hours by bus, deep into the heart of the island and into a small village," says Eddy. "We spent the entire day swimming in the river, drinking from raw coconuts, and simply talking with and learning about the people who lived there. To share such incredible moments with complete strangers, from a completely different culture, on the opposite side of the world-was humbling and exciting to say the least."

Eddy's group put together an illustrated booklet to help calm the fears of children needing dental and ophthalmic care aboard the M/V Pacific Link.

"I was one of a few illustrators on the trip, so I worked mostly on illustrations for the booklet-specifically a funny little frog that appears throughout the story," says Eddy. "It is incredible to think about how many of these booklets are in print and how far they will travel around the world. Sharing God's love through Marine Reach and taking the good news further into the world was an adventure I'm very thankful for."

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