Kameron Goetz
My name is Kameron Goetz. I’m from Coulee City, Washington. I graduated from Northwest University with my undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology last year, and I’m now pursuing my graduate degree in International Community Development.
As I started getting farther into high school and really looking at colleges, my mom and I put together a college trip. We went out and toured probably ten different colleges. I’ve got to say that Northwest was not really a potential candidate for me at that point. In fact, it was on my list of schools I did not want to attend.
It was within probably five minutes of being on campus where I felt the Lord really pushing me. There was no lightning bolt from God—it was simply a feeling of, “This is where I want you to be.”
I’m a second-generation college student. My parents were first generation, and that first-generation aspect really taught them both to prepare for the future for their kids. When I was very young, my parents made the decision to set aside portions of our cattle herd for myself, my brothers, and my cousins.
So from the time I could walk, I was out with my dad in the winter feeding cows, in the summer riding fence lines, learning what it means to work toward something. And that something was always going to college.
On top of the money I had set aside for college, it was also a big priority to apply for as many academic scholarships as I possibly could. My whole senior year was pretty much: go to school, go to practice, come home, do my homework, and then work on a scholarship application—whichever one was open at that time.
When I got accepted into Northwest, I was also given an academic scholarship of $12,000 just based on academic merit. Then while at Northwest, I received several endowment scholarships from generous contributors.
As soon as I got to Northwest, I knew that student leadership was going to be a priority of mine. Freshman year, I started volunteering for campus ministry at any and every event I could.
I got to my junior year and was selected to be a resident assistant—an RA—for one of the freshman dormitories. I had a blast leading a group of about 40 boys.
Going into my senior year, I was fortunate enough to be elected student body president. I spent that last year really focusing on creating a welcoming atmosphere for our students and our staff on campus.
During my last five years here at Northwest, my passion for medicine has grown exponentially and has been coupled with this growing desire to heal people at an international level.
Right after my freshman year at Northwest, I took a trip to Tanzania with a friend of mine and some fellow classmates. Growing up in a small town, our nearest hospital was 30 minutes away, and we used to complain about that.
But when we were out in rural Tanzania and I was confronted with the reality that sometimes a bush pilot comes in to help the sick, or sometimes families have to sell a car just to get to the city to save a sick child—I was devastated for quite a while.
I had always heard about the sense of the Holy Spirit moving us in sorrow or a feeling of anguish for people in need. I never really experienced it until I went to Tanzania.
That brought me back to Northwest with the motivation of, “Okay, how can I get to where I need to be in order to do something next time?”
It’s been an emphasis for myself since before getting into college that whatever I did with my life, I wanted to make it a ministry.
That’s what I’m excited to see happen with my life—how is God going to use me in a way that furthers His kingdom?
To the people who made my degree possible and my journey at Northwest possible, I’d say thank you so much. Thank you for being a generous supporter of a Christian institution, but also for being a generous supporter of the kingdom of God.
Because that’s what Northwest is trying to accomplish. We exist to carry the kingdom of God forward into the future in what is unfortunately a broken world.
So to that, I say thank you.
Grace Seyoum
My name is Grace Seyoum. I’m studying English and Political Science at Northwest University. My family lives in Lynnwood, but I’m a first-generation Ethiopian American.
I found out about Northwest from my cousin, who did her MBA here. Because of that, I applied. Afterward, I was invited to the Presidential Scholarship Competition, and that’s when I first really experienced NU.
I was asking the Lord about where I should go to college, and He placed Galatians 3:3 on my heart, which emphasizes not completing your journey with God by means of the flesh, but by means of the Spirit. Then several months later, when I visited NU for the first time, the girls who hosted me for the competition told me that many schools claim to be Christian, but they said, “Here at NU, the Spirit of God is moving.”
As I reflect on my journey to NU, I think this was a really key moment where God confirmed to me that I should come to this school.
When I first came to NU, I was really excited because a lot of people were very nice, warm, and outgoing. It was really unlike the school I had gone to before—actually unlike any school I had ever gone to before.
I joined a lot of different clubs, but the club that influenced me the most was the debate team. I found out about the debate team at a fair that happened during the scholarship competition.
Debate is mostly practices with people who attend NU and who are debaters. We practice twice a week and then go to tournaments. The experience of debating against people from different schools was a huge confirmation of what I felt like God was calling me to do in terms of pursuing law.
That helped me a lot with understanding what I’m supposed to do and also confirmed that I could be a lawyer and that I would enjoy doing it.
I’m passionate about law because of my international background. I was born in the Netherlands. My dad was a political refugee from Ethiopia and lived in a refugee camp in the Netherlands for some time before moving to the United States.
All of those experiences—and the stories my parents have shared about them—have given me a lot of sympathy toward people who immigrate internationally.
In the future, after graduating from Northwest University, God willing, I really want to work in something like an NGO or nonprofit that serves refugees. My biggest goal in the world would be to assist people who are specifically from the region that my parents came from.
International law is my primary interest.
I think NU has helped me reach that by tangibly bringing me to different opportunities that lead to each other. For example, my former political science professor, Dr. Kaufman, recommended me for a position at a think tank in Washington, D.C.
Through that think tank, I was able to publish a few articles about international relations. Then Dr. Castleberry recognized my articles and liked them, so because of that I landed a job here.
In addition to that, the university president also offered to recommend me to a number of organizations I was interested in working with. Actually, yesterday I got a job as a congressional intern in the 9th District.
So NU has done more than I could have possibly imagined in the way of connecting me to opportunities, and I think it’s just incredibly tangible.
Not only have I refined what I want to do through participation in the Honors Program and debate, but through other programs like the think tank I work with, building events on campus, the English Honors Program, and so many different organizations on campus.
Friendships and all of those experiences have helped lead me to what I want to do.
In very tangible ways, many professors on campus have poured into me—writing recommendations, giving me suggestions on where I might go and what I might do, and just caring about me as a person.
All of those things have helped me move toward what I want to do after NU.
To the giving community of Northwest University, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for making it possible for me to attend Northwest, live on campus at Northwest, and for profoundly shaping my life.