Announcing Another New Endowed Scholarship!
Starr King School for the Ministry is thrilled to announce the creation of the Leah Ongiri Endowed Scholarship. Funded by Starr King graduate Rev. Cassandra (Cassie) Howe, this scholarship represents an important milestone for the school: it is the first time a scholarship has been established by a Starr King graduate in honor of a fellow Starr King graduate! The Leah Ongiri Endowed Scholarship will provide essential support to deserving Starr King students at the discretion of the President. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Cassie for her incredible generosity.
We asked Cassie to tell us why she decided to establish this scholarship in honor of her dear friend, and why she felt that this was the right time in the life of the school to do so.
What motivated you to endow this scholarship?
Starr King has a unique and vital role in the realm of cultivating spiritual leadership. The school’s commitment to educating to counter oppressions and create just and sustainable community, seen throughout the curricula and pedagogy, along with the inherent spiritual focus of a theological school is exactly what the world needs right now. I wanted to increase the diversity of the student body by making Starr King more financially accessible (by endowing this scholarship).
Why did you decide to name this scholarship in honor of your fellow graduate and friend, Leah?
Leah is one of the only grads of Starr King I have kept in meaningful touch with, and whose presence in my life continually helps me to be a better minister, friend and person. When I was in the throes of congregational ministry, Leah was my almost weekly sermon-development buddy. There she, like Starr King, would gently but firmly help me to preach from a counter-oppressive and liberatory foundation.
As a graduate of Starr King, why do you feel that giving back is so important, especially right now?
Rev. Cassie Howe (left) and Rev. Leah Ongiri (right)
Right now the school is at a crossroads. Liberal theological schools across the country are struggling to stay afloat. Starr King is healthy financially but could be making a much bigger impact in a world badly in need of liberal religious leadership and care. Starr King is doing some amazing things (growing their certification programs and producing an educating to counter oppressions curriculum for congregations, to name a couple), and doing these all while also adapting institutionally to changing times. I want to give now so the school has the resources it needs to live in the present and arrive in the future the way its mission truly calls it to.
Rev. Cassandra Howe is a loyal donor, friend, member of the Starr King Class of 2009, and serves as Vice President of the Starr King Graduate Association. Cassie most recently served as the Worship Assistant at the Holden Village retreat center in the North Cascade mountains in Washington State. She is taking a break from congregational ministry while she helps raise her three young children. She is also finding a little bit of time to explore other areas of interest including a course to help her place her anti racist work in a personal and historical location, perhaps better described as ancestral recovery for collective liberation. She has served three UU congregations since receiving full fellowship, the most recent being High Street UU Church in Macon, GA. Cassie, her husband, Ben Gerhardt, and their family recently moved east to Asheville, NC to begin a new adventure together.
Rev. Cassie Howe officiates a wedding.
Cassie with her husband, Ben Gerhardt, and their children.