Elizabethtown College’s Alumni Peace Fellowship committee is now accepting proposals for their annual Paul M. Grubb Jr. Award competition. This competition awards $1,000 to the student who best represents Etown’s motto, “Educate for Service,” by completing a world-changing service project.
A conscientious objector is, “a person who refuses to serve in the armed forces or bear arms on moral or religious grounds.” Paul M. Grubb Jr., an Etown alumnus from the class of 1955, was a conscientious objector.

To avoid being drafted, Grubb went to Kassel, Germany and worked in a nursing facility for older men for years. Achieving peace was something that Grubb didn’t just dream of, it was something he worked and strived for in his life.
After Grubb died from cancer in 1985, his wife, Lavonne Grubb, pledged money to the Etown Alumni Peace Fellowship Committee to be used in an endowment fund to sponsor the creation of an award. Nancy Neiman-Hoffman, a classmate of Grubb, as well as the founder of the College’s Alumni Peace Fellowship Committee, decided that this money should be used in the form of an award to aid students in their quest for peace, similar to Grubb’s wishes.  This award soon became known as the Paul M. Grubb Jr. Student Peace Award.
Neiman-Hoffman, herself is also an advocate of peace. Three years after graduating from the College in 1955, Neiman-Hoffman went to Germany to participate in an international peace seminar. “It changed forever my attitude about war and peace. It was unforgettable,” Neiman-Hoffman said.
Students who apply for the award are required to make a proposal. This proposal must include what they plan to do to help promote peace and justice, whether it be at the global, national or local level.
Last year’s competition had the highest number of submissions to date, between six and eight students submitted proposals. This year, numerous people have already shown interest in submitting a proposal.
A committee of readers, composed of three community members and one educator reads the proposals individually and scores them based on the agreed-upon criteria. They then meet and compare their individual scores. Eventually, they finalize the results and agree upon a winner of the award.
“We like to see student’s interest in the proposals,” Melanie Snyder, a committee member and alumna of the College, said. “We look at the overall aspect of the proposals. We have had great ideas before, but if there is no plan to execute it, the proposal ranks lower.” Other factors that go into choosing the winning project is the motivation that sparked the proposal as well as the proposal relevance and how it will promote peace and justice.
The goal of the award is to encourage students to experience the same life changing experience that Neiman-Hoffman and Grubb did when they spent time abroad in Germany. “I want students to see how the world is made up of a great deal of bonding. Whether we are Islams or Muslims, Germans or Spaniards, our goal is peace. Encouraging students to understand what it means to live in a global community is what I hope to achieve out of this award,” Neiman-Hoffman said.
In the past, winners of this award have traveled to Vietnam, Guatemala and Northern Ireland. Other proposals have included promoting peace locally in the Etown area.
The winner of the 2012-2013 Paul M. Grubb Jr. Student Peace Award will be announced at homecoming on Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. in Nicarry 230, during the College’s Alumni Peace Fellowship meeting. Also present for this event will be senior Nikki Koyste, the winner of the 2011-2012 Paul M. Grubb Jr. Student Peace Award. Koyste will talk about her proposal, which was completed during her trip to Vietnam.
Proposals for this year’s Paul M. Grubb Jr. Student Peace Award competition must include a 500-word essay explaining the student’s proposal and how the student plans to execute it. The deadline for submissions is Monday, Oct. 8.