Servant Leadership Awards
09/22/08
Belton, Texas - Two students from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor were the recipients of a prestigious award during the university's fall convocation today. Two young men, Ryan Trask and Tatenda Tavaziva, received the Gary and Diane Heavin Servant Leadership Award, which recognizes UMHB students who have committed an extraordinary amout of time and energy to ministry and community service during their years of study at UMHB.The awards included a $1,000 cash award for each student, a portion of which they donated to an organization of their choice. Gary and Diane Heavin of Waco, established a permanent endowment to fund the award, to remind UMHB students the importance of philanthropy, ministry and community service.
Ryan Trask came to UMHB as a freshman from Arlington, Texas, in 2005. He quickly became involved in campus activities and at Canyon Creek Baptist Church in Temple. Soon after joining the church, he became an intern for the youth ministry there, and he has continued to serve in that role throughout his college years. Trask has served as a leader on mission trips and youth camps, has led worship on a weekly basis, and has taught Bible studies in the youth ministry at Canyon Creek. His associate pastor, Trey Bledsoe, says, "Ryan is willing to do whatever is asked of him with a positive attitude, understanding that all he does is for God's glory, not his. Ryan gives his best in all that he does academically, relationally, spiritually, and especially in leadership opportunities. . . .The youth of the church love and trust him. He has gained this through loving them where they are and striving to influence them toward Jesus. His faithfulness and consistency of character have helped him to earn their trust."
Trask has also served on the Welcome Week staff for the last three years and on the Revival Steering Committee in 2007 and 2008. A member of Gamma Beta Phi and Student Foundation, he is also serving as the director of Programs for the Student Government Association this year. He plans to graduate in May with a Bachelor in Christian Ministry degree and will be attending seminary next fall, to prepare for a career in the ministry. Trask has chosen to donate $500 of his cash award to Compassion International, a Christian ministry that seeks to combat poverty through the sponsorship of more than one million children in 24 countries around the world.
Tatenda Tavaziva is a senior accounting major from Harare, Zimbabwe. Tavaziva came to UMHB in 2004 with only the clothes on his back-literally, because his luggage was lost in a series of connecting flights from Africa to the U.S. His father, a pastor in Zimbabwe, is an alumnus of UMHB, and he sent his son to study in Belton, with faith that he would be well educated and cared for on a Christian campus. The UMHB financial aid officers helped Tavaziva find scholarship money, and Tavaziva took on part-time jobs in the cafeteria and as an RA to cover the rest of his tuition costs
summer breaks and over the Christmas holidays, he as worked as a counselor at a series of Baptist camps, so that he has had a place to stay and could earn funds to pay for his schooling. Despite all this hard work outside the classroom, he has maintained a 3.75 grade point average while studying for his BBA in Accounting.
Tavaziva has also had an impact on the campus community. He is well known among UMHB students because he takes the time to show a genuine interest in each person he meets. He has served as the International Student Union president and as Head Resident Assistant for two years; he was named Crusader Knight in 2007 and this year will serve his second consecutive year as Student Body President. He has been a member of UMHB's Public Speaking Team and Ethics Team, and he has served as a youth Sunday School teacher and a volunteer at Belton Christian Youth Center. Costumed, with purple and gold face paint and a Zimbabwe flag as a cape, he has served as a captain of the Couch Cru, encouraging his fellow students to show their school spirit at nearly every sporting event that has been played on campus during his years at UMHB-from football and basketball to soccer and tennis.
Tavaziva has chosen to donate $500 to Hope for the Hungry, a Belton-based nondenominational organization devoted to helping children worldwide and partnering with missionaries who are living God's call-ministers such as his father in Zimbabwe.
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