Hoelscher to Represent Eberly College of Science as Student Marshal at Summer Commencement

Christian Hoelscher of Newtown, Pennsylvania will be honored as the Eberly College of Science student marshal during summer commencement ceremonies on 18 August 2007 at the Penn State University Park campus. Hoelscher has selected Robert Mitchell, professor emeritus of biology and emeritus director of the premedicine program at Penn State, to be his faculty escort for the commencement exercises.

Hoelscher, who will be completing a bachelor of science degree in premedicine, is enrolled in the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, has been on the Dean's list for seven semesters, and has earned a 3.9 grade-point average. His academic achievements have been recognized with the President's Freshmen Award in 2004 and a Schreyer Ambassador Travel Grant in 2006, which he used to travel to China. In 2004, Hoelscher was named a member of the Alpha Epsilon Delta Honor Society and the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society.

Hoelscher worked on his honors thesis with Paul Lavy, former assistant professor of art history at Penn State, in 2003 and 2004. Hoelscher says, "Although I was majoring in premedicine, I wanted to do something different and creative for my honors thesis. Dr. Lavy and I constructed a model of a Hindu temple built by the people of the ancient kingdom of Champa, which existed roughly from the 4th century through the 1800s in what is now known as Vietnam. The temple was destroyed before it could be studied extensively, so there is little information available about its structure. Using this limited information and studying similar structures from that era so that I could reconstruct the temple represented a true challenge for my thesis."

Hoelscher is a graduate of Council Rock High School in Newtown, Pennsylvania. In addition to his academic activities, Hoelscher has volunteered at the Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia, where he also completed a pre-medicine internship, and at the Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College. His volunteer work also took him abroad; in 2004 he spent four weeks working in a rural medical clinic in Tanzania and in 2006 he spent four weeks working with mentally disabled children in China. Hoelscher says, "I’ve wanted to pursue a career in medicine for as long as I can remember. My volunteer experiences have only served to reinforce the decision to pursue such a rewarding career."

Hoelscher is the co-founder of Adult Literacy Tutoring Corps, a student organization that is devoted to awareness of adult literacy issues and to assisting adult learners in the State College community. He served as a tutor for an English-as-a-second-language program and for the Penn State Department of Biology. He played for the Penn State Roller Hockey Club Team for three years, competing in the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (ECRHA).

"I'm honored to have been chosen to be the student marshal for the Eberly College of Science," Hoelscher says. "The most important lesson I will take with me from my time at Penn State is to work hard, manage your time, embrace challenges, take advantage of the resources and blessings that surround you, and don't forget to enjoy life along the way. If you keep that mentality, success will follow. I think that really captures the most important aspects of my Penn State education. These lessons are applicable not only in the classroom, but in every endeavor one pursues."

Hoelscher will be accompanied at commencement by his parents, Roland and Anna Hoelscher of Newtown, Pennsylvania.