People of Eastern: Mei Moerder

Eastern University’s motto, “Faith, Reason, and Justice,” is something we’re all striving for during our time here.  One student in particular embodies all three of these values through her studies and her free time.

Mei Moerder is a sophomore with a wide variety of interests. She started her academic career as a double major in Bible and Theology, but recently switched her major to Math. “I took astronomy my freshman year, and I fell in love with it and quickly realized that might be what I want to do at some point – something in the math branch … something to do with the stars,” Moerder said. Though she’s now pursuing math full-time, she’s still balancing reason with faith by minoring in both Bible and Theology, taking classes on spirituality alongside classes in calculus.

Aside from the beautiful campus, one of the main things that drew Moerder to Eastern is the school’s focus on working toward justice. “As I started to look more into Eastern, I saw how big the community was: how everyone knows everyone, and everyone cares for everyone, and I really loved how much the school actually tried to get people involved with justice and get involved with clubs like IJM [International Justice Mission] or YACHT [Youth Against Complacency and Homelessness Today] or Prison Ministry,” Moerder said.

Her desire to pursue justice carries through into her extra curricular activities. Moerder has been involved with YACHT ever since her freshman year. “I wanted YACHT to be my service learning site my freshman year, but I couldn’t because it was too full. But I went on every outing pretty much, and I fell in love with it the first time. I wanted to lead it this semester as well, but I couldn’t with my scheduling,” Moerder said.

She didn’t let that stop her from going on weekly outings to talk to those experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia, and this semester, she was offered a position as a co-leader of YACHT alongside Mary Johnson, Connie Hrdina, and Chris Yanak. “They asked me to lead this semester, and I had to say yes because I really wanted to… That’s been a lot of fun to be able to work with such great people,” Moerder said. Now she’s working with the rest of the YACHT leaders to organize and fundraise for their upcoming missions trip to Washington D.C., which will take place over spring break.

When she’s not studying or helping to serve the community, Moerder enjoys spending her free time reading, writing, playing guitar, and extending her passion for community by hanging out with friends and getting to know new people on and off campus.

While she’s not sure she knows exactly what she wants to do after graduation, Moerder is looking forward to figuring that out alongside her friends. “I’m excited honestly to just see where everyone, including me and my friends, will all go in their lives, because college is a really exciting time for all of us, and it’s also very stressful because we don’t know what we’re doing in the next five years or so, so I feel like it’s going to be really fun in the next few years or few months to see where we’re all directing our lives,” Moerder said.

With her emphasis on balancing faith and reason and her love for pursuing justice, I’m sure that Moerder is going to accomplish great things in the months and years to come!