Past Presidential Fellows 2015-2016

Aaron Smith '16

Office of the Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff

Aaron Smith is an A. J. Gordon Scholar from Chino Hills, CA, majoring in Finance and Business Administration, and minoring in Pre-Law. Before coming to Gordon Aaron was a member of the National Honor Society and the California Scholarship Federation. He also competed in the Junior Olympics for volleyball and was recognized as the divisional Player of the Year as a junior. At Gordon, Aaron has been a Residence Advisor and worked at the Bennett Athletic Center. Being an Eagle Scout propelled his love for the outdoors and his subsequent involvement with the La Vida Center for Outdoor Education. This involvement consisted of leading wilderness trips in the Adirondack Mountains, teaching leadership and team building, and creating student programs. He spent the summer of 2015 working for the Solutions Development team of Jones Lang Lasalle in Hong Kong. Aaron has also worked in the commercial real estate sector of Southern California. After graduating, Aaron plans on attending graduate school and pursuing a career in real estate or law.

Bersley Chery '16

Office of the Vice President for Student Development

Bersley Chery is a Clarendon Scholar majoring in communication arts. During his time at Gordon he has been a peer mentor for the Office of Academic Advising and has been involved with College Bound as a tutor and intern and is an active member of Gordon’s gospel choir. He has also served as an orientation leader. For the past two years he has worked with Gordon’s summer working group by responding to the needs of incoming freshman via social media. This summer Bersley worked at the University of Massachusetts Boston as a summer intern with their Urban Scholars Program. During his time there, he assisted inner city high school kids from Boston by preparing them for college. Born in Boston and currently living in Brockton, MA, Bersley has a heart for the city and wants to give back upon graduating. He hopes to earn his master’s in higher education and work with students of low socioeconomic backgrounds successfully make the transition to college.

Cana Short '17 

Office of the Provost

Cana Short is a junior majoring in history with a concentration in early Christian studies and a minor in classical studies. She spent the first part of her childhood in Cambridge, MA, and moved in 2006 with her family to Japan, where she homeschooled with her two younger sisters and taught as an ESL instructor before returning to the U.S. for college. After attending Wheaton College in Illinois for her freshman year, Cana transferred to Gordon in the fall of 2014. Alongside keeping up with her responsibilities as a student, she has enjoyed working in the Admissions Office as an Admissions Ambassador and singing in the Gordon College Choir. She is also a member of the A. J. Gordon Fellows program, the 2014–2015 Jerusalem and Athens Forum cohort, the Princemere academic journal editing committee, and a recipient of Presidential honors. Cana attends Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Cambridge, where she sings and plays piano on the music team. After graduating, she hopes to continue studying at the graduate level and to explore the possibilities of researching and teaching in cross-cultural contexts.

Chase Keener '17

Office of the President

Chase Keener is an A. J. Gordon Fellow and National Merit Scholar pursuing a major in Psychology and a minor in Business Administration. He currently serves as Gordon’s Chapel Office Creative Consultant. During his time at Gordon, Chase has also served as a Resident Advisor, Worship Leader, and Teaching Assistant. Chase has engaged in an eclectic mixture of for-profit companies and NGO organizations. He worked the summer of 2014 in Nepal as the Training and Development Intern at CloudFactory redesigning workflows and revising the company’s on-boarding process. The previous summer, Chase served as the Lead Pastor Intern at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. Through this position, he assisted in a 14-million dollar fundraising campaign, developed recruiting methods for NPCC’s Leadership Development Program, and completed communication training with Jackson Spalding’s CEO. Chase also spent a year as the Executive Pastor Intern at Grace Fellowship Church in Latham, New York developing a new multisite structure and surveying the church’s organizational effectiveness. Chase has a passion for music, which led him to spend the summer of 2015 in Los Angeles. While there, he networked his way into a professional studio and recorded an original, five-song EP. After graduating, Chase plans to continue walking through the doors God opens.

Claire Campbell '16

Office of the President

Claire Campbell is an A. J. Gordon scholar majoring in English Language and Literature. She is from Seattle, Washington where she grew up voraciously reading and writing. She enjoys photography, fashion, and playing with her two cats. While at Gordon, she has worked for and contributed to the Idiom each year, and is currently the co-editor. She also frequently writes for the Tartan, and was both a Teacher’s Assistant and a Peer Mentor. Claire is a member of the 10th cohort of the Jerusalem and Athens Forum, which led to her decision to study abroad for a semester. She traveled on a pilgrimage for four months to every country in the United Kingdom, by train, bus, plane, and foot. She is excited for what the coming years will bring, and in whatever she does, she hopes to advocate for justice and the Gospel.

Hannah Wardell '17

Office of the Vice President for Marketing and Strategic Communications

Hannah Wardell is a junior A. J. Gordon Fellow studying Political Science and Communications. At Gordon, she has received presidential honors, served as the Executive Secretary for the Gordon College Student Association and a Student Coordinator of the Launch Professional Development Seminar, participated in the Jerusalem Athens Forum, and competed with the Model United Nations and Mock Trial teams. She considers Model UN an ideal opportunity to showcase how honest Christian excellence can succeed in a competitive secular environment and received the distinction of Outstanding Delegate last year at the Harvard National Model United Nations Conference in Boston. Outside of Gordon, Hannah has worked as a district intern in the office of Congressman Scott Tipton (CO-3), a communication intern in the office of Colorado Lt. Governor Joe Garcia, and most recently as a Camp Counselor at Camp Merri-Mac in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Hannah plans to pursue graduate work in political communications, ethics, and theology, aspiring to work and study ethically as a political communicator.

Joseph Gerberich '16

Office of the Vice President for Finance and Administration

J. Bruce Gerberich is a senior double majoring in Finance and Business Administration. He is a Graduate of Northern Lebanon High School in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania. Before coming to Gordon he spent his freshman year at Cairn University in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. While at Gordon Bruce has been a 2 year member of the Gordon Men’s Soccer Team, a member of Model U.N and started a boxing fitness class at the Bennett Center. He has also worked at physical plant doing landscaping for the school as well as being the Bennett Center student business manager. Outside of Gordon, Bruce has been Grace Chapel’s Operations and Events Intern and business manager for the Lebanon County Dairy Promotion. In his free time he enjoys hiking, camping and being in the outdoors. After Gordon Bruce aspires to have a career on Wall Street and one day start his own company.

Nathanael Lee '17

Office of the Vice President for Finance and Administration

Nathanael Lee is a junior studying Accounting and Finance, and he has a deep-seated passion for entrepreneurship. From Beverly, Massachusetts, Nathanael grew up as a citizen of Hong Kong, China, attending international school HKIS all the way through high school. At Gordon, Nathanael has thrived in a variety of leadership positions, and, where necessary, started his own organizations. He founded the Badminton Club his freshman year. He competed in the inaugural and second-year Social Venture Competition at Gordon College, and both times placed in the finalists. The venture that he co-founded is called Lifelong Education, and it will be piloting at Gordon this academic year. He was a representative for the Gordon’s student government in 2014, and served actively on the financial affairs committee. In addition to that, he was also in the Wind Ensemble for two years as a trumpet player, and during his second year led the section as first chair. Nathanael’s work experience is broad, and he has interned at organizations such as Deloitte Hong Kong, in the international tax department; Oasis Consulting Inc., a socially-minded real estate enterprise; and looped in, a former mobile payments platform in Boston. But at the heart of everything Nathanael does is a firm mission to glorify God through work, relationships, and personal disciplines. He sees business as an effective tool for creating value in the world, and he sees culture as utterly transformable and redeemable through Christ-centered careers. In his less busy moments, he can be found reading books about entrepreneurship and psychology, biking, playing his trumpet, playing badminton, and spending time with his friends. In the years after Gordon, Nathanael will seek to make an impact on the world through business and social enterprise.