Hannah Doty ’23 received the Julie and John Peters Scholarship upon her matriculation to Randolph-Macon.

Hannah Doty ’23, a religious studies major and ethics minor, has been drawn to spiritual leadership ever since high school. Time spent shadowing a minister for a school project convinced her that church was where she “felt fulfilled more than anyplace else.” 

Doty was accepted into Randolph-Macon’s A. Purnell Bailey Pre-Ministerial Program, which provides future ministers the support they need to prepare for a life in pastoral care. The cohort meets weekly to support one another and polish practical skills involved with seminary work like how to organize a worship service, accommodating congregants with disabilities, and more, all under the guidance of Chaplain Kendra Grimes.

When it comes to career experience, Doty is ahead of the curve. She interned with St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Yorktown, Va., last summer and she previously served as the interim youth and young adult coordinator at Shady Grove United Methodist Church in Short Pump, Va. Currently, she is the assistant youth director at Richmond’s Bon Air United Methodist Church. 

Doty notes that since studying other religious traditions at RMC, she has learned to value ambiguity over certainty.

“My religion is one among many,” she says. “To see the same themes and wisdom pop up across so many cultures has opened my heart to new ideas and allowed me to treat other traditions with the same respect I want mine treated with.”

Doty plans to continue her spiritual growth in a masters of divinity program before seeking ordination in the United Methodist Church. It’s hard to imagine a better career for someone who describes her two favorite activities as “hanging out with people and reading the Bible.”

“It still blows my mind that I could be paid to do that,” Doty says.

A Future Foretold

The scholarship Doty receives was established in 2013 by Rev. Dr. John Peters ’70 and his family as the Julie and John Peters Scholarship in his late wife’s memory. Julie Keyser Peters was an active parish nurse, teacher, and missioner who supported Peters’ ministry wherever it led him. The namesake scholarship nurtures students who, as her husband once did, come to Randolph-Macon with plans to enter the ministry and grow in their spiritual journey.

Many ministers describe being called to the vocation. You might say Peters was destined.

A fifth-generation minister, Peters was eight years old when his father’s associate minister, Bill Knight ’56, predicted Peters would attend Randolph-Macon, enter seminary at Duke University Divinity School, then become Knight’s own associate pastor. Remarkably, it all came true.

Peters studied pre-ministry at RMC and credits the mentorship of faculty members Ira Andrews ’59, Willie Chappell ’50, and H. Burnell Pannill ’41 for giving him the confidence to continue his seminary training at Duke and the University of Edinburgh. That theological training served him well in his 42-year career in ministry, during which he pastored at five different Virginia churches in Richmond, Winchester, Harrisonburg, and Newport News.

“Every time I was in the pulpit, I felt such a responsibility to the people,” Peters says. “To be well-prepared, to be authentic, to be faithful to the reading and understanding of Scripture. And to not take any of that lightly.”

Peters later represented six schools as the executive director of the Association of Educational Institutions for the Virginia United Methodist Conference. It was the same organization that provided him with tuition assistance for being a Methodist minister’s son and a pre-ministerial student. That financial aid, coupled with Peters’ football scholarship, allowed him to graduate college without debt—a gift he intends to pay forward.

Responding in Kind

The Peters family, after making a significant gift to endow the scholarship, continue to annually support its fund. Peters also intends to enhance the scholarship through his estate plans, which will allow for continued growth in the fund and increase the scholarship’s impact.

“I was one of three siblings who needed to be educated, all on a minister’s salary.” Peters says. “Without financial aid, our family would have struggled to pay for tuition. I have a real loyalty to Randolph-Macon and will continue to give generously so others can have the same opportunities I did.”