Bridget Degnan: Ambitious for Adventure
By Kaitlyn Czajkowski
September 26, 2008
 |
| Bridget Degnan, class of 2012. |
Bridget Degnan loves to read Dr. Seuss books, likes to think happy thoughts, and her life ambition is to go skydiving sometime before she dies. Half joking, she adds, “And I’ll be praying the whole time that it’s not the last thing I do before I die!”
Bridget, 18, a freshman journalism major at PHC, has a passion for life. The second oldest of seven children, Bridget grew up on Long Island, but considers New York City her home. Her interests range from mountain biking, to writing, and most of all—to reaching a lost world for Christ.
One of the most difficult but exhilarating moments of Bridget’s life came when she shared the gospel with a woman in Washington Square Park.
“It was a difficult situation,” Bridget said. The woman was bitter over her past, and hinted that she had suffered a bad encounter with the Catholic Cas a child. “She was unleashing a good portion of that anger on me,” Bridget said.
But as Bridget shared the gospel, the woman’s demeanor changed. “I think God was really doing a work in her heart,” she said.
Before leaving, Bridget prayed with the woman and gave her directions to a local church. “Even though I had no idea what to do or say, God still managed to use me anyhow,” she said. “And that just amazes me sometimes!”
In a world desperately in need of a Savior, Bridget sees journalism as her avenue to serve Christ and minister to those around her. Since she was young, Bridget has had a passion for writing, and more specifically, for journalism.
In highschool, she taught a journalism class to a homeschool co-op and edited a newsletter that the class published. She also came to journalism camp at PHC in 2007, which cemented her interest in writing.
After taking 12 credits of distance learning, Bridget chose to attend PHC, in spite of its relatively small journalism program, because she admired the focus of the school, and especially because of its integration of faith and reason and its emphasis of both.
In addition, PHC was the only school—out of Wheaton, Grove City, and The Kings College—that her parents both fell in love with. “It was largely God’s decision” that Icome here, Bridget said.
Bridget has high hopes for her time at PHC. She looks forward to getting involved in the Streaming Media Network and playing with the women’s soccer team. But most of all, Bridget is looking forward to being equipped to bring light into a dark world.
I want “an education that strengthens my faith in God most of all, and prepares me to serve God once I’ve graduated,” she said.
