Brian Kinsella of Freehold, N.J., and Benjamin
Douglass McAbee of Hagerstown, Md., will receive
scholarships for the coming academic year in memory of
Christopher B. Elser, the university and Elser's family
announced.
The grants are the first made possible by friends and
family to perpetuate the memory of Chris Elser, a member of
the class of 2005 who was murdered a year ago. The awards
honor Elser's strong commitment and loyalty to his friends,
his openness to others and his passion for sports, the
family and university said.
Elser, who would have graduated last week, was fatally
wounded in April 2004 in an encounter with a burglar in an
off-campus apartment building occupied by members of his
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. In his three years at Johns
Hopkins, Elser, a resident of Camden, S.C., dedicated
himself to his friends, soccer, his studies and the
community around him, his family said.
Kinsella is a senior political
science major and dean's list student who will complete
his studies in January 2006. He has been elected president
of the SAE chapter at Johns Hopkins and is an ROTC cadet who expects to be
commissioned as an Army officer after graduation. He is
working this summer as both a heavy equipment operator for
a construction company and a special police officer on the
New Jersey Shore.
McAbee will be a junior
economics and
applied mathematics and
statistics major when the next academic year begins. He
also is pursuing a minor in entrepreneurship and
management. He is a starting midfielder/forward on the
varsity soccer team and was an All-Centennial Conference
second-team selection in 2003. He has volunteered at Tench
Tilghman Elementary School in Baltimore, assisting with
after-school activities, and takes part in the soccer
team's community volunteer activities. McAbee has worked in
the Johns Hopkins
Center for Talented Youth offices, at a securities firm
in Baltimore and at a bank in Hagerstown. He will intern
this summer at Legg Mason.
To celebrate Elser's life and to carry forward what he
lived for, his friends and family are establishing the
Christopher B. Elser Scholarship to be awarded to bright
and talented students who share his passion for athletics
and dedication to community. The family said it hopes the
scholarship will be awarded to an upperclassman who will
keep Chris' vibrant spirit alive on the campus of Johns
Hopkins and beyond.
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