She says she has many passions, but one purpose. When asked what that purpose was, Elizabeth Bertrand replied quickly, “To serve God.”

Bertrand has been from South Africa to Israel evangelizing, feeding the hungry, and working with the underprivileged. Her desire to make a change in the world is as large as the ministry she’s taken on each summer for five years.

The pictures of foreign places she has captured with a disposable camera hint at her skill, though she has never had any formal photography instruction. But they account for only a portion of her life story.

As a 10-year-old middle child of three, the Lafayette, La., native witnessed the separation of her parents and was forced to continue her life in another part of the country. But she remains optimistic, despite her past struggles.

“Cause if you expect the worst, then that’s what you’ll find,” the 21-year-old said.

Bertrand is a young, white woman who chose to attend a historically black college. She initially planned to attend Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., briefly before transferring to another institution that had promised her a scholarship. However after getting to Lincoln, she said she loved the school so much, she decided to stay.

Upon her arrival at Lincoln, she read the campus newspaper avidly, and decided she could contribute to improving its editing. She’s been a copy editor at the student newspaper, the Lincoln Clarion, for two years.

As an elementary education major with a minor in print journalism, Bertrand is open to a future of teaching and copy editing.

The daughter of a nurse and a copy editor, Bertrand grew up in a newspaper office and looked for errors in copy – everywhere.

“I would always find typos in my Babysitter’s Club books,” Bertrand said.

BRAVETTA HASSELL