About Us
Our Statement of Purpose
The Amish Descendant Scholarships Fund provides scholarships and mentorship for students from Amish or Plain Anabaptist backgrounds who are pursuing higher education. Our mission is to build a supportive community that helps these students navigate the challenges of college after an early education typically limited to the eighth grade.
Our Story
The Amish Descendant Scholarship Fund (ADSF) is managed by a small group of people with big dreams–to help other Amish and former Amish achieve their dreams of a college education. Emma Miller first conceived of the idea on the day she graduated from San Diego University. You can read more about her on our blog. Emma made this idea a reality by co-founding ADSF with Naomi Kramer Yoder. Together they managed the fund for twelve years before others joined the efforts to provide scholarships and mentorships to formerly Amish or Plain Anabaptists to help chart their path to a university education.
Emma Miller
Co-Founder
Emma left the Amish when she was 16 so she could continue her education. She is now working for Shell Foundation in London, UK working with entrepreneurs who bring access to clean energy in low-income areas in Africa and India. Her Amish background drives her to fight for equality in economic and educational opportunities for everyone worldwide. She has a Masters degree in Economics and Finance from London Metropolitan University and a BA in Economics from San Diego State University. She strongly believes that education should be available to everyone who wants it.
Naomi Yoder
Founding Advisor
Naomi grew up in Jamesport, Missouri in a small Amish community. In 2012, she graduated with her nursing degree from Goshen College. Her education included a semester abroad in Peru, where she studied Peruvian culture and learned to speak Spanish. She started her nursing career as a med-surg nurse, but has since developed a passion for labor and delivery, and helped open a birth center in Nappanee, Indiana in 2016 and was one of the first nurses hired there. She attended the very first birth at that birth center and has attended hundreds of births since. She works largely with the Plain communities (Amish and Mennonites) and speaks to the mothers in their own language. Noami has become both accepted and loved as a birth worker in the community. She is working on her Masters degree to to become a Certified Nurse Midwife. Naomi is passionate about helping others from a Plain background earn a college education because she understands the struggles and hard work that the college journey takes with only an eighth-grade education.
Saloma Miller Furlong
Operations Manager
Saloma was born and raised in an Amish community in northeastern Ohio. She left her community twice — at 20 and at 23. Soon after leaving the final time, she attended Community College of Vermont and then found her way to the Ada Comstock program at Smith College. She graduated weeks before her 50th birthday with a major in German Studies and a minor in Philosophy. Her education included a semester abroad in Germany, where she studied at the University of Hamburg. She is the author of three memoirs: Liberating Lomie: Memoir of an Amish Childhood, Bonnet Strings: An Amish Woman’s Ties to Two Worlds, and Why I Left the Amish. Parts of her story were featured in two American Experience films "The Amish" and "The Amish: Shunned." She is deeply committed to helping others realize their dreams of earning a college education.
Eythana Miller
Program Manager
Eythana grew up in Libby, Montana, in an unconventional Amish community and moved to California at 17. She attended Shasta College in Redding before transferring to Berkeley to study political economy, where she graduated in spring of 2025. She is a 2025 recipient of the Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize, through which she is working on an oral history and language preservation project in her hometown of Libby. She enjoys both journalistic and creative writing, as well as development economics and literature. Education has been deeply formative and meaningful for her, and she is delighted to work with ADSF to help bring that opportunity to more people.
Freeman Miller
Fund Advisor
Freeman Miller grew up in Holmes and Wayne Counties in Ohio and went to public school through eighth grade. After graduation he worked in a cheese factory until he was drafted for military service. As a conscientious objector, he volunteered to work at a hospital in Denver, Colorado. He attended a community college and received a physicians assistant degree, then returned to the University of Colorado to complete his bachelors degree and medical school. He worked in Goshen, Indiana for four years before moving to Wilmington, Delaware where he worked as a pediatric orthopedist for 35 years until he retired. He is traveling and lecturing part time. Freeman is committed to assisting young people from Plain communities who feel the leading to pursue higher education in spite of not being able to attend high school.
Harley Yoder
Board Member
John Yoder
Board Member
