International Alumni Check In
I graduated from Walla Walla College in 1992 with a master in social work (MSW) degree with emphasis in children and families, but also in mental health and addictions.
I had come to WWC to get an education. But I got much more than so. I got a new cultural experience, an international and a local field practicum working with ADRA in Nicaragua and as the director for social service department at Walla Walla General Hospital and I got new friends for life.
When I left WWC in 1992, I went back to Sweden to continue to work as an Seventh-day Adventist pastor. I left the ministry in 2000 and started to work as a probation officer. It might seem to be a huge step to go from working with active Christians to work with active criminals, but it isn't. People are looking for guidance and through my work I can assist them in moving on to a different better life. At the moment I am on my way changing my carreer again. I have just got a new position as the director of a children psychiatric ward.
So, was it worth going across the globe to WWC? If you ask me, YES! I am still paying of my student loan, but I got so much more that money cannot buy.
On a private level: I got married to Edith in 1998 and we have got two wonderful boys: Christoffer is 6 years old and Alexander is17 months old. Any old friends from WWC reading this note, please send me an e-mail - spm.nilsson@swipnet.se Long time no hear!
Peter Nilsson, Sweden
My name is Meyanti Tandikin, and I graduated from WWC in 1997. I am currently working as a teacher at Ekamai International School, Bangkok, while taking postgraduate study in AIIAS. I am single and planning to settle down soon. I have fond memories of WWC. When visiting professor Joanne Wiggins came to teach us World Literature, we bring her to have Chinese food for lunch at Pine Tree Restaurant.
My Favorite Quote: Let your life match your lip.
Knowing God's Word will keep you from sin, sin will keep you from knowing His Word.
Meyanti Tandikin, meyanti@yahoo.com
Hello. My name is Sammi Leung.
I am an international student from Hong Kong. I studied health science and
will get a bachelor of science degree in this school year. I am happy to study
in Hong Kong Adventist College (affiliated with Walla Walla College) because
I never thought of having an U.S. degree. Now I am seeking a job and hope
that I will find a job that relates to my field.
Sammi Leung
Thank you for a chance to write something to the Westwind. Below is a picture of my sons Mikael (20 years) sitting and Markus (18 years) standing beside me.
My first contact with Walla Walla College took place in the year 1974 when I came to College Place as an exchange student from Finland. The Sorensen family was my host family while I attended Walla Walla Valley Academy for my senior year. Dr. Sorensen introduced me to Walla Walla College because he was working for the education department at that time. After graduating from WWVA, I returned to Finland to wait for a response from college. I received an opportunity to continue my studies at WWC in the fall 1975, taking a sociology major and German minor.
Those years at WWC were some of my best years. I had come from a family where the daily necessities were not always met. My mother was a single mother with two teen daughters and worked as a street sweeper for living. We had become Adventists in 1971 and with God´s help and blessings she was able and willing to send me to the unknown future in College Place. I am grateful to God and to all the people, who have contributed to my college education in any way!
After graduation in 1980, I returned to Finland and to Sweden, where I had worked on my vacations. That´s where I worked for some time again before starting my nursing studies in Helsinki, Finland. That took for 2.5 years during which I got married to my sons´ father. However, the marriage didn´t last very long and I became a single mother of two boys. That didn´t keep me from studying further. I specialized in nursing and started nursing administration studies at the university at the end of the 80s. My mother was helping me to take care the boys while I was listening the lectures, I studied in the bus and in the evening after the boys went to bed.
God has given me guidance and strength even during the time when I become unemployed in 1993 right after completing my master's degree in nursing administration. It often takes trouble before we really realize the power of God. My unemployment was that kind of trouble and He came to rescue. I was given another opportunity to study at WWC--this time for master's degree in social work. When my studies started, I realized that this is my calling--social work combined with nursing. Mikael and Markus were with me and are forever grateful for the chance to learn English during the three years we were in the United States.
The last few years I have been working for the local Red Cross chapter, but presently I have started working in Stockholm, Sweden again. I still don´t know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future. He has a plan for all of us. Mine has involved 7 years in College Place, which I am grateful for. May God keep on blessing that school full of good memories!
Sincerely,
Leena (Laitinen) Haveri, rlhaveri@hotmail.com
I am the first graduate of Walla Walla College affiliation program at Hong Kong Adventist College. I graduated in the summer of 2003 in the bachelor of arts in theology program.
Since returning to Malaysia, I have been pastoring a Chinese church in the city of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (formerly British North Borneo). It is a challenging job dealing with people from all walks of life in a city setting. By the grace of God, I am the instrument in His hands to effect change for the better.
Christian regards,
Felix Liew
Walla Walla College meant REACHING OUT to me. Being the first Filipino couple to study at this school meant we were strangers to a whole new culture and environment. But our teachers, bless their hearts, REACHED OUT to us. Professor Lewis Canaday (and his wife Beth) reached out to Tirso, my husband who took industrial education as a major. As for me, Professor Stanley Walker reached out to me. He was my major professor in piano and pipe organ. REACHING OUT meant our teachers took time out inviting us out to Sabbath lunches, Sabbath walks and during the summer, trips to Moscow, Idaho, where a construction project meant food on the table and tuition for the next semester. Trips to WWC's camp up in the Wallowa mountains (if my memory serves me right) was a never to be forgotten experience. All these were done by these loving faculty members who understood that homesickness could be cured by some attention-getting activities! Being a piano major, Professor Walker very kindly gave me 20 piano students to teach which helped me earn tuition money. Wonderful people!
After WWC, Tirso and I continued our education in Washington, D.C. He earned a master’s degree in industrial education from Maryland University and I earned a master’s in music degree from Catholic University of America!
Returning to the Philippines after graduation meant REACHING OUT to our growing family – all four of my children have accepted the Lord as their Saviour and are active in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. These I had learned at WWC. REACHING OUT meant Sabbath activities for our young people in church in camping experiences, singing groups on church visitation. As personal ministries leader, it has been a source of joy to me to “disciple” and nurture newly baptized believers and training them in visitation and giving of Bible studies. REACHING OUT meant involvement in the community’s cultural life. At the time Tirso and I returned from the States, our Iloilo City was a “cultural wasteland” and there were no beautiful programs or uplifting concerts. So I reached out to six other like-minded women and together we formed the MICPA (Museo Iloilo Committee on Performing Arts) presenting good quality free outdoor programs and concerts from our community's schools and later tapping the different foreign embassies and consulates in our country and becoming the beneficiaries of their cultural outreach programs.
I continue to REACH OUT to three schools
teaching the Suzuki method of piano teaching. My aim is to “train
the next generation of church pianists.” Presently, I am officer-in-charge
of a newly organized department of music in the College of Theology of Central
Philippine University (a Baptist university). Even at this late age, many
are being asked to retire but I have been asked to continue the good program
I have initiated. In addition, I teach piano also at West Visayan Academy
(an SDA academy) and also at Central Philippine Adventist College, still reaching
out to all these talented students who need to be trained to play for church
services.
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A picture of Tirso just a few months before he died in 1982 very suddenly of Mycardial infarction. |
Me at the grand piano donated to the newly organized department of music of College of Theology, Central Philippine University. |
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Me with my children and three grandchildren. |
Me and Abygayl, my fourth grandchild by my son. |
I wish I could be at our reunion but I am committed to giving
three summer
Music camps – one I am presently doing at Central Philippine University
till the end of April. (There goes my reunion time.) First week of May I go
to Manila for another Suzuki Music Camp (sponsored by the Philippine Suzuki
Association) and in May I go to Negros Occidental (another neighboring island)
for a 3rd Suzuki Summer Music Camp at Central Philippine Adventist College
till the end of May. Our school year begins again in June.
Vita M. Jamandre
