LOOKING FOR A C 11 I{ I S r I A N COMMUNITY ------------B;· ]an!::,tn Teague ------------ Graduate student Rebecca Yoon was not a typical Harding tudcnt. She spent her childhood in South Korea. spent two of her midclk-school years in .:'\cw Zealand, and completed high school in l\laryland. \\~1en it came time Lo pick a college, Yoon looked for a place with a Christian community. A Google search led her to Harding. Confused by Harding's rules and boundaries, Yoon called the admissions office and asked what Harding belieYcd aboutj esus. Their ans\,·cr was the selling poim she needed Lo hear Harding \\'a. just the place she was looking for. "I came by myself - fre h, with no connections,'' Yoon said. '·J started school like that.·· Yoon got I 1er undergraduate degree in general studies \,ith an emphasis in natural science. During her undergraduate years, ·he joined \,·omen's social club Chi Omega Pi and spent her freshman year fi.guring out how to get plugged in to life at Harding. Junior Ra11eisha Stassin \.vas one of the fir~t people Yoon met, and their relationship continued to dc,·clop outside of their fre hrnan Bible clas . '·She im·ited me to lunch the same day that \1·e first met,·' Stassin said. '·Coming from a sm:-ill town, it was cool to meet p ople from alJ O\'er the world. he's the t)1)e of person \,·ho would ahrnys come and gi\'e you a hug or say hi. he's always smiling." Yoon al o grew close to her science profes~or~. calling them her "science fathers," ,,·ho took care of her and provided her with a family at Harding. One of her ··f,·uhers" \\'as associate professor of chemistry Dr. Dennis Province. "It's nice to hm·c ~omcone that you get to know that' not necessarily that professor-student relationship,'' Province sairl. "It's been a real blessing to watch her get through some real tough times in life. She doesn't sec how full of life she [_is], how she lights up ,i room or a h,illway, and it. just great to be around her and to hm·e her as part of the family.·· Searcy\\'atcr U tililies hirrd Yoon as a laboratory manager, and she worked there {or just o,·cr onr year before she de idcd to return to Harding for her master's degree. She worked toward a ~ [aster of Science in education, \\~th an empha is in English as a second languag<" ESL), and spcm hrr time outside of clas tutoring adult Chinese ESL students. '·\\'hen I started teaching the class, that is where my heart started beating," Yoon said. "] thought ma\·bc this is the way it is. ~laybc this is the way God is leading me.,. \ \'hik her plans were still not set in stone, Yoon sought advice from Province and other trusted ackisers and found confidence in her identity as a child of God. She said that ,he felt God calling her to give him control, and she was open to his plam for her luture. Gradual/ ..-t.•1den1 Heber,11 J,1 n ,hertf t,f ,-hddhood in South /,."area, tu,o uf her middleschool war, in. · '"'.:al ll1 I 1, d nrrip.', t,,,! ,11gh JCho,>l zn Afar)'la11d. She found Harding be /1'.tse ,f o C,,1ogl• wirch at.d 11,1' e the decision to attend after a phone rall 1o admisswns asking w!t111 H,irdiriP, behevf,/ ·1l,n1,i Jesus. I Photo by .\lacy Pate CH \Ill \TL FL \Tl llF. ,,( 1/<J
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