It was my junior year of high school when I think that moment became very,
very clear. I was doing a mission trip in the Dominican Republic and there's this one
moment, and I can vividly remember it and like hear the voice of God.
It was just I knew the Lord's calling on my life had to do something with kids and through
education that calling would be fulfilled.
So many of our students come to us and they have experience even at the high school level
of working in places all around the world.
So we set out to create a program that would give us
the flexibility to allow students to teach internationally if they wanted to or in
nonprofit organizations here in the States where they are able to put those gifts to work.
That was definitely something that I was searching for while
I was at Samford is you know wondering am I called to go into
missions, am I called to go into the ministry or am I called to be a teacher?
And I felt like there had to be a choice like it had to be either/or and so
finding that bridge where students can really explore both of those to see what
they want to do I think is going to be so beneficial.
Our students will be getting a degree in elementary education. On top of their degree they're going to
have a concentration in Christian education and mission. The concentration
consists of three courses: One course that is all about the principles and
foundations of Christian education, the second course is advanced curriculum
planning, the last course is educational missions. Clinical preparation in our
School of Education is the core of our program. Our students graduate with over
a thousand hours of clinical experiences. We get them into the classrooms early
and often and so students in our Christian Ed. and Missions program will
have experiences here in the city of Birmingham, they will have experiences in
rural, suburban, and urban schools, but we do feel that it's important that they
are able to experience what school is like in other countries.
So we feel like that international placement will be key.
Terra Nova is a place that is all about creating a safe spot for kids to learn and grow
physically academically and emotionally, helping families stay together and to do that through education.
Our team is serious about the work of loving the
people in our community as the hands and feet of Jesus.
Education prepares you to teach, but what Christian education does is it prepares you to teach anywhere
because you are getting those skills that will allow you to communicate with
people who are different, who might speak a different language. It is preparing you
to teach and to teach in a way that shares the gospel and spreads the love of Christ to these kids.
I feel like it's important for graduates regardless of
what they want to do in the future. I know for me I teach in a really diverse
school system here, and so we get students from all over the world that
speak English, that don't speak English, that have come from countries that are
very different. Being able to apply those skills that I learned when I was in
Uganda and when I was in Liberia have definitely been applicable in this setting as well.
If you have the slightest idea that this is something
that you feel like the Lord is calling you to do don't be afraid to do it.
There are gonna be times when it's gonna be hard, and that's a great thing about Sanford
is that they push you and push you and push you and push you until maybe you are
at your breaking point, but after your breaking point you see, "Oh
my gosh I am so thankful that they pushed me because now I have this skill!"
After they finish this program I can't wait to see how our students change the
world, because they can. And I believe that they will, and I believe they just
need that push, and they just need that confidence, and I think that that's what
our program is going to provide for them.