Three Students’ Reflections

A letter from Eric Hinderliter serving in Lithuania

September 2016

The start of the new school year at our mission partner, LCC International University, in Klaipeda, Lithuania, caused us to reflect on what our 16 years here as teachers means for the students we encounter. The 2016 special theme issue of the international journal Christian Higher Education focuses on the challenges and opportunities facing Christian higher education. An increasing focus these days is student outcomes. One of the articles, by Cynthia Wells from Messiah College, near our former home in Pennsylvania, argues that the distinctive mission of Christian higher education is that it is predicated on the ideal that it can and should be determinative for students in shaping “who you’ll be.” This ideal requires that an educational program “afford students the opportunity to advance in formal virtues and helping them move forward in finding meaning and vocational formation, moving their goals to a higher purpose.” Colleges like LCC, founded on the North American Christian liberal arts model, are to be, in Wells’ words, “developing critical minds with strong convictions about the world, including how the world in which we live falls short of God’s vision.”

So we asked graduates from years past to reflect on the value and meaning of their time at LCC. We find that the most thoughtful comments from students come long after they have graduated. Another article in Christian Higher Education points out that “students are unlikely to seek support or guidance from faculty in their traditional role as instructors.” We aspire to be not just teachers but mentors for our students. Hopefully as you read their reflections, you will discern their critical thinking and “strong convictions about the world” as God intends it to be. We are proud of the work they do and are pleased with their connection to LCC. Here are three student stories among many we could tell:

Providing effective assistance and relief is an important value among graduates. Vaida Lukošiūtė, an LCC grad from 2002, works as procurement and logistics manager for the Danish Refugee Council in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. She responded this way when asked how her LCC experience influenced her choices: I graduated from LCC International University in 2002 and since then have been on a journey that has brought me to where I am now. I have always loved travelling and was looking for ways to combine that with some meaningful work. Four years ago I joined the humanitarian sector as a Logistics Advisor and had the privilege of working in countries I would not have visited otherwise, e.g., Sudan, Central Africa Republic, Iraq, Kenya, Jordan, Nepal. Since the beginning of 2016 I have been based in Ukraine with a Danish International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO).

It was at LCC International University that my interest in Economic Development was ignited. I took the course taught by Dr. Eric Hinderliter and I loved the fact that it had so many different components and that I needed to see the big picture to understand development processes. The other major influence was the environment at LCC that gave me the opportunity to study different subjects for my B.A. major, that strengthened my analytical skills, that allowed me to think and express my ideas, and that made me a more well-rounded person.

Finding a meaningful vocation matters to LCC graduates. Ana Potoroca, an LCC grad from 2012, works for the United Nations Human Development Program in her native Moldova. The Republic of Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe. She writes: Now that I have been in the adult world for some time and returned to my home country, I can see that LCC has influenced me in countless ways. Some of the most important areas are probably the choice of career path I followed, the new values that I adopted, and the friendships that I made.

The area where LCC has influenced me the most was the choice of my career path. The concept of servant leadership, so deeply embedded in the academic and student life at LCC, made me pursue international development as a career choice. It is at LCC that I realized that I want to, and I can, contribute to the development of my own country in meaningful ways. Now I work at UNDP Moldova in a team that is striving to introduce innovation in governance and into how development is done. This is very exciting work and I am happy to be part of it.

Besides the academic benefits that you receive at LCC, this is a place that helps you reassess your values. When students come from the post-Soviet societies to LCC, most of them do feel like they are in a different world. But it is definitely a better world. LCC teaches you to be tolerant, to serve, to think (critically), to communicate, to get along with people from other backgrounds, which is so important in this global world we live in. It teaches you to work in teams, to speak up, to make yourself heard, to follow your passion. It teaches you that people are predominantly good and every one of us can be an agent of change. At the beginning many are bewildered by this perspective, which is quite different from the post-Soviet societies. But then you internalize this whole set of values and you just can’t understand how it can be different. It feels right.

We hope for transformation among our graduates: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).

We encourage your continued giving to our mission account at the PC(USA). Go to the link to our website:
https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/dr-eric-and-rebecca-hinderliter/ Your gifts matter; they make our encounter with students possible.

Becky and I want to say thank you again to all of the people and congregations who through their prayers and gifts make it possible for us to serve with Presbyterian World Mission. May we all continue to walk together as we seek to be faithful to the one who announced the coming of God’s reign as good news and to our graduates and their strong convictions about advancing God’s kingdom here and now.

Grace and peace to all of you.

Eric & Becky Hinderliter