International student pursues international service

Love Lee came to Anderson University as an international student from Kenya to study mathematics education and French. Since graduating a year ago, she has taken what she learned here in Anderson, Ind., moved back to Africa, and is teaching in Ethiopia with TeachBeyond.

Lee teaches middle school math and French at Bingham Academy, a school for children of missionaries. She discovered TeachBeyond and Bingham Academy at an international school fair at AU.

“I was drawn to their mission of transforming lives internationally through education,” Lee explained. TeachBeyond also partners with teachers to raise financial support to send them out into the field.

Lee’s students represent a variety of countries. “As a Korean who grew up in Kenya, who has schooled in an American system, now teaching a British curriculum to multi-cultural students in Ethiopia, it is sometimes hard to find a common ground let alone common math vocabulary,” she explained. But as a missionary kid herself, Lee has a unique perspective in understanding her students and their experiences.

“As much as I find it challenging, it’s also very rewarding to have such rich diversity in our learning environment,” said Lee. “It is quite a joy to teach MKs (missionary kids) as an MK, or to teach third culture kids as a third culture kid. It gives me more insight into their intra- and interpersonal communication, which is helpful in planning instruction and in interacting with my students.”

Teaching at Bingham Academy is not just a job to Lee; she also sees it as an opportunity of service. She aims to be an example to her students of how to live out one’s faith. She explained, “Even though this is a missionary school, many of the students are either unsure about their faith or come from families of another faith.”

Her experiences push her to deepen her own faith as well. “Since I am trying to find opportunities to tell my students about faith, it means that I am challenged to be thinking about it and living it out.”

To learn more about TeachBeyond visit­­­­­ teachbeyond.org. Information about Bingham Academy can be found at binghamacademy.net.

Christina Nesslage is a junior from Hiawatha, Iowa, majoring in public relations with a complementary major in Christian ministries. Nesslage is an associate with Fifth Street Communications®, writing on behalf of Anderson University Office of Communication and Marketing.