I was furious. Looking down at the keyboard of my IBM Selectric typewriter, I saw that all the keys were covered with little black dots! I could no longer peek as I pecked out a miserable 17 words per minute. Mrs. Willhelm, my typing teacher at Rio Lindo Adventist Academy, smiled. She knew that was just what I needed—and she was right. Before long I was whizzing along at 127 words per minute. Later I worked for Mrs. Willhelm, learning many valuable lifelong skills. Helen Willhelm believed in her students, and she gently encouraged me to press beyond what I thought were my limits. She instilled faith and friendliness.
At Pacific Union College my educational experience kicked into high gear—papers to write, speeches to give, problems to solve. I remember our first assignment in Newswriting 101: conduct an interview, write the story, and have the copy on the professor’s desk in less than three hours (and this was before tweets, texts, and iPads!). Don’t worry, he said, if the copy was blood-red after he touched it with his editor’s pen—that’s the way we would learn. And he was right. I have continually been thankful to Professor Herbert Ford for teaching us how to produce quality work under fast deadlines. More than that, he took a genuine interest in his students, encouraging each one to strive for excellence, inspiring them with his own rich experiences and a humble faith that was clearly genuine.
Adventist education is not cheap—it is an investment with rich rewards.
Although at times it was a financial sacrifice, I’m so thankful to those who valued me enough to give me the gift of a Seventh-day Adventist education. It is an investment that has certainly shaped my destiny.
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Gina Wahlen was an interim editor at Adventist Reivew and Adventist World when this artice was written. The above aritcle was published on July 14, 2011.
