Rose Collins moves beyond borders

Posted by admin on Dec 2, 2008 in Community | 0 comments

Newly graduated students are always looking for work; some of their searches take them to new and foreign places, their education preparing them for work. However for some, their education becomes their job. Rose Collins, 2008 Trinity Western University alumnae, found employment right on campus, working for an affiliate program of TWU and the Canada Institute of Linguistics. Collins told Mars’ Hill what she has been up to since her time as an undergrad.

Mars’ Hill: What are you doing now that you have graduated from TWU?
Rose Collins: I’m the logistical coordinator for the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Project, which basically means I do a lot of the planning out of the details for delegations of North Koreans that our project brings over to TWU to study here, and for trips that we make to go over to North Korea to teach English there. I also help teach English while we have delegations here and when we’re over in North Korea.

MH: What is the DPRK Project?
RC: It’s a partnership between TWU and this non-profit organization, the English Language Institute. Trinity and CANIL partner with ELI in supporting us with funds and office space here on campus. Basically we’re a faith-based educational organization; we’re reaching out to the country of North Korea (DPRK) and working to strengthen relationships by offering them educational development. This has mostly been for their English teachers, but also recently for their diplomats.

MH: Is this what you planned on doing after graduation?
RC: Nope. I didn’t think I’d be teaching for sure. I planned on going into speech therapy, which is why I got into linguistics. But things shift and I’m really glad things shifted for me. I probably won’t teach English forever, but I really like it for now, especially working with this country.

MH: How has it been working at TWU as an employee and not a student?
RC: It felt pretty weird at the beginning of the fall semester, especially during SLO-week when you’re feeling all the energy from Student leaders coming back and everyone is buying their books and getting excited. And I was watching it but wasn’t a part of it anymore. Yeah, totally had a few sad moments, but overall it’s really fun to still be connected to campus. I’m surprised how many people I still know walking around. And it’s just fun to see what’s happening from sort of an outside perspective. But sometimes when I go to a staff meeting or something – I feel so weirdly old.

MH: How did your experience at TWU prepare you for the “real world?”
RC: Well, in some ways I feel like a big ball of the Trinity clichés when I talk about how great the experiences of the last four years were for me. I got to be involved in a lot of different areas on campus. I got to work for Community Life for two years, I got to be on the editorial board for Mars’ Hill, and in my last year I directed events for TWUSA. I totally loved all of it. And, obviously, the profs at Trinity are a huge part of what makes it so amazing. I learned so much from them and their perspectives on life and the relationships I got to have with them. But I think I really learned the most about myself and what I could do from the stuff I got to be involved in, from all those “leadership opportunities.”

Before I came to TWU, I knew I was smart, but I wasn’t very confident that I could be capable of managing projects and people. I thought I would get a “safe job” and not really be strong enough in my skills to have a big impact anywhere. But being here, I got the chance to try so many things within the context of a lot of support and advice from friends – from all kinds of people – and as corny as it sounds I really did grow a lot here.

MH: What are your plans for the future?
RC: That’s totally something that I thought I would have mapped out by now, but I don’t! My job will take me to live and teach in North Korea, with the rest of the team, for four months this summer. And I think I’ll step back and look at everything again once I get back from that. I’d like to go over to Scotland and do grad studies at some point. That’s been a dream in the back of my head for a while. I’d like to keep finding ways to work with people who have great need. I’d like to buy a house boat. I’d like to catch a fish with my hand. I’d like to have 32 children and teach them all to milk goats by hand – no wait – I’m kidding.

MH: Why did you choose this particular work – the DPRK Project – after graduation?
RC: I heard about it in my very first semester here. Because one of my profs, Phil Goertzen, had just started making trips to North Korea to teach English for two week seminars. And he’s always excited to talk to students and show photos. And I remember looking at those photos and really wanting to go and do something like that, but thinking it seemed so far off and unlikely. But as I continued to go through the Ling BA program and the TESL program, I heard more and more about the project from him and Dave Lindsay, another one of my profs. I got to know them more as I took more of their classes, and by my third year, when they brought the first group of North Korean teachers over to study for six weeks in Canada, I got to help out going on outings and stuff with the teachers. I actually did my TESL practicum with that first group so I spent quite a bit of time with them. After hanging out with them so much during those six weeks I just fell in love with North Korean people. And every time a chance came up to help I just always wanted in. So my fourth year I volunteered with the second delegation, and then Phil and Dave asked me if I’d join them on their spring trip to the DPRK so I went over there in April (we flew out the morning after my grad ceremony!) and helped teach for a few weeks.

I had planned to go and do grad studies at the LLC this fall, but they offered me a full time job with the project instead. And I couldn’t turn it down.

MH: How has life been now that you are outside of the TWU atmosphere?
RC: It is pretty different. There’s some really great things and there’s some things you kind of miss. It’s so nice to have evenings back again, just to go out for a coffee with someone or to watch a movie and not have that guilty slimy feeling that you should be writing your 3000 word paper. I think I just feel calmer, and more able to focus on family and friends that need me – just getting involved in things I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been able to do more with my church, and I’m going to take this random ceramics class with my roommates that I’m so stoked for. So yeah, I think you just become open to more possibilities, but you have to go looking for those possibilities because – that’s one thing I do miss about campus – the opportunities for fun times just don’t present themselves to you. You kind of have to plan your life out and make it look the way you want.