TKC Letters Project - Best Laid Plans

I never intended to attend college in New York City.

At 15, I had a plan: go to school in Virginia, major in economics and psychology to counter the external factors driving violent extremism, and maybe intern with the U.S. Department of State.

This plan imploded as soon as I walked onto the campus at 56 Broadway.

I met students who were engaged not just with the intangibles of the ivory tower or wrapped up in freedom of being on their own. Instead, they were driven by the dual purpose of faith and excellence to navigate a rapidly shifting world. Before graduating college they were already in the UN, learning the craft of diplomacy and making real changes in the world. I was convinced that the Politics, Philosophy, & Economics major and this alternative to a traditional college education was what I wanted.

I doubted this conviction many times during my four years at King's.

The expectations for students were high in every area: academics, campus leadership, extracurricular activities, internships, and just surviving in the most dynamic city in the world.

By my senior year of college, I was drowning on less than 10 hours of sleep a week while managing a 30 hour a week internship at a UN-based NGO, a rigorous extracurricular requiring extensive weekend travel, a campus leadership position, a student liaison position for the U.S. Department of State, attending academic conferences, and a full course-load.

But as I sit here, almost four years out of college, I know this education shaped me into a dynamic thinker and an individual driven by Christian ethics, not just Machiavellian pragmatism.

Because of King's, a small, no-name school in New York City, and the Politics, Philosophy, and Economics major, I've been philosophically, spiritually, and practically equipped to view the world at its intersections.

As an undergraduate in New York City, I was given a seat in hedge-fund board rooms and think tank strategy sessions and met the likes of the U.S. Secretary of State and the then-advisor to the Japanese Prime Minister.

I have understood power, but thanks to the education I received at King's, I have also understood its point.

Protect the societal structures that allow all people, whether weak or strong, to flourish. And let a little heaven in on earth to reflect the nature of God.

Do you remember the plan I had at 15?

Because of King's, and the opportunities it molded me to earn, I diverted from my teenage intention of being a foreign policy analyst many times. But through the faith that I saw molded in the life of and conversations with professors and staff, I also clung to some notion of purpose and God's sovereignty in an intensely nihilistic world.

It's funny to realize that because of King's, I now have my teenage self's dream job, but repackaged and far more relevant.

I'm now an government researcher in Washington DC, with coworkers hailing from the top universities in the Western world. But I have a spot covering emerging threats that most universities do not train individuals to even think about.

But because of my small, no-name, interdisciplinary Christian college in New York City, and professors like Dr. Loconte, Dr. Tubbs, Dr. Carle, Dr. Pincin, Dr. Reeves, and Professor Fotopulos, I was ready and able for this challenge in this rapidly shifting world.

The world needs a place like King's and the people who promote its ethos.