How Southwestern Changed My Life

By Spirit Staff

April 24, 2008

Max Trevino, ’61, president, Southwestern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists; board chairman, Southwestern Adventist University

How has Southwestern Adventist University impacted my life? In many ways, our school in Keene, Texas, has shaped my whole life. On that campus, I received my elementary and high school education, as well as the two years of college available at that time. I met my wife Betty at Southwestern and it was there that we planned a life together.

It was at Southwestern that I learned what it truly means to be a Christian. Lawrence Scales was more than just the school’s chief administrator. He was one of the strongest spiritual influences in my life and in the lives of many other students. He helped me understand what it means to “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind,” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.” His example as a Christian administrator still influences me today.

Southwestern is also where I learned the value of hard work. My first job—when I was seven years old—was on campus where I earned ten cents an hour picking up trash. Altus Hayes, the business manager of the school, taught me the value of working to achieve a goal. But more than that, he taught me that work isn’t just about making money, but about making a difference. His willingness to go the extra mile for anyone who was willing to work to achieve his or her goals made my education possible, and the same is true for so many others. His careful attention to financial responsibilities while extending help as far as possible made a real impression on me and was a major influence in choosing my life’s work.

Southwestern Adventist University prepared me, both spiritually and professionally, for a life of service to the world, to my church, and to my family.

Nina Martinez Ballenger, ’87, stay-at-home mom; former reporter, KKTV, Colorado Springs, Colorado

I will never forget the children.  The smiles.  The laughter.  They were living in a shantytown near Managua, Nicaragua’s capital city.  They were barefoot.  They wore tattered clothes.  Their homes were made of tin and cardboard.  Yet they were happy and seemingly oblivious to the poverty all around them. 

In another small town, I arrived with a convoy of food being delivered by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).  The children held buckets of all sizes, tin cans and plastic jugs – anything to carry the flour and oil back to their families. These were basic food supplies that would make the difference between hunger and survival.

As a broadcasting major at Southwestern Adventist College, I didn’t think much about the world outside of Keene, Dallas, Texas or the United States.  But the opportunities that came along with my education there opened the world to me.  First, I was an exchange student to our Adventist college in Sagunto, Spain.  After graduation, I served as a student missionary in Italy.  I was able to use the skills I had learned at KJCR to broadcast internationally on Adventist World Radio. 

After my year in Italy, I joined ADRA’s public relations department.  That was my launching pad to the world.  Africa, Asia, Central America and Eastern Europe; I visited more than a dozen countries. I saw places that opened my eyes and changed my heart.

Eventually I would leave ADRA to pursue a career in news broadcasting.  I covered presidents, natural disasters, crime and justice.  I know the perspective I brought to each story was colored by the compassion that grew from my world experience, and the education I received at Southwestern. It’s a school where teachers know your name, and the friends you make last a lifetime.

Southwestern is also the place where I met my wonderful husband, the father of my two beautiful children.  I’m not sure I knew what I wanted when I began college at 18.  But Southwestern put me on the path to adventure, fulfillment and ultimately, even love.

Renard Doneskey, ’81, professor of English, Southwestern Adventist University

When I arrived on the campus of Southwestern back in 1978, I lacked direction and purpose for my life. I’d already had one year of college at PUC—a disastrous year as I floundered academically, personally, and spiritually.  I gained very few credits, since I had to drop classes due to poor performance and my GPA at the end of my freshman year was under 2.0. I also missed almost every required dorm worship, so that the powers-that-be at PUC sent me a form letter asking me not to return the following year. I don’t hold this rejection against PUC.  It was my failure.

My first year at Southwestern, I picked up where I had left off at PUC.  I skipped classes, did poorly on tests, and was headed for another wasted year.  However, in one psychology class my professor, Dr. Darrell  Beyer, talked to me privately after I’d bombed an exam.  He suggested I wasn’t performing well (which I already knew) and that I had the capacity to do better (which I kind of suspected) and that I could do great things with my life (which I hadn’t really considered) if I turned myself around and started coming to class and working hard.  Imagine that!  Someone cared about me enough to call me out.  Suddenly, I wanted to try harder, especially in Beyer’s class, and I determined to study hard and I made a B as my final grade.  Whoa! Academic success at last.

Other Southwestern teachers showed similar personal interest in me. They knew me by name and for them I wasn’t just another “bad apple” that needed a form letter of dismissal.  I was a person to rehabilitate.  What a change that made in my attitude and subsequent performance! I wanted to work hard and even tried to impress my teachers, like Dr. Woolley, Dr. Sicher, Dr. Laue.  Further, I found that learning was actually enjoyable. I had discovered my true potential. And that’s what a college is supposed to do.

Rory Hamer, ’09, history student, Southwestern Adventist University

I’m from Metairie, Louisiana and as odd as it sounds, Hurricane Katrina was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Now to understand why losing my home, all of my belongings and becoming displaced from my family was positive, you need to know about me before the storm.

I was in my first year of college at University of New Orleans. I had come from Grace King High School with a free ride to UNO and I was squandering it. I’d moved out of my mom’s house to live on my own, splitting a bachelor’s pad on the lakefront with my four best friends. Only one of my roommates was attending college, and after his first semester he dropped out. Two of the others hadn’t even finished high school.

In my first semester I dropped some of my classes, opting for a W instead of an F. The second semester I wound up with a 1.8 GPA. I skipped classes regularly, and spent too much time playing video games until 4 a.m. The last nail in the coffin was that I didn’t have a relationship with God. When I got to my third semester, I lost my scholarship money and had to take out a loan, even though in all likelihood I was going to fail. Then God gave me a golden opportunity.

Hurricane Katrina hit and I decided to get out of town. My roommates didn’t agree, so I left with a close friend and her family. After two days of driving, low on money, we finally found a hotel in Orange, Texas, right off I-10. My Aunt Donna Wilson had told me on the phone the previous night that I could stay a few days with her and her family near Dallas. My friend Olivia wanted to drive to her brother’s house in Miami, so we went separate ways. I called Aunt Donna to ask for help. She took five minutes and called me back with a plane ticket. Someone came from nearby Beaumont to pick me up and bring me to the airport so I could arrive at Love Field in Dallas that night.

I owe her and her family everything, because they provided a roof over my head, food in my stomach, and God in my life. At first I had only intended to stay for a week or so and then go back home. I soon learned that no one could get back into the city until around October, so I was looking at a much longer stay than one week.

Aunt Donna and my cousin Jerrod Songy (with whom I shared a room) suggested that I go over to Southwestern and see if I could enroll in some classes. I really didn’t think they would take me, especially since I had no money. However, the school offered me several scholarships and the Adventist church helped out so that my first semester at SWAU was free. This came as a big shock to me. I felt motivated and wanted to waste no more chances that came my way.

I dove headlong into my studies. That first semester I came out with a 3.0 average. This was another big shock. I had also started going to Keene church and I came to enjoy assembly, rather than loathe it. I was finding God, and for a large part of my life, that is what had been missing. That first semester I also met my fiancée, Sonnett Peterson. Although I didn’t get the courage to ask her out for almost a year, I fell head over heels for the woman.

After my first year at SWAU I got another opportunity that would change my life. I went on the Dino Dig that SWAU has every year. This was a great eye opener for me, as I was stuck in a Christian environment for a month. Living in this environment made me truly want God in my life. It helped me realize that God had brought me through this one fire and I had come out much better than I was before.

After the Dino Dig, I wanted to have an expression of the change in my life, so I started looking into baptism. My second year at SWAU was so far the biggest. I got onto the Dean’s list twice. I was baptized at Burleson SDA Church, and I proposed to Sonnett Peterson. I also got the chance to be the top worker in the Bone Lab at Southwestern.

I’m now starting my third year here at Southwestern and I am full of optimism. My life is amazing and God is great.

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