“I'd thank them for giving PC students the opportunity to think globally and for providing the resources to bring the world to the PC community. That addition to my education has made all the difference in the world.” And somewhere in Kenya, Scotland, China, Iraq, and many other parts of the globe, we hear from a legion of PC graduates a hearty amen!” - Drew Stockstill

We’ve all heard it said that the world is getting smaller. We see evidence of this every day and everywhere – in the soft inflections of multiple languages overheard in the grocery store; in the myriad of international wardrobe choices spotted on a city’s busy main street. America’s welcoming arms of the 19th and 20th centuries have given us here at home a global community uniquely positioned to engage the world, if we but understand it.

A knowledge of and experience in the global community is critical for those who are called to live and serve in such a world. Recognizing this need to be particularly true for the servant leaders emerging from Presbyterian College, Dr. and Mrs. Marshall W. Brown, PC President and first lady from 1928 and 1945, established through their estate the M & L Brown Fund to promote international goodwill and understanding at the college.

President and Mrs. Brown were world travelers who believed that the impact and value of international travel and study was critical to developing a well-rounded, experienced student. By offering these opportunities to PC’s students, they were providing future leaders with the chance to expand their potential. Their foresight was dead on.

Blue Stocking editor Drew Stockstill, a senior from Thomasville, Ga., and a resident of PC’s Carol International House, is seeking a double major in philosophy and theatre. He has just returned from a summer spent in Kenya, and will return there as staff with the Outreach Foundation of the PCUSA after he graduates in May. He will spend eight months or more developing schools and churches before returning to America for seminary.

His experience, he said, has taught him much.
“International education is so important – one of the most important things this (PC) education should capture is that it is a small world,” he said. “It is critical to understand other cultures in a way that allows us to treasure our similarities and understand our diversity. And the world is so small! I arrived in Kenya, walked into the hostel where I was staying, and ran right into another PC grad.”

The international studies program at PC is one of the most successful at the college. Hundreds of students have spent time in foreign lands – from Korea to Australia to Brazil - studying the culture and learning from the local citizenry—providing a rich and varied background from which to pull important experiences as they pursue careers in law, business, education, and service to the church. These students bring their experiences home with them, sharing the benefits of their immersion in other cultures.

"Studying abroad in Italy was the best decision I have made during college and probably one of the best in my life,” said Alice Sharp ‘06. "I am so thankful to Dr. and Mrs. Brown for their support of this program.”

Often these students have once in a lifetime opportunities to see and do things others only dream about.

“I saw the Pope!” said Jacquelyn Gypin ‘07. “He blessed me! Being able to say that I lived down the street from the Pope is just one of the incredible things I was able to carry with me home.”

Dr. and Mrs. Brown believed that there was as great a need to bring members of the international community to PC as there was for PC students to travel to other countries. The International Outreach Program provides international students with the opportunity to share their culture and language with American community groups, school children and area business persons in and around the Laurens County area.

A key part of this experience for both those who have studied overseas and those who come to PC as international students is Carol International House, a living-learning facility given by Irwin Belk in honor of his wife, Carol. The House, home to 33 residents both American and international, serves as PC’s international living-learning community. These students work together to present programs that draw attention to the people, traditions and cultures of the world.

“It is a good opportunity to experience the benefits of what it means to be in an international community,” said Stockstill. As residents we cohere and then become a vital part of campus. The house offers to PC students a greater sense of the global community.
And just as the acorns that fall from the oak trees on campus give life to the new every year, so has the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Brown, Irwin Belk, and others brought energy and growth to the study of cultures both at home and abroad through the Southeastern Center for Intercultural Studies (SCIS) and new study abroad programs in China, England, South America and Cuba.

So what would Drew and others say to the Browns and Irwin Belk if they could talk with them now?

“I’d thank them for giving PC students the opportunity to think globally and for providing the resources to bring the world to the PC community,” he said. “That addition to my education has made all the difference in the world.”

And somewhere in Kenya, Scotland, China, Iraq, and many other parts of the globe, we hear from a legion of PC graduates a hearty "amen!”