andrea burns.

TUFW has impacted my life in many ways. I think one of the things I love most is that it is unlike any college I have ever visited. A lot of the people that go here (including me) are a little quirky and strange, but that is part of why I love it! TUFW accepts students that many colleges wouldn’t, and I love that. I feel that by coming to TUFW, I have truly seen the Bible in action. I love the people here! Particularly Cleveland Inge, Tony Opliger, Michele Mallett, and Michael Mortensen and the entire Advancement team, especially Tami Solak and Deb Shaw, have impacted my life for the better.  

I hope the community remembers the work that the students and faculty of TUFW did while they were here, and I hope that somehow we inspired the community to get involved as well by helping out the unfortunate ones. The Angel Tree Mentor program, Stuff-a-stocking, service days, and Neighborlink are just some of the ways TUFW has gotten involved, and I hope the community compensates for what we leave behind. One ministry that I particularly thought was exciting was Meghan Menchhofer living with the Burmese refugees in Autumn Woods apartments. I hope that people who are able to spread light to the refugees and/or unprivileged continue to live intentionally with them.     

I will forever remember a lot of things about TUFW. I will especially remember the fun and challenging time I had with my coaches and teammates playing basketball. I didn’t play basketball my freshman year here, but I walked on my sophomore year, and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have learned so much during my time on the basketball team, and I had blast while doing it!

The most influential staff member through out my years at Taylor has been Michele Mallett. She has impacted me the most because she was the one of the few social work professors I had! She and Paul Susan taught me almost everything I know about social work.

Originally I visited TUFW because I wanted to be a writing major, and TUFW has one of the best writing majors in the nation. However, I decided to come here because when I visited, I had an overwhelming peace that this is where God wanted me to come. I can’t explain it. I was actually was planning on going to Indiana Wesleyan and had already put my housing deposit down there. However, I knew this was where God wanted me. I ended up changing my major to social work a year later, and so they way God got me here is not even a part of my life now! But I have enjoyed the social work program very much, especially the location of the program – Fort Wayne. 

While I learned a lot during my time at TUFW, what I think I will carry with me the most is the opportunities to help others in the community in new and creative ways. I truly believe I will always be teaching others to wake up to the needs of the people around them, their neighbors, and to respond to those needs. Whether by mowing lawns or raking leaves, buying Christmas presents for them, baking cookies, or anything else, there are multiple ways to help those around you. The needs are there, you just may have look closely, which may require being very uncomfortable at times. TUFW opened my eyes to the opportunities I have to get involved and do something that benefits everyone, and I want to teach that to others as well. 

I’ve already mentioned a variety of ways that TUFW has impacted the world. However, my favorite way is Meghan Menchhofer actually living with the Burmese population. Every Sunday, the children in the apartment complex come and visit her, and they make cookies, color, carve pumpkins, and other various fun activities. She is truly living out her faith. I also think the service days that we do occasionally are excellent ways to get involved with the community. We’ve taken mission trips to places across the country, as well. Last spring break I went to Slidell, Louisiana on a mission trip with a group of TUFW students to help rebuild homes. We also take a lot of mission trips across the world. This summer I and four other girls from TUFW went to India through a connection we had with Mark Deister through TUFW. I was in India for two months, and it changed my life. I never would have gotten the opportunity to do that and meet the amazing people I met if it were not for TUFW. The family I lived with in India is very upset that TUFW is closing, because the TUFW volunteers at their orphanage are always their favorites! This is proof that TUFW not only affects the community of Fort Wayne – it affects the lives of people all over the world.