What's in a Name? | Kenny Taer

The best part about my education at Southwestern Adventist University was that I learned to think for myself. Professors go out of the way to encourage you to form your own beliefs. You shouldn’t just think, OK I have been raised to believe this and that’s why I believe this. It’s something you have to decide for yourselves. Do we want to be spiritual? Do we want to have a passion for God? There is an environment that encourages you to go in there and study for yourself and understand why you believe what you believe. It’s made me more and more want to have that passion and hopefully help other people to have that passion. 

I appreciated that my science classes were taught from a creationist perspective. You see what is being taught and you think, there’s just no way that this wasn’t created. I had to take microbiology and I thought; this is going to be so boring. But the professor made it super interesting. It’s really the passion she had for it. 

The teachers and administration are approachable. If I have a problem, I just go talk to the president or one of the vice presidents. They really want to hear what students have to say. I really like that because at bigger schools there’s no way you’re going to get in to speak to the president, first off, and more than that, they probably wouldn’t care. Southwestern has a very personal environment. It just gives you that comfort factor too. 

I have friends who go to another Adventist university and they tell me that their teachers don’t necessarily know them. I like the fact that all my nursing teachers knew me by name and know what I am like. That’s a really nice thing. 

Kenny Taer, nursing major, 2012