Another year has gone by at Biola University and along with it comes the graduation of another class of students. Art majors, business majors and those who have changed their emphasis so many times they don’t remember what they are studying; it is time for these men and women to no longer be thought of as students.
What will they be now? That is up to them, and many still do not know. This may be the last summer they spend free from the pressures of a serious career. For these three Biola graduates, summer is almost as uncertain as the months that will follow it.
One thing is for sure, each of these students are freeing themselves from the strain of college and leaving for untold adventures as they take the next steps in their lives.
The future may be uncertain, but that is what makes it so exciting.
Chris Onesto
Like thousands of graduates before him, 21-year-old Chris Onesto is unsure of what to do with the remainder of his existence. But Onesto isn’t one to sit around. This summer, Bible degree in hand, he’ll climb into a tour van with other members of an organization called Liberty in North Korea, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping North Korean refugees.
Onesto saw a LINK film called “The Crossing” at his church in Fullerton and felt compelled to contribute to the cause. The full-length feature film was based on the testimonies of 100 North Korean refugees and depicted the bleak reality of government oppression in the country.
“All year I’ve been praying for some sort of non-profit to come my way,” Onesto says.
After seeing an Invisible Children documentary in high school, he became interested in non-profits. Onesto says he grew up thinking evangelicals in the church were the only ones addressing social justice issues, but after learning about non-profit organizations, he is optimistic about their ability to help remedy such issues.
Onesto is eager to start the summer tour, which will show LINK’s film in locations throughout northern and southern California. He will travel with two other LINK team members from June 15 to August 15 finding places to sleep from any person kind enough to offer shelter for the night.
Onesto’s goal during the tour is to create “LINK chapters” in every region he visits. While raising awareness and support for the cause, he also hopes to establish relationships that will continue after the tour and open the door for further LINK events.
Onesto says he has high expectations for the summer, regardless of whether non-profit work becomes a profession.
“It’s somewhat of an investment and a risk, but whether I love it or not, I know I won’t
regret it,” he says.
Kelsey Phillips
Right now, Kelsey Phillips’ post-graduation plans closely resemble a jet-setting globetrotter. The communication studies major plans to use this summer to relax before she pursues her career and travels around the world.
“I’m going to live on a sailboat for two months and then I am going to teach English in Korea for a year,” Phillips said.
Phillips and a friend both wanted to stay in the area this summer and found an ad for the boat on Craigslist. But while it might be a sailboat, the boat itself will be doing very little sailing. The engine is broken right now, so it’s just a floating home anchored to a dock. But the rest of the boats anchored nearby work, which gives Phillips the hope that she will be able to hitch a ride out to the ocean sometime this summer. “The owner is renting it to earn money for the repairs. So we would only be going if the neighbors took us,” she said.
In August, Phillips and three friends will head to Korea through Adventure Teaching, which covers the cost of airfare and housing in addition to paying a salary, which she can use for more adventures.
“We didn’t know what we wanted to do with our lives but we all wanted to travel,” she said.
Further plans for touring stints peek over the horizons. After spending a year in Korea the same group of friends plans on traveling to New Zealand to work and sightsee.
Shirly Tagayuna
In a week and two days, Shirly Tagayuna will be unemployed. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English literature, Tagayuna will head back home to the north shores of Oahu, Hawaii with the hopes of teaching at the Institute of Reading Development. But ultimately, she doesn’t know what she will be doing.
“It’s nothing that exciting. I’m just not sure what to do,” she admitted. “But God brought me this far, and he is going to finish what he started.”
Tagayuna learned of the Institute of Reading Development when she went on the Evangelical Mormon Interaction to Utah. Hoping to land a job in Salt Lake City, she ended up discovering the program and learned it was offered through Hawaii Pacific University, and its training sessions lined up perfectly with her graduating schedule.
The institute offers reading classes for people as young as four and as old as 70. Organized through local universities, it provides five-week sessions for people interested in furthering their reading skills.
Tagayuna hopes to become a teacher for the program, but knows the job is only short-term. Even if she gets accepted, she doesn’t have plans for what she will do after summer is over.
“I have a myriad of options, but don’t know what to do,” she said.
Even if she doesn’t get accepted to the institute, Tagayuna still plans to head back to Hawaii for the summer.
“If I can’t get a job out of it, at least I can get a tan,” she said jokingly.
Like many graduating seniors, Tagayuna is anxious but excited for what the future holds.
“But I am trusting God through it,” she said.
