A World of Understanding: Sociology Students Prepared for Service Anywhere
One of the many benefits of higher education is finding yourself changed and your
world expanded in unexpected ways. Such was the case for Mary Jane Palodichuk, a sophomore
majoring in Sociology with a minor in Pre-Law, who found her life changing dramatically
when she embarked on a missions trip to Uganda.
"I’ve always had a heart for kids and families," Palodichuk said. "I picked ORU for the missions department. In Uganda, the Lord started shaping my future, and so that was when I realized that this needs to be my focus. It was the point where my future and where my whole vision for law school came from."
The "this" to which Palodichuk is referring is her pursuit of Sociology as a degree plan.
Palodichuk originally came to ORU to pursue social justice, with an eye toward eventually doing something in foreign missions. As part of her Social Justice coursework, she took her first class in Sociology and was immediately hooked.
"[Since] I want to be a missionary, sociology is interesting because it studies the dynamic of societies and how people fit together," Palodichuk said. "So I thought if I can understand a people group and how they go together, I can share the gospel. I can know what’s important to them and how to relate to them. It’s a unique take on missions."
Palodichuk plans to use her Sociology degree as a springboard to a law degree; once she has that in hand, she hopes to work behind the scenes at the governmental level to affect change at the policy level in order to assist children and families in underprivileged countries.
Though she took a much different path to ORU, senior Sociology major Traneda Fuchs is also looking at transitioning into a legal career upon graduation—a decision that is informed both by the Holy Spirit and by her long pre-college career as a nurse.
"When I started learning more about the sociology major, I felt like that was where I needed to be," Fuchs said. "Because I worked as a licensed practical nurse for over 24 years, my biggest thing was advocating for my patients, really studying them. As I started learning more about sociology, I felt it was where I was called to be."
In fact, it was Fuchs's experience as a nurse that led her to this mid-life career change so that she could be a greater advocate in addition to being a caregiver.
"In 2009 I took a job with a little girl who lived in an underserved community in Richmond, Virginia" she said. "As I worked with the family… I began to realize in the home there was so much teaching and need to help these people get this little girl well."
"I was content with working as an LPN, but I felt the more I spent in prayer, the Lord was saying he called me to do so much more. I’m more equipped now to be able to help in a greater capacity than I was as an LPN with a trade school diploma."
Sophomore Polly Tjihenuna has also followed the leading of the Holy Spirit into the Sociology field. The native of Namibia had never heard of ORU until she had a dream and saw in it a book written by Oral Roberts. Upon waking, she searched her father's bookshelves, found the book, read it, and discovered ORU for the first time.
Tjihenuna came to ORU as an exploratory major but quickly settled on Sociology out of her desire to pursue cultural anthropology—a desire that also came about through a Spirit-inspired perusal of a television program that featured an anthropologist who had become immersed in nomadic tribe culture in Kenya.
"He was embracing their traditions, and when the people interviewed them, he said he was an anthropologist," Tjihenuna said. "I think the Lord was really pressing my heart to study [different] ethnic groups and connect them to missionaries, and know how to minister to them [specifically]… As opposed to bringing Westernized Christianity to them, I want to help missionaries find culturally relevant ways to bring the gospel."
"A major in sociology provides an insightful understanding of how the world actually works and why people behave in the ways they do," said Dr. Cal Easterling, Professor of Sociology at ORU. "It is a broad field… [that] is a superior preparation for graduate study in the social or behavioral sciences, medicine, theology and ministry, law, social work, counseling, the health professions, and business.
"There are not many Spirit-filled sociologists and the need is great," he continued.
"I’ve always analyzed people’s actions and it’s what made me a good nurse," Fuchs said. "I was able to look beyond, and that’s what you do in sociology—you look at what else is impacting this community or this culture."
"It’s a wonderful discipline to have here," she continued, "where you can integrate it with faith but still have an understanding of the world you’re working in. It’s a great program."