Alumni Stories - Eastern Nazarene College

We Want to Hear From You!

The Office of Alumni Relations is dedicated to strengthening lifelong connections to the college and among alumni so that the greater Eastern Nazarene College community may thrive spiritually, academically, and professionally, serving God and the world.

We are interested in hearing about the life events and achievements of our alumni. Please keep your information up to date with the Alumni Relations Office by visiting the Update Alumni Record Page and share your news with us by visiting the Contact Alumni Relations page or by emailing alumni@enc.edu.

Your Title Goes Here

Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.

Rachael Restrick (2010)

Rachael Restrick (’10) recently published her first book, Backwards: Lose Your Life to Find It. Backwards has garnered a perfect 5-star review on Goodreads as well as Amazon, where it is available in both paperback and Kindle formats.

Restrick chose the title for Backwards based on Matthew 16:25: “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” This verse spoke to her journey in both grief and faith. After personal loss and mounting stress, she found solace in both counseling and the word of God. Backwards is a reflection of the time Restrick spent discerning the Bible’s truth as opposed to the narrative of the world. God spoke to her in a way that she knew would benefit others walking through grief, feeling alone, and wondering what God’s part was in their suffering, and thus, Backwards was born.

Though she began writing as a tool to process her own circumstances, she felt called to share her work with others. Backwards is structured in a way that encourages self-reflection through journaling, and can be used as a devotional to facilitate conversation with a small group. Not only was Restrick called to publish, but she was handed a guide to self-publishing through an Instagram post by an author she admires, Jen Hatmaker. She notes that the most difficult part of publishing was formatting the manuscript. Restrick credits her “amazing” editor and graphic designer for helping pull together the final product.

She also credits her background in social work for her success. Restrick graduated from ENC in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in social work, and has always been passionate about counseling and therapy. She utilized her degree for five years in a subacute unit in a nursing home, and her passion and caring nature is reflected in Backwards. She hopes that therapists can also utilize her book during the course of treatment for others also processing complicated emotions.

Although she loves writing, Restrick intends to remain obedient to God’s timing in regards to another book. She currently has a blog, which can be found at rachaelrestrick.com. In addition to writing, she cares for her children full-time and co-pastors a college ministry with her husband, a program they pioneered at their home church in Baltimore.

Backwards: Lose Your Life to Find It is available to purchase here.

Professor Dorothy Tarrant

“Professor Dorothy J. Tarrant, retired Professor from Eastern Nazarene College was honored on New Year’s Eve Day 2021 by receiving an MBE by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. An MBE is The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service.

The award was unknown to Dorothy as her Godson, Joshua Ilie Powers, (a Romanian child abandoned at a week old at Orphanage #1) that Lynn fell in love with and adopted, had sent a request to Prince Charles making a request that she be honored. In 1993 Dorothy traveled to București, România along with Lynn A. Powers and eight ENC College Students as a sponsored Pilot Semester Program to work with the elderly and children.

The elders were housed at Spital Zece (Hospital #1) and the children at Orphanage #1. The students took classes as well as volunteer 16 hrs a week at either one location or both. Dorothy oversaw the students with the elderly and Lynn oversaw and developed the Orphanage Based Program. ENC found that the Pilot was a success and remained involved until 2001. Students from various Christian Colleges continued to send their students for a once in a lifetime experience.

Dorothy remained in România moving the program to Sighișoara, România located in the Transylvanian Mountains.

According to the biography written after the Program’s name was changed from the Romanian Studies Program to Veritas Sighișoara, here is more information regarding Dorothy.

The history of Veritas goes back to the summer of 1995 when Dorothy Tarrant, a British professor of social work, came to live in Sighisoara and to establish the Romanian Studies Program. The RSP was a program of Eastern Nazarene College near Boston, Massachusetts, that provided American college and university students with the opportunity to spend a semester in Romania, to live with a Romanian family, to study the language and culture, and to serve disadvantaged people in the community. Tarrant’s strategy was to find local Romanian Christians willing to work alongside her students, caring for abandoned infants in the town hospital, providing a safe place for learning and play for children found begging on the streets, and visiting isolated elderly.

Groups of students came and went. Their Romanian translators, high school graduates who knew English well, provided continuity. The translators learned the satisfaction that comes from helping others and began to assume more and more responsibility in the programs that were developing and growing for children, teenagers and seniors. Some of them accepted the opportunity to go to university, their fees paid by foreign donors, and earned degrees in social work, psychology, education, accounting, law.

Tarrant began to sense the need of a non-profit organization in order to be able to pay salaries and taxes, to buy property, to write grants and solicit funds. In 2001 Veritas was legally registered as a Romanian NGO, with Tarrant as the executive director and president of a local board of directors. The name Veritas, a Latin word meaning truth, was chosen to identify the NGO as a group of people seeking to live as disciples of Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life.

2001 – 2009

In 2001 Veritas had two buildings, the Family Center where social programs took place for children and families, hot meals were served and material aid distributed, and the House on the Rock, a five-story house dating from the 17th century, which hosted educational programs and activities promoting intercultural exchange. This historic building, situated on the main square of the Citadel, Sighisoara’s medieval center, gave a lot of visibility to Veritas and allowed it to begin organizing and hosting cultural and spiritual events for the benefit of the community.

In 2001 Eastern Nazarene College ended its sponsorship of the program it had started in Sighisoara. Tarrant chose to stay in Sighisoara and keep the Romanian Studies Program and Veritas going independent of American institutional support. Two grants from USAID (United States Agency for International Development) confirmed that decision by providing funding to develop educational services at House on the Rock and then for the start-up of a program to combat domestic violence.

Meanwhile the RSP has continued to provide support for Veritas, as dedicated students bring skills, energy, fresh ideas and financial support into the organization. Since its beginning the RSP has brought over 500 students and volunteers to Sighisoara.

As Romania was preparing to join the European Union in 2007, national standards were developed for social services. Veritas gained accreditation from Mures county authorities in 2006 for its programs for children and families, for the elderly, for persons with special needs and for victims of domestic violence. Accreditation has been renewed in 2009 and 2012. Accredited services must have staff with appropriate credentials, and Veritas has succeeded in assembling a dedicated team with professional qualifications, half of whom have worked for Veritas for more than ten years.

Although the Program was handed over to the Romanian Staff in 2010, it was always the plan to do so. Dorothy remained in Romania ensuring grants were submitted. She also spent several months on the Baltic Highway teaching Syrian Refugees English. She retired to her homeland Scotland a few years ago but is still involved via zoom with staff from Veritas.

When speaking with her on New Years Day she was humbled by the award. Josh was excited beyond words that his Godmother got the recognition she so warmly deserved.”

This article was contributed by Josh Powers, Dorothy’s adopted Romanian son.

Jonathan Twining (1984)

ENC Professor Aids Snakebite Victims in Kenya

Written by Jonathan Twining.

Imagine being a 9-year-old girl in Kenya who needed to relieve herself, so she went outside with a friend in the dark with no lighting available and stepped on a venomous snake that bit her in the lower leg. Intense, searing pain shot up her leg, and the wound began to bleed. The pain was so intense she could hardly walk, and her leg started to swell. She could barely make it back to her house, where her parents decided to skip the traditional healer and take her to a hospital.

When they got there, the doctor turned them away because they could not afford the treatment cost – when was less than $2 US. The family had to visit two more hospitals before getting access to the proper treatment for her snakebite.

She was fortunate because the snake that bit her was not one of the most venomous snakes around, and they just needed to treat her symptoms. After three days in the hospital, she went home. But it could have been much worse.

These scenes play out repeatedly in sub-Saharan Africa. Snakebite is considered a neglected tropical disease (NTD) by the World Health Organization. In Kenya alone, 10-15 people die every day from snakebite, and another 100 become disabled daily because of the venom on their tissues.

ENC professor Jonathan Twining has decided to use his skills in biology and education to do something about this problem. Working remotely with Silas Wekesa Muchenje and the Upendo Conservation Area in Myanga-Bungoma, Kenya, Twining developed a curriculum on snakes and snakebite that could be taught to their local community. Silas is a skilled and experienced trainer, and he began delivering training to a single group in March 2022.

Word of this training success got out, and both Twining, and the Upendo Conservation team were asked to share their training methods and materials with others in Kenya. Twining created a 125-page snake awareness training handbook that is now available for free at https://www.upendoconservationarea.org/resources. Also available is a free mobile app that gives people information about snakes and snakebite wherever they have phone access.

Professor Jonathan Twining, Class of 1984