Ambassador of Goodwill

This post is a profile that I did for my news writing class. I met this young lady at the Boys & Girls Club. She really is quite amazing. She lives out her faith in a way that really challenges me.

For Lora Dean, senior International Studies major at Missouri Southern State University, the dream of learning about and seeing the world began as a child. Lora grew up on a farm near Drexel, MO. Lora said “As I surveyed the farm I recall thinking to myself, there must be a big world out there.” Lora had a deep fascination about the various cultures of the world and remembers reading books and listening to her father tell her stories about them as a little girl. It was this curiosity that has brought her from that small Missouri town to preparing to begin her graduate studies in Amsterdam, Holland this coming summer.

Lora’s hard work and tenacity were recognized and recently rewarded as she was invited to candidate for and was awarded the $25,000 Optimist International Ambassadorial Scholarship. The scholarship is for graduate studies and must be completed internationally. Lora said, “Without this scholarship I may have not been able to continue my education and my journey towards reaching my goals.” These goals that Lora speaks of are to work with an international organization that helps children. She is especially drawn to the Arab nations. “The Islam religion won’t take responsibility for orphans”, Lora said, “I want to help those who can’t help themselves.”

Lora’s love and passion for children is evident as you watch her interact with them at the Boys and Girls Club of Joplin where she serves as the pre-teen coordinator. The children light up at their first sight of her as they file through the front door. This is followed by a barrage of hugs for each one. “It’s a great job”, Lora said, “I get to work with kids that need nurturing and I am surrounded by coworkers that support my goals.”

Another of Lora’s passions is her faith. When she was seventeen, a good friend of Lora’s was killed when a drug deal he was involved in went bad. This had a tremendous impact on Lora. “This made me realize that I needed to make some drastic changes in my life”, she said. That summer Lora became a Christian. “I don’t want my faith to be religious.” Lora said, and it is refreshing to see her faith in action. Lora is a regular volunteer through her church. She helps immigrants adjust to life within a new culture. She also works with the homeless and has helped to rebuild tornado damaged homes in the area.

“I have been able to start on a path towards becoming an ambassador of goodwill”, Lora said. This path has taken her on a cultural immersion in Morocco, and to China to teach English as a second language. As she prepared for her trip to China her mother commented to her that she had realized how the mother of a good friend of Lora’s must have felt when she had traveled to the U.S to study. “This is what I wanted her to understand, what I want everyone to understand, we are all human with human emotions”, Lora said, “no matter our differences in culture.” Lora hopes that this awareness coupled with education of cultural differences can eventually lead to world peace.