Name: Rosemarie Kowalski
Graduation Year: 2012
Major: Ph.D. Intercultural Studies (after an M.CS)
Current Position: Educator, Planter
City and State: Sensitive Country
Tell us about your career and what you do now.
Planting in a sensitive country and educator across Southeast Asia,
What is your favorite memory from AGTS?
Waking from a nap when the guys in the cohort realized I was under the desk – “what did we say?” (Nothing I haven’t heard from my brothers, guys.) Seriously, I loved the classes and the interactions with those serving abroad.
How did AGTS help you identify/develop your calling?
I had no plan beyond “Go” when I started and no further information when I graduated. That was frustrating – why get a degree with no career in mind? I was already serving and called to missions, but why this degree? God told me I’d have a year off – and almost to the day a year later, we were called to serve here. I use the cross-cultural information almost daily in practice, and the academics in teaching and training others. My band of brothers (Cohort 1) has given information, encouragement, and assistance over the years and I continue to cheer them on.
How did your experience at AGTS prepare you for life after graduation?
Our former field director, our mission intake director and others in the cohort knew us and trusted us because we’d been in class together. That allowed us great freedom as second-career cross-cultural workers (AGWM) to explore a new model of planting and engagement.
What advice would you give a current student preparing for the workforce?
“Whatever you do, it’s not going to be what you thought.” Someone gave us that counsel when we entered cross-cultural work, and we’ve seen that as lecturers and professors – what students plan is useful, but not always in the way God intends to use us. Be open and work hard with whatever you are given. Be a Joseph (faithful and gifted) not an Absalom (demanding or usurping leadership).
What would you look for if you were in a position to hire new graduates from AGTS?
I would look for character, a strong work ethic without an entitlement complex, creativity, an openness to “new normals” and a love for engagement with people, especially the unreached.