Dr. Geraldine Chan International Student Scholarship Fund

When Geraldine Chan came to Goshen in 1961, she faced what she terms “the double jeopardy” many international students encounter:  dealing with not only a new school, but a new culture as well.  However, Geraldine met several people at Goshen College who helped make the transition easier.

Geraldine, a dentist who practiced in New York City’s Chinatown from 1978 to 1993, grew up in Hong Kong.  On the recommendation of Rev. Paul Bartel, longtime missionary in the Orient, she came to the U.S. for the first time in 1960 to attend Azusa College in California.  Azusa was a new school, however, and couldn’t provide her many of the courses she needed to pursue her interest in dentistry.  Rev. Bartel had also told her about Goshen College, so she headed east.

At Goshen, she met Miss Viola Good, the international student advisor, and Robert and Donna Klein, Goshen residents who took special interest in Goshen College’s foreign students in general and Geraldine in particular.

“Miss Good gave me a sense of security and belonging,” Geraldine recalled.  “I always felt I could talk to her about everything.”  Both Miss Good and the Kleins had international students in their homes for meals, recreation, fellowship and relaxation.

The Kleins contributed to Geraldine’s room and board, enabling her to stay at Goshen for three years and graduate with a degree in biology in 1964.  From there, she went on to Indiana University at Indianapolis – close enough to visit her friends in Goshen on many weekends.

“I still call Goshen home,” Geraldine reported, “and come back two or three times a year to visit Mrs. Klein (Robert Klein died in 1965), Miss Good and other friends (such as Atlee and Winifred Beechy, Ethel Yoder (Mrs. S.A. Yoder), and Roy Umble).  Mrs. Klein is just like a mother and grandmother to me.”

Geraldine remembers Goshen College fondly as well.  “I had a chance to compare Goshen with other schools (Azusa and a college in Pennsylvania), and I preferred Goshen,” she said.  “I had a sense of belonging – students and faculty were very friendly.  And I received a good education here.  Also, the Christianity was all about – it became more deep rooted in me, something to take with me after I left.”

“I became a better person by studying at Goshen,” she declared.  “I benefited from someone else’s generosity, and I know of no better way to say “Thank you” to Goshen College, Miss Good, and the Kleins than by setting up a scholarship for international students.”

Her gratitude to Mrs. Klein, and Miss Good, is such that her preference was not to have her name on the scholarship at all.  “I’m the end product of what other people have done, “she said.  “The credit should go to the people who did the work.”

Although this scholarship is unconditional, Dr. Chan wishes to plant the seeds of compassion, germinating and taking root in the students that benefit from this scholarship, propagating good deeds, and opening their hearts to those in need of a helping hand or a kind word.  “And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.” (II Thessalonians, 3:13, NIV).