[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/current-students\/far-from-home-ian-chen-finds-solace-in-god-faulkner-family\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/current-students\/far-from-home-ian-chen-finds-solace-in-god-faulkner-family\/","headline":"Far from home, Ian Chen finds solace in God, Faulkner family","name":"Far from home, Ian Chen finds solace in God, Faulkner family","description":"Ian Chen Nearly 8,000 miles and an ocean separates Ian Chen from his biological family in northern China. If you ask him if he has ever felt alone in America, he says no and smiles broadly. He says the friends…","datePublished":"2019-07-24","dateModified":"2019-07-24","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/author\/rburylo\/#Person","name":"Rebecca Burylo","url":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/author\/rburylo\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37a0c97fbd1eda89e38697defcaf0573?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37a0c97fbd1eda89e38697defcaf0573?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Faulkner University","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Horizontal-480x128.png","url":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Horizontal-480x128.png","width":480,"height":128}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/P8B1075-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/P8B1075-1.jpg","height":3840,"width":5760},"url":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/current-students\/far-from-home-ian-chen-finds-solace-in-god-faulkner-family\/","about":["Current Students"],"wordCount":732,"articleBody":"Ian ChenNearly 8,000 miles and an ocean separates Ian Chen from his biological family in northern China. If you ask him if he has ever felt alone in America, he says no and smiles broadly. He says the friends he found at Faulkner are his new family in Christ.It was the kindness of others and their desire to serve that first impressed Chen when he came to live in the South. People at his church and his school went out of their way to comfort and love him, he said.\u201cI love my family in China and I see them during visits, but going back to China after living here in America, I see huge differences in how things and how people operate,\u201d Chen said. \u201cPeople here care more about your spiritual life, what we can do to help others, community service. People gave up their time for me. Sacrificed for me. They welcomed me into their home.\u201dNaturally, saying goodbye to his mother and father was difficult. He felt anxious, nervous and scared, but he was assured of one thing: his faith in God.\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure what the future held. I was stepping into the unknown, but one thing my mom told me helped me. She said I was going to a place where they knew God. She said, \u2018Where the people are that know God that is where your family will be. That will be your home.\u2019 As Christians, we are family with one another,\u201d Chen said.  When Chen was still in high school, he made the long journey to Montgomery to finish his education at two local Christian schools and then decided to pursue higher education at Faulkner University. He is now a junior studying computer science and minoring in math. \u201cThe program has been so good. I’m glad I chose this field, because the more I learn about computer science, software and development, the more areas I find that need technology,\u201d Chen said. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging and a lot to learn, but it\u2019s worth it. My professors connect what we learn in the classroom to real life. They encourage me and make the classes so interesting.\u201dEven more helpful has been learning about the business of technology and how as a programmer, he can help a company use resources wisely and save money, Chen said.\u201cOur professors are teaching us to use real-life techniques that a programmer would use to solve problems. We learn how things are run, how real industry works and we know what to look for and pay attention to as the industry changes as more new tech comes along,\u201d he said.The benefits of living and learning in America have been the freedom to not only choose his own career path, but to have a liberal arts education, Chen said.\u201cA liberal arts education not only teaches knowledge, but it gives students wisdom and guidance for what our goals should look like after graduation,\u201d Chen said. \u201cIt showed me how to think, taught me more about the Bible, how to become a useful citizen to society and how to be a good man. When I told my parents, they were so happy.\u201dHe is looking forward to finishing his last year at Faulkner and will then search for a company to sponsor his stay in America. Chen encourages those looking at coming to Faulkner from out of state or out of the country to be courageous, try something new and ask lots of questions.He came to Faulkner, a stranger looking for a brighter future. He will leave a member of the Faulkner family.\u201cTrust in the living, true God and know that he has prepared the best for us,\u201d Chen said. \u201cIn the end, it doesn\u2019t matter how tough the journey may have been, how hard it may have been to leave my family, God was there and he made my path easy.\u201dChen is a member of the Alpha Chi Honors Society, the Faulkner Computer Club and Sigma Zeta, the National Science and Mathematics Honor Society and has been a part of the social club, Sigma Phi Chi. He attends Landmark Church, volunteers during the summer at Lincoln Village in Tennessee and sings Christmas carols to local nursing homes. He has also worked for Culinary Management Solutions and currently works at Caf\u00e9 Siena."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Current Students","item":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/\/current-students\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Far from home, Ian Chen finds solace in God, Faulkner family","item":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/current-students\/far-from-home-ian-chen-finds-solace-in-god-faulkner-family\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]