The Walton International Scholarship program is celebrating this year the entrance of a new director, Seth Sears, a friendly new member of the “Walton family.” Sears, born and raised in Kansas City, grew up surrounded by excellent examples of service and altruism thanks to his parents. He has shared with us his excitement about this new opportunity.
Sears graduated with a degree in English and started working at a newspaper during the beginning of his career. During this time, he also found love and got married 28 years with a lovely woman who is, as he stated, “still the love of his life.”
Sears found his true work calling after joining a church group that helped him realize that assisting people is more important in some places than others. Encouraged by this church community, Sears and his family took the risk and went to Costa Rica as missionaries. “I found a real home there. I made good friends and met people who helped me get adapted to all the changes,” Sears said.
In Costa Rica, Sears realized education is a factor that can make a real difference for underprivileged people. With the help of some other members from his church community, he started a program providing education for people from all ages in La Carpio, Costa Rica – the place where he lived.
He continued working there for several years. After some time he came back to the United States and left it all behind once again, he says, in pursuit of “following God’s plans.”
Sears applied for the position for the Walton Director because he felt “he couldn’t miss this opportunity.” He expressed that the most challenging part of starting this position is being able to know how to balance all duties and tasks of the job. Assisting over 50 students, he must juggle lots of tasks and make sure he’s completing them effectively. Aside from that, he is enthusiastic about working with international students. “It is always really interesting to learn about different cultures and I’m mostly excited about getting to know all of the students more, the backgrounds of each one of the students, their stories and their dreams too,” Sears remarked. “I’m excited about being there while the Walton students accomplished their goals and seeing all of them grow.”
Sears, similar to the scholars from Central America and Mexico, misses his home in La Carpio at times. He advises that when this happens to think positively about those emotions. “Don’t ignore your feelings at all, it is important to embrace those things that you miss from your home.”