IUHS helps missionary family learn while servinG

Emily Whearty Kinsey Whearty

"Our life here includes some magical moments. We snorkel on the reef, collect shells on the beach, and swing from the vine into the pool below the waterfall where we hike for picnics. Our life also includes things that are not quite so attractive, such as always being careful to sleep under mosquito nets, washing our own laundry by hand in the sink on the back porch, taking cold showers, and dealing in the kitchen with mold, ants, and spiders as large as your hand. We have electricity for only a few hours each day. Pacific cyclones are the largest storms on earth. There are plenty of challenges. But we have a chance to be of use where our skills are needed, to live with the local people, and to understand some of what it is like to be citizens of a third-world country. When we come back to visit the U.S., we see it through new eyes. We appreciate clean houses, hot showers, and close family. We hope that we can help other people appreciate those things, too, and maybe encourage them to help those who do not have such rich lives." -Bruce Whearty

It was hard for Emily and Kinsey Whearty to move away from their family and friends in Roundup, Montana, but they had confidence their new home would work out just fine. After all, they would go to the ends of the earth to be with their parents Bruce and Lora. And to the ends of the earth they went - to Vanuatu, a small group of islands in the South Pacific, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia.

Bruce and Lora are missionaries with Presbyterian Church (USA). They had served in Vanuatu in 1992-94 and left only reluctantly; so when they got the opportunity to return in 2002, they jumped at the chance. They knew they would face many challenges, but in typical Whearty family fashion, they welcomed their new adventure with optimism.

One of the primary challenges was Emily and Kinsey's education. The girls attended junior high school through distance education, and their experience was so successful that Bruce and Lora decided to research similar programs at the high school level. Their research led them to Indiana University High School, an accredited diploma program that students can complete entirely at a distance.

"We explored the Web sites of high schools that had been recommended to us," says Bruce. "We chose Indiana University High School for the broad selection of courses offered, and the possibility of dual-credit courses as the girls get older."

In addition, Bruce and Lora were impressed by the instructor support Indiana University High School offers. "I like the amount of guidance given by the instructors in the course learning guides and by e-mail," says Lora. "I am not a high school teacher. I do not know how to teach this material for the most part, but there is enough help provided so that the student doesn't feel totally abandoned. Neither does the parent."

Like most teenagers, Kinsey, 15, and Emily, 14, follow a daily routine. "The kids are up at 5 a.m. each morning to walk six kilometers with their mother before the sun comes up," says Bruce. "This gets them off to a good start and takes advantage of the coolest part of the day. Then they watch sunrise over the ocean, eat breakfast, shower, and start their studies."

Most of the day is spent "in school," studying. "We figure out how much we need to get done during the day, and then we do it," explains Emily. "We fit in a few other things around the edges, like crafts, going to the beach, or hanging with friends."

In addition, the girls study French four days a week at the boarding school where they live. "We sometimes participate in whatever is happening at the school here," says Kinsey. "One time I sang in a talent show, and last week, we all supported an HIV/AIDS awareness walkathon. I walked 60 kilometers to the capital city on the other side of the island!"

Kinsey loves English and hopes to be an English professor one day. "I love the variety of IUHS courses, especially all the great options for English," she says. Emily, on the other hand, loves art. "I had been really missing art," she says, "so when I got the textbook for my art course, I devoured it!"

Having attended traditional classes, the girls are quick to point out that distance education is much different. "At a traditional school, you are given an amount of assignments that you have to do each day," says Emily, "but with distance education, you have to be responsible for yourself. Independence is a big thing."

Both the girls understand that the skills they are acquiring through Indiana University High School will be important in college. Kinsey would like to go to school in England; Emily, in the United States. Wherever they go, they will be prepared. "Any learning we do prepares us for things we will do in our later life," says Kinsey philosophically. "The difference is that we are learning earlier how to be responsible for ourselves."

The Whearty family's current contract ends in 2005, at which time they plan to continue their work for Presbyterian Church (USA). Bruce says he doesn't know where they will end up. "No matter where we are," he says, "we hope that the girls continue with IUHS, because that would give them needed continuity in their studies, as well as a high-quality program."

Learn more about the Whearty family online at http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/wheartyb.htm. The site includes wonderfully descriptive letters that Bruce and Lora have sent home to the U.S.

For more information about Indiana University High School, visit the Web at http://scs.indiana.edu, call 800-334-1011, or send e-mail to scs@indiana.edu.