STUDENTS AND FACULTY GEAR UP FOR TRIP TO ALBANIA
By Hope Hodge

The TKC Albania team has been preparing for the big trip for months—but some are racing to the finish. Becca Tingstrom, a Junior from Florida who is making the trip for the first time, said the last-minute crunch is making her a little nervous.

“I’m most scared about not having enough time to do my presentation well,” she said.  “We’re leaving May 12, the Monday after graduation. It’s been really hard to get presentations together with school and work and house commitments.”

Still, she said that she couldn’t wait for the three-week trip. Tingstrom and 17 classmates will land in the heart of Tirana, the capital of Albania, accompanied by four staff members and joined for parts of the trip by four different TKC Faculty members. The mission? To engage Albanian college students at the private University of New York Tirana (UNYT) in the “big ideas”—political, economic and spiritual.

Last year’s team spent three days delivering presentations on various economic projects with counter-presentations by Albanian students and lively debate ensuing. This year, these presentations are not only the centerpiece of the Albania program, but a burgeoning national event as well.

Six hundred students from UNYT have already competed for the right to challenge the 18 TKC representatives in a forum of ideas, which has expanded broadly beyond its economics focus at the recommendation of UNYT faculty. And a national Albanian television network may cover the intensified debate, which will take a whole week of the trip.

Assistant Dean of Students David Leedy, who is leading the project for the third consecutive year, said he had approached each of the Albania-bound professors with a strategic objective.

“I invited them to come because, first of all, we decided to do three tracks (at UNYT): economics, politics, and the role of religion in society,” he said.

Dr. David Innes, Dr. Alex Tokarev, and Dr. Henry Bleattler will act as “point person” for the politics, economics and religion presentation tracks, respectively. They will be coaching the student presenters in their tracks and communicating with their Albanian faculty counterparts as well.

“(The students are) Rocky and I’m Burgess Meredith,” Innes, who will spend 10 days in Tirana, explained. “I say things like, ‘get out there and start swinging!’ At halftime I’ll douse them with water and send them out again,” he said.

On the concept of combining a spiritual message with a social one, “If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander,” he said. “If it’s good for the King’s College, it’s good for Albania. That’s what we do here: spiritual liberty, political liberty and economic liberty.”

Former Mayor of Jersey City and TKC adjunct faculty member Bret Schundler will also spend eight day in Albania, but his role will be a bit different, Leedy said.

“He’s going to speak to VIPs and business leaders (in Albania,” he said. Schundler may appear at the Albania Free Forum, a multi-party gathering of Albanian political leaders, as well as a debate forum similar to Mars Hill, but socialist in background, called the Idea Institute. He will also participate in several Albanian Campus Crusade events.

But as students and staff spend their final week of preparation, appearing on Albanian TV is only one of their concerns. All-team events like a sumptuous Albania dinner at Ina Kumi’s house on Staten Island have built team identity, and during class-length meetings every week, students have studied Albanian history and culture. But fundraising, Tingstrom said, remains a last-minute challenge.

“I’m about $500 short, personally,” she said. As a team, “We’re close to our goal…I think we’re $8000 away right now.” Which is good, she said, because if the team can’t raise the remaining funds in time, “some of us don’t go.”

Another element Tingstrom hopes will fall into place is the Albanian language, which she has not quite mastered yet.

“We actually had several quizzes on Albanian language,” she said. “I failed.”

Hope Hodge is a senior at The King’s College pursuing a PP&E degree and is the editor of the college student newspaper, “The Student Voice.” This article originally appeared in the May issue of “The Student Voice.”