The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

The official student newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire since 1923.

The Spectator

    Woman of the world

    Eleven-year-old Tina Stork was at a boarding school in Manila, the Philippines, in 1991. Meanwhile, her family’s house was in a small village 10 miles away from an erupting volcano.

    Her parents had left before the blast, but still, Stork was wondering what had happened to her friends.

    She later found that her roof had collapsed under the weight of the volcanic ash. She saw the village after the eruption. The ash covered the area, looking like a powdery gray snow.

    “Everything looked like a desert,” Stork said, remembering the disaster.

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    Now a UW-Eau Claire senior, Stork has been far from such natural catastrophes for several years.

    Stork was born in Manila, the Philippines, to missionary parents from Wisconsin.

    For the first 18 years of her life, Stork went back and forth between the United States and the Philippines. The longest she has ever lived in one place was for her four years of high school in Manila.

    Stork and her parents lived in two Philippines villages in their years there. Stork alternated between home schooling and an international boarding school.

    Every four years, Stork would come to the United States to visit relatives. She even attended school for one year at Eau Claire’s South Middle School.

    But it was always back to the Philippines with her parents.

    “The biggest comfort to me is to know that even though things change, one thing will always be the same – and that’s God’s love,” Stork said.

    Culture shock

    When she came to the United States, the biggest differences she noticed were how clean and big everything was here, Stork said. In her Philippines village of 600 people, everything had been so close, and everyone knew everyone else.

    “It was hard fitting in here,” Stork said. “Anything from the ’80s I’m clueless about.”

    Jet-setter

    Stork came to UW-Eau Claire as a freshman in 1998 because her relatives live nearby. But she didn’t stay for long.

    In the spring of 2000, Stork studied abroad in Toulon, France, then went to work for several months in Germany. Next, Stork went back to the Philippines to stay with her parents for two months.

    A lot of the people she had known previously had left by then, Stork said, and she could see the differences in the poverty but also in how beautiful the country was.

    “I could just see that I had moved on,” Stork said. She could always go back, but she saw that was not her home now, she said.

    A leader

    Stork has been active in international life at Eau Claire. In the fall of 2001, she took a turn as one of a group of international peer guides for the university.

    The peer guides go through one week of training and planning for the arrival of the international students at the university. The following week, the internationals arrive, and the peer guides help provide an intense week of orientation and activities.

    Stork said she went into the experience thinking she would meet people and have fun. She came out with a huge group of friends who will always be her friends, she said.

    Stork was also a peer guide the following spring, and was the coordinator for the peer guide group this fall.

    “The sad thing is, if you get to know internationals, they end up leaving,” Stork said.

    Sandeep Bang was a new international student from India last spring who is seeking his degree at Eau Claire.

    Whenever he had to ask something, he would call Stork, Bang said.

    “It seems like she really wants to help international students,” he said.

    Some students call Stork an angel, but Stork said she thinks that is weird.

    “I know that I can count on my friends and I’d do anything for them,” Stork said. “You help people, and people help you.”

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