Written by Rachel Denizen
Some Harding students take for granted all that Harding has to offer until they have graduated. At least, this is what junior Graziella Roosz believes.
Roosz is an international student from France and is finishing her second semester this spring at Harding. She is desperately seeking a way to come back to Harding to finish her collegiate career, but right now the possibilities look bleak.
Roosz grew up hearing about Harding at various Christian camps she attended in Europe where American missionaries served. Doyle Kee, the preacher at the Church of Christ in Geneva, Switzerland, baptized Roosz when she was 18 years old.
Roosz attended college in France as an English major for two years before receiving the opportunity to attend Harding. She wanted to attend Harding because of her “need to experience true Christianity.” Kee eventually helped Roosz attend Harding by assisting her in finding a donor to support her in her first semester of school.
“I’ve grown up with Christian people in France, but in France the church is so dead,” Roosz said.
According to Roosz, in Europe there is a serious need for Christian fellowship outside of the church building. In her life she lacked the encouragement that is so common at Harding.
“I wanted to experience at Harding true Christianity — seeing people live out what they are teaching,” Roosz said. “I wanted to be strengthened by Christian people — go to church, pray and fellowship with other believers on a daily basis.”
Roosz has four remaining semesters at Harding. Her desire is to spend her last two years of school taking advantage of Harding’s opportunities, namely a Christian learning environment.
“I told my friends back home that we have Bible class and chapel every day, and they don’t believe me,” Roosz said. “I go to church and to the caf, and I have fellowship here at Harding with believers every day.”
Roosz described her shock when in her government class one day the teacher asked a student to say a prayer before the class began. She said that in that moment she almost began to cry.
Graziella walks along the beach near her home in Marseilles, France.
“I think Harding makes you stronger,” Roosz said. “You fill yourself with all of what is offered at Harding, and then you are ready to face the world.”
Graziella Roosz said she believes she is being molded here at Harding for the work to be done through her in the future, and that as followers of Christ, God molds us through trials and experiences of life
“This has been the toughest year of my life, and I have sacrificed so much,” Roosz said. “But I know that it is the best thing for me in the long run.”
As an international business major, Roosz is planning to use her degree to go back to Europe and get involved in the church. Roosz has a passion for young people and desires to strengthen the young people that are within the churches of Europe.
“Everyone from Europe that comes to America and goes to a Christian school ends up staying in America — they never go back to Europe,” Roosz said. “I want to go back to strengthen the church in Europe, and work with young people because I know how discouraging it can be to be a young Christian in Europe.”
Unlike most American college students who receive numerous loans, grants and scholarships to attend college, Roosz has found it difficult to secure loans, grants or even scholarships because she is an international student.
Roosz’s father paid for the majority of her first semester at Harding, along with some money from a donor in Switzerland. But Harding was more expensive than Roosz’s family had originally anticipated. The only way she was able to return to Harding this spring was through an anonymous family that decided over Christmas break they would support her for the spring 2010 semester.
Roosz has no stable financial support for the next four semesters. She works for Truth For Today alongside a professor on campus, checking Bible studies that have been translated into French to make sure they are correct before they are sent to French-speaking areas.
Unfortunately, Roosz’s campus job and people’s good intentions will not be enough to keep her here at Harding to finish out her collegiate career.
With tear-filled eyes, Roosz confided that she is fighting to stay at Harding. Every day she searches for a way to stay. She feels this is where she belongs at this point in her life. She needs people who are willing not only to pray for her, which she needs, but also people who are willing to step up and give monetary support.
“Even if a lot of people give a little, it can make what I need,” Roosz said. “A lot of people have told me that God will provide, and sort of pass it along for the next person to help … but it is through His people that God provides.”
Graziella and her close friends pose for a photo.
For now, Roosz is waiting patiently and doing all she can to stay at Harding. She is hoping that some of her fellow brothers and sisters in Christ will be compelled to act and answer the call of God trying to work through them.
To Roosz, Harding is “something you cannot put words on” and an answered prayer, but one that seems to be slipping away quickly. However, she is not giving up the fight.
“God will always provide,” Roosz said. “But you still have to fight.”
