Growing up, Sarah Olson had one dream: to become a missionary. Because of her dad’s career in the Air Force, she spent her young adult life traveling the globe, moving from place to place with her family. She has lived in the country of Turkey and in California, Texas and Colorado. In 2020, she moved to Japan to finish high school. As she neared her high school graduation, she wasn’t interested in pursuing a college degree.
“At first, I wasn’t planning on going to college. I was really set on becoming a missionary,” she explained. “To me, four years of college was a waste of time when I could already be out sharing the gospel.”
However, her parents, who were both actively involved in missions, encouraged her to attend college for a year before doing missions full-time. So, Sarah began searching for schools across the United States.
A Dream and an Obstacle
She happened upon Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) from a Google search, and it immediately stood out to her. A Christ-centered university across the street from the Intracoastal Waterway and just a few blocks from the ocean seemed almost too good to be true. Additionally, PBA offered the two programs she was interested in pursuing—pharmacy and French. However, although it was her top choice, there was one obstacle that seemed to stand in the way: finances.
“PBA seemed like a dream school to me… I applied and got in, but when I was narrowing it down, I didn’t think PBA was going to be an option because the cost was too much for my family,” she explained. “But God made it so clear that He wanted me to go to PBA. He gave me complete peace, and I really felt like He was going to provide what I needed to be there.”
A Shift in Calling and the Lord’s Provision
While applying to schools and choosing an area of study, Sarah felt the Lord calling her away from pharmacy, but she wasn’t sure where to look or what to do instead.
“I just somehow landed on education. I had never considered being a teacher before, so I did think it was strange that I felt led to education. But I just got confirmation from the Lord in so many ways,” she explained.
Sarah began applying to different scholarships, one of which included the Bebe Warren Scholars Program, a scholarship awarded to selected first-year students at PBA majoring in elementary education. The program, named after Bebe Warren, a retired educator and wife of PBA’s founding chairman, encourages students to complete a student-teaching semester abroad during their senior year. Bebe’s husband, the late Dr. Donald E. Warren, established the Bebe Warren Scholarship fund in 2001 in partnership with the Johnson Scholarship Foundation. Each year, Bebe would visit with the elementary education majors who received a financial award to assist them during their semester of student teaching.
“I ended up being selected for the scholarship, which was crazy because I had never even considered education until a few months prior to applying for it. It was such a God thing,” Sarah said. “There were so many ways God was telling me that He was going to provide for me and that He wanted me working with kids. I wouldn’t have been able to be here if it weren’t for the scholarships.”
Teaching Abroad and Reaching the Nations
During her senior year of college, PBA’s education department doubled Sarah’s scholarship, allowing her to teach abroad for her final semester. She was able to teach at the Christian International School of Prague in the Czech Republic, meeting students from all over the world.
“Knowing that I had the School of Education’s support, and that they were so intent on me finishing strong, was so encouraging. They wanted to see me do well and give glory to God,” she said. “It was really cool to get to work with the kids and see God bring in the nations for me to share my testimony with. I always tried to share the gospel.”
Sarah will graduate on Friday, May 9 with a Bachelor of Science in elementary education. She hopes to continue working with students and share the love of Christ with them, using the classroom as her own “mission field.”
To learn more about PBA’s School of Education and Behavioral Studies, whose mission is to enrich and heal the world through Christian practitioners who are equipped emotionally, spiritually and academically, click here.
