Three graduates from Langley-based Trinity Western University are getting a behind-the-scenes look at their alma mater.
They are the first cohort of the Trinity Fellows program, a competitive mentorship and apprenticing opportunity with TWU senior leaders.
Each year, the Trinity Fellows program will select three of the most promising recent graduates to participate in a year-long paid internship offered through the Office of the President in partnership with the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust.
Naomi Lomavatu, Chanhee Park and Sarah Patterson-Cole were selected.
Lomavatu is a skilled pianist who directed music for a TWU chapel team. Chanhee Park has worked in several countries and speaks English, Korean and conversational Bengali. Sarah Patterson-Cole directs events for the Young Women in Leadership TWU in Langley.
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Lomavatu is a Fellow for the Office of the President, working with TWU President Dr. Mark Husbands. Lomavatu has volunteered with the Union Gospel Mission serving the needy in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side and has visited inmates at the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge, BC. Born and raised in Williams Lake, Lomavatu has also worked as a dispatcher for the Cariboo Fire Centre during four wildfire seasons.
When asked what advice she has for younger people, Lomavatu says, “Be courageous and step out in the things that scare you – especially when you’re in a supportive environment with sincere mentors and people encouraging you along the way.”
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Park is a Fellow for TWU GLOBAL, a department overseeing Trinity Western’s non-traditional programs, including the MA Leadership and BA Leadership programs in Langley and Richmond. She is working with the Vice Provost of Leadership and Graduate Studies and Dean of TWU GLOBAL, Dr. Sonya Grypma.
Park was recently a parliamentary intern for the Senate of Canada in Ottawa. She has worked with international students in Wroclaw, Poland, and supported her parents’ mission work in Kolkata, India.
Patterson-Cole is a Fellow for the Office of Business Administration, working with TWU’s Senior Vice President of Business Administration and CFO, Aklilu Mulat. She has previously worked with refugee resettlement and has assisted Indigenous families through the Mennonite Central Committee in Alberta. She is originally from Waterloo, ON.
Patterson-Cole plans to use her degree in International Studies and minor in Business Administration to pursue a career in the development and non-profit sector, expressing, “I would love to work for an organization that is involved with empowerment or leadership training, and works towards sustainable development.”
All three of this year’s Trinity Fellows graduated in April.
