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By trying -- and often failing -- at this variety of things, I found a fruitful way to exist in the world.
For once I was seeing India through my eyes, not my parents' eyes.
My college years helped me to gain a deeper understanding of the injustices in our world.
Knox Alumni Living in Beijing, China
by Sable Helvie '08 and Abigail Kramer '08
Among the nearly 3 million cars in Beijing, there is one with a Knox sticker in
the window. It belongs to Chip '97 and Sarah Weed Chandler '97, who live in
Beijing with their two sons.
The story of how Sarah and Chip met is, as Knox alumni and students say, "so Knox." It happened their first week on campus when her R.A. had a crush on his R.A. and decided to hold a BBQ for both their suites. Sarah and Chip met and dated all through college, staying together even when they both studied abroad. Sarah, French and psychology double major, went on the Knox program in Besançon. Chip, a history major, went to Dakar, Senegal.
Chip now works for the U.S. Department of State, which has taken him, Sarah, and their family to Rwanda, Sydney, and now Beijing. His story about how he got interested in the foreign service is also "so Knox."
"Back in our day we didn't have these fancy graduation speakers," he said with irony, referring to the recent commencement speakers: Barack Obama, Stephen Colbert, Bill Clinton, and his former boss, Madeleine Albright. Their commencement speakers were U.S. diplomats Virginia Canil '73 and Eugene Tadie '74. Once Sarah and Chip heard the commencement speech, they became interested in foreign service, leading them to where they are today.
Chip is the Consul, Second Secretary, as well as the Fraud Prevention Manager of the Consular Section. He investigates and prevents visa fraud, dealing with the major issues such as false companies and false identities. Although it is illegal for Sarah to work in China since she is the spouse of a U.S. diplomat, she stays busy taking care of their two boys, Quinn (3) and Will (8 months).
Last year they returned to campus for Homecoming and really felt as though it was a true home-coming. "Knox is wonderful in that you always feel welcome there, even long after you've left it," said Sarah. "Even 10 years after graduation, I felt like I'd never left as soon as I got back on campus -- a wonderful but also scary feeling!"
