When Alexander Angelov was nine years old, he watched his fellow Bulgarians call for a democratic election while tanks crawled past the crowd, threatening their new, post-Communist, way of life. "I will never forget that moment," said Angelov, who will graduate as Roberts Wesleyan College's valedictorian, only the second undergraduate with a 4.0 GPA in the college's history, later this month. "It was the birth of a lot of questions for me." Answering those questions, now Angelov's passion, has brought him halfway around the world to North Chili's small college campus, a far cry from his hometown of the ancient capital city of Sofia, where Eastern Orthodox cathedrals have stood for thousands of years. "I really want to understand the world, and history, and people," he said. "I want to understand reality, but also the world beyond our senses. Education helps me understand justice, it helps me develop character and shows me what it means to be a human being." That's an eloquent statement from someone who didn't speak English at all four years ago. But then it seems that if there's something worthwhile to learn, Angelov will learn it. "I remember so clearly when I first became aware of Alex," said Dr. Scott Caton, a history professor at Roberts Wesleyan who has become Angelov's mentor and for whom Angelov serves as a teaching assistant. "My teaching assistant at that time told me 'there's this Angelov kid in the front row with this unbelievable understanding of culture, history and religion.' I started noticing that Alex was always right in tune with what I was saying. But what was really impressive was that he asked the most penetrating questions. He really kept me on my toes." Angelov credits his grandfather with inspiring his love of learning and his deep Christian faith. "My grandfather and those of his generation are intensely spiritual," he said. "The Orthodox Christian tradition has shaped Bulgarian culture in a way that Americans don't necessarily understand. He started me off with books on religion and simple philosophy." But Communism complicated the picture for Bulgaria's Christians, Angelov said. While they could 'technically" attend church, police surrounded the area and "marked down" those who entered and left. "Later the police might come to your apartment and take you away," he said. The schism between the country's spiritual foundation and its politics deeply affected Angelov's early education. After the fall of Communism, the official textbooks being used in school were rewritten. Students were expected to "unlearn" what they'd previously learned, to virtually relearn their country's history in a new way. "Teachers would say to their students, 'we're not sure about how long you should known this. It might be different next week,' " said Caton. And so Angelov began to ask those penetrating questions. "He is on a quest for the truth," Caton said. As Angelov neared the end of this studies at a prestigious prep school in Sofia, he realized that he wanted to further his studies at an American university. He didn't speak English, but knew he could learn it in the few months he had before the start of fall semester. One of his teachers at the Lycee Francais Alphonse de Lamartine School helped him apply to Yale, the University of North Carolina, the University of Arizona, Dartmouth and ... Roberts Wesleyan. "The teacher knew about Roberts. How is a mystery," his professor said. Angelov's parents had mixed feelings about him coming to America at all, much less to a small town college. His mother supported his decision to study in America, but his father was concerned that too many of Bulgaria's best and brightest were leaving the country. Angelov promised his father that he would return and pursued his dream. All of the colleges and universities accepted him, some with tempting financial packages. But after spending the summer assisting Roberts' soccer coach, Greg Gidman, at his summer soccer camp, Angelov knew that he had found the right place. "The innocent spirituality of the people at Roberts is so important," Angelov said. "It's so pure and enduring." The Roberts experience Angelov has made the most of his time at Roberts, carrying 21 credit hours each semester (a full-time load is 12) and completing dual majors in history and psychology. He works as a teaching assistant, played soccer, and has been shining in the academic world beyond the Roberts' campus. In the spring of his sophomore year, he was the only undergraduate to participate in a special program sponsored by the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington D.C. called the Third Millennium Institute. Despite the fact that he was competing with graduate students and professionals, he received an award for the best paper presented. Last fall, he won another award for a psychology research project he presented at the Eastern Regional Meeting of the Christian Associate for Psychological Studies in Washington. He recently returned from a conference where major philosophers, political scientists, economists and physical scientists discussed the relationship between physics and religion. Angelov never lost his focus, even when his mother was suddenly killed after being struck by a speeding car in November of his second year of Roberts. Ironically, he had just finished talking with her on the telephone about how excited she was that he would be home for Christmas. She hung up the phone, stepped into the street, and was struck. Partly from shock, partly because he is so committed to his work, and partly because of his mother's vision of his success, Angelov questioned whether or not to return home for her funeral. Caton stepped in. "This is one of those times where experience matters," he said. "I knew it was essential for him to be there." Friends and college faculty helped provide enough financial support for Angelov, with Caton at his side, to return to Bulgaria. "I have so many friends at Roberts," Angelov said. "There are people who have been quite a gift to me, people I respect and cherish." Smiling, Angelov concedes that what he is really attempting to discover is the meaning of life. "The Bulgarian culture is kind of covered by American culture at this time," he said, thinking of his last visit home. "My grandparents' generation was defined by spirituality and faith. My parents' generation is confused, they're torn between materialism and undefined idealism. The young Bulgarians are focused on materialistic things. There is more to life than that. I am seeking the integration of faith and spirituality into history and humanity." After a visit home this summer, Angelov will study for graduate degrees in both history and law at the University of Michigan during the academic year and earn another graduate degree in "any social science he chooses," at the University of Chicago during the summers, beginning in the summer of 2005, Caton said. He has been granted full scholarships to both universities, plus a research grant. "I am looking forward to the new ideas," Angelov said of his future. He says he will take his learning and experiences back to Bulgaria where he plans to be a teacher and "help Bulgarians reconnect with their culture and religion." Caton sees bigger things ahead. "One of the greatest joys of being a teacher is the time when you can say, 'I have nothing else to teach you. You're in a different league now.' We joke around the office about when he is the president of Bulgaria, but we're not really joking," Caton said. "He will be a great political or religious leader in the future." |
