“I had started a nursing program when I lived in Germany but never finished.”
Twenty-five years later, Torsten Radke stood in the Governor’s Office at the Arkansas State Capital as he was awarded for earning one of the top five GED test scores in the state in 2018. A few months earlier, he received the results. Torsten not only passed the exam but earned honors. However, to Torsten, his focus was not on the award, but the fact that he was one step closer to pursuing his life long dream of serving his community.
Torsten possessed a firm conviction to contribute to others from a young age.
He finished his required schooling in East Germany, where he was born and raised. From there, he joined a missionary organization, helping spread the Christian faith to various countries across the world.
He met his wife, Corrie in Switzerland, who was working as a missionary as well. Once they were married, the couple moved back to Torsten’s home country. After living in Germany for a few years, they decided a changed was needed. Corrie felt a calling to travel to her native country, the United States, where they would continue raising their family. Through a series of events and with the help of Corrie’s extended family, they chose the small town of Ozark, Arkansas, which happened to be the home of YWAM Ozarks, an international missionary organization, in which the couple had worked with for twelve years overseas.
After working at YWAM’s Ozark location for six years, Torsten felt a calling to begin pursuing a career where he would serve people in a hands-on capacity. That is when he found, ATU-Ozark’s Practical Nursing program.
Torsten completed his GED last June and began the PN program in the fall. He will graduate in the spring of 2020 and hopes to fulfill his plan of working with hospice patients in the Ozark area while he continues to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. His goal is to complete his degree before his daughter, who graduated high school this month.
Torsten is not sure of what the future holds beyond receiving the education he has dreamed of obtaining most of his life. However, he is sure of one thing. Arkansas Tech University-Ozark Campus is the key to his future beyond the classroom.
For more information on Adult Education and ATU-Ozark programs, please visit www.atu.edu/ozark.
