{"id":13616,"date":"2012-08-08T10:09:19","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T14:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=13616"},"modified":"2012-08-31T09:58:15","modified_gmt":"2012-08-31T13:58:15","slug":"alumni-of-the-year-vic-and-christina-buckwalter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2012\/alumni-of-the-year-vic-and-christina-buckwalter\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni of the Year: Vic and Christina Buckwalter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two idealistic young people meet at EMU, earn their degrees in pre-med and education, and spend their entire careers serving others \u2013 without fanfare \u2013 at home and abroad. Now they get some fanfare from a university that values service and promotes the helping professions.<\/p>\n

Vic Buckwalter \u201973, originally from Cochranville, Pa., went on to medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia. Christina Yoder \u201973 Buckwalter, from Barberton, Ohio, earned a master\u2019s degree in the psychology of reading from Temple University. Vic\u2019s residency in family medicine was at Lancaster (Pa.)
\nGeneral Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got excellent preparation for medical school at EMU,\u201d said Vic. \u201cI took all the courses I could in anatomy and biology<\/a> from Dr. Daniel Suter<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Vic Buckwalter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Buckwalters\u2019 first stop in their careers of service was at the San Carlos Apache Reservation<\/a> in Arizona, where Vic was a medical officer in the Indian Health Service for two years. Then they went to Tanzania under Eastern Mennonite Missions<\/a>, serving two terms with a two-year break in between. Vic worked in a hospital and Christina homeschooled their children \u2013 Benjamin, Nicholas \u201905, and Molly.<\/p>\n

After eight years in Africa, the Buckwalter family settled near Harrisonburg, in a house between Massanutten Peak and Keezletown. Christina taught at Waterman and Spotswood elementary schools and Vic practiced family medicine at Carilion Family Medicine in Weyers Cave.<\/p>\n

But Africa beckoned again. This time \u2013 2008 \u2013 they accepted a four-year term of service in Kenya under Mennonite Central Committee<\/a> (MCC). They lived in Webuye in the western part of the country.<\/p>\n

Vic was on the faculty at Moi University in the family medicine department. He taught Kenyan physicians who were pursuing post-graduate degrees in family medicine. One day each week they worked in a family medicine clinic.<\/p>\n

Another day was devoted to over 400 diabetes patients. Funding from MCC provided a medication subsidy and supported a diabetes laboratory. Vic and his team provided glucose monitoring for some of the most poorly controlled patients requiring insulin therapy.<\/p>\n

Christina worked as a reading specialist at the local public school\u2014District Education Board Primary School. She taught small groups of students who needed extra help with reading. (All students in Kenya are expected to be adept in both English and Swahili.) Christina also traveled to the capital city, Nairobi, each month to train teachers at two Mennonite schools in impoverished areas.<\/p>\n

The Buckwalters returned to their Virginia home in April 2012, where Vic joined the staff of Harrisonburg Community Health Center as a family physician.<\/p>\n

So what did they think of being chosen EMU\u2019s alumni of the year? \u201cWe were totally shocked,\u201d said Christina. \u201cHow can we follow last year\u2019s winner?\u201d (Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee<\/a>, MA \u201907.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two idealistic young people meet at EMU, earn their degrees in pre-med and education, and spend their entire careers serving others \u2013 without fanfare \u2013 at home and abroad. Now ... read more about Alumni of the Year: Vic and Christina Buckwalter<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":13633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5583,60],"tags":[5753,14511,6833,10067,6100],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-13616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-campus-community","category-homecoming","tag-alumni","tag-christina-buckwalter","tag-eastern-mennonite-missions","tag-leymah-gbowee","tag-mennonite-central-committee"],"yoast_head":"\nAlumni of the Year: Vic and Christina Buckwalter - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2012\/alumni-of-the-year-vic-and-christina-buckwalter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alumni of the Year: Vic and Christina Buckwalter - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two idealistic young people meet at EMU, earn their degrees in pre-med and education, and spend their entire careers serving others \u2013 without fanfare \u2013 at home and abroad. 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