Soldotna woman's goals leading her to Oxford

When opportunity knocks, Christina Reasner answers.

"I have a lot of goals," the Sterling native said during a phone interview Sunday. "I'm an ambitious person."

That ambition has kept the 2000 Soldotna High School graduate busy opening a lot of doors lately -- including one to her next adventure, a semester-long honors program at Oxford University in London.

The program seeks out the top students from American universities -- students with 3.7 or higher grade point averages, excellent references and a willingness to work hard -- and transports them to the world-famous school for an intense academic experience.

Reasner is one of only 25 American students accepted to the program, and the only one not from an Ivy League school.

"The program really focuses on shaping world leaders," she said. "It's going to be a great challenge."

Reasner, a communication and pre-med student at Northwest College in Kirkland, Wash., will head to London on Jan. 8 to begin a semester of mostly politically-oriented courses.

The program will be a far cry from the American style of education she is used to, but the deviation will be exciting, she said.

Her professors will be the people who wrote the textbooks from which she will study, and rather than sitting in class with a group of people, she will meet with the teachers one-on-one for two-hour sessions three to four times a week. Her homework assignments will include reading from textbooks, reading a novel a week and writing a 12-page paper a week -- for each class.

"It's an absolutely insane workload, but a good insanity," she said. "To be taught by the people who wrote the books, to stand in the same room that C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien stood in, it's a remarkable experience."

And, she repeated, "I love a challenge."

Reasner first heard about the program -- similar to the Rhodes Scholar program, but for students who have not yet obtained bachelor's degrees -- during a debate tournament.

An award-winning participant in Northwest College's highly ranked debate team, Reasner was told by an opposing coach she would be perfect for the Oxford program.

She looked into the program, obtained references from her debate coach, her college president and a professor who once taught at Oxford, and applied for the opportunity.

In addition to being accepted for the program, Reasner also has been invited to participate in Oxford's debate team, play for the school's rugby team and join a few societies, which are similar to school clubs in the States. She isn't sure, however, whether she will have the time and energy for those activities on top of the academic load, she said.

"I've been offered so many amazing opportunities, it's difficult to decide," she said.

But Reasner is no stranger to balancing a schedule. In high school, she was the 2000 Student of the Year at SoHi, in addition to playing basketball, participating in United Nations activities and holding a job at Wells Fargo. After graduation, she was offered several full-ride scholarships to large universities, but chose Northwest College for the one-on-one attention and religious atmosphere.

"I would have been a number, not a person," she said of the schools that offered the scholarships.

At Northwest College, she is pursuing a degree in communication with an emphasis in organizational management, while completing pre-med requirements to fulfill her dream to become a doctor. She maintains a high GPA and is on the way to earning a full scholarship to the University of Washington's medical school, ranked No. 1 in the nation.

She also is a member of the debate team, volunteers at a children's hospital, is a member of the youth staff at her church and sings in her church's choir.

How does she do it all?

For one thing, she has the support of her family. Reasner is the daughter of the Rev. Bob Reasner, a pastor at New Life Assembly of God Church in Sterling, and Pollyanne Reasner, who works for Blazy Construction. Her sisters, Charlene, who attends a ministry school in Wasilla and recently was engaged to be married, and Charity, who graduated high school early, traveled the world as a model and now attends Northwest College with Christina, are her best friends.

"I love my family," Reasner said.

And, Reasner said, her family has supported her ambition and goal-setting practices, which keep her going every day.

Reasner said she always has wanted to be a doctor, because her primary goal in life is to help people. She hopes to be a surgeon, which will allow her to help patients and earn the money to finance goal No. 2: opening and volunteering at children's homes in Third World countries.

She said the homes she envisions would be modeled after one she volunteered at in Cambodia last summer. The orphanages rescue children off the streets and give them a home, an education, practical skills, health care and a Christian background. The children are not adopted, but rather raised to use the skills they learn in their own countries as adults.

After many years of schooling, Reasner said she hopes to get a job as a surgeon in the United States for part of each year, then spend the rest of the time running these schools and offering free medical care in Third World nations.

Later in life, she said she hopes to go into politics.

"It's a great arena to impact the world, the nation," she said, though she admitted she wasn't sure what branch of politics she would enter or when.

Then, she said, she might like to open a hunting and fishing lodge in Alaska.

A lot of plans? Maybe.

But Reasner's ready to tackle them all.

"Seize the day," she said.

"I only have one life to live. I'm not going to waste time on anything frivolous."