THE AMERICAN COLLEGE IN SOFIA

THE AMERICAN COLLEGE IN SOFIA

Dr. Ksenia Kisselincheva

Rising like a phoenix from the ashes, after fifty years of oblivion, the College came back to life in the spring of 1991, by conducting an American - style standardized exam and selecting its first batch of students in the post-communist era. In the last seven years, it has reaffirmed its reputation as one of the country’s leading educational institutions, renowned way back from the 30’s to the present, for its commitment to high standards of academic excellence and personal integrity. But let’s step back in time and find out how it all began ...

We can trace back its origins to the schools, founded in the 1860’s by American missionaries - a boys’ school in Plovdiv and a girls’ school in Stara Zagora. In 1871, the two schools were merged and moved to Samokov, the seat of the American council on the Balkans. A large number of the graduates had a sense of mission and dedicated themselves to priesthood, teaching and social work. In 1926, once again, the College was moved this time to Simeonovo, just outside the capital city. It was reestablished on a 100-acre campus at the foothills of the Vitosha Mountain. During the next decade, 19 buildings were built, providing classroom space and housing for most students and faculty members. The College and its new president, Dr. Floyd H. Black, were warmly received by the Bulgarians. The Parliament gave the new school as a grant-in-aid a tract of timber that yielded about 50,000 USD.

Up to the eve of the World War II, a whole network of American schools has been set up across the country, embracing all stages of education from kindergarten to secondary school level. But the American College in Sofia was definitely the jewel in the crown. When World War II broke out, many of its graduates were occupying leadership positions in Bulgarian education, government and the professions.  But, the main driving force behind the flourishing of the college during the years from 1926 to 1942 was its director, Dr. F. H. Black. Untiringly, he attended to everything and everyone - the real estate, the curriculum, the teaching staff and administration. He would listen carefully to anyone, irrespective of his position in the hierarchy and he would act as troubleshooter to any problem or crisis, having arisen.

But the fate of the college was inevitably to be molded and twisted by sweeping historical forces. After Bulgaria, under Nazi insistent urge, declared war on the United States in 1941, the American faculty members were advised by the Bulgarian government to continue with their activities. Nevertheless,  in spite of the heroic efforts on the part of Dr. F. H. Black, the staff and the students to keep the college going during those turbulent years, an order of the Ministry of Education, issued in  August 1942 delivered the final blow to it all. The Nazi commander-in-chief in Sofia imperatively demanded from the Bulgarian government to close the college down.

The final farewell scene took place at a suburban railway station in September 1942. I was told this moving story by a witness, an ex-university teacher of mine, who rushed to the station together with other college alumni to bid farewell to their beloved American teachers, woefully forced out of the country. After an avalanche of interrupted confessions, sticky handshakes and bouquets of flowers, the train started pulling out of the station on its way to Istanbul and then suddenly ... all the students, huddled on the platform started singing the College hymn and then took up other songs.  Their voices grew stronger as the train was receding out of sight; they were fighting their tears back and kept on singing well after the train was no longer seen.

The indomitable spirit, instilled in their young hearts helped them to endure during the post-war years, when the Communist government seized the assets of the American College and subjected its associates to systematic persecution. Some of them were sentenced to death, others were sent to labor concentration camps and most of them were persistently denied jobs and opportunities. But they did not give up and not only endured but prevailed. The memory of the College could not be obliterated; it kept on shining through in various ways. The ex-college graduates were indispensable when it came to compiling dictionaries, translation of classic and modern books, translation, editing and broadcasting at BTA, Radio Sofia and Sofia Press Agency. Their language skills and overall competence were much in demand at the National Bank and foreign trade organizations. I, myself, have been fortunate to have ex-college alumni as teachers at school and university, to whom I owe so much ...

Rising like phoenix from the ashes, as the College majestically stands on its newly reclaimed grounds, it is aspiring to recapture the best from its past and to face up to the impending challenges of today. When I met Mr. Lou Perske, the present director of the College, its recent history unraveled before my eyes. The ferocious and laborious battle with government institutions to restitute the unlawfully impounded property had to be waged by the first director, Dr. Roger Whitaker, sent to rebuild the College, to make it rise from the rubble and devastation. Most of the buildings, though structurally sound, were gone to rack and ruin, the library had almost been destroyed, the beautiful park had turned to an overgrown jungle. As Lou Perske admits, Dr. R. Whitaker’s task was very demanding and it was sheer miracle for the short span of two years that his mission had been successfully completed. When Dr. A. Charles took over in 1994 he had to grapple with some serious financial problems and to struggle to keep the college going. Also, his job was to see to the growth of the College to a five year program. He saw to the regular enrollment of a 100 students for the next three years, a process brought to a climax in the first graduation ceremony in 1997.

What were the sticky points when Mr. Lou Perske took over in 1997?

“We are taking the best of the brightest students on a scholarship basis. My mission was therefore to make the College financially stable and to further solidify the operations. Also, we expect all our students to go on to university and we give them some assistance with that ...”

The facts speak for themselves. Sixty-seven out of hundred graduates took the SAT exam last autumn. Their average score was higher than that of last year’s freshman class at Columbia or Johns Hopkins University. Many of them had been admitted to 55 leading American universities, among them Cal Tech and Princeton. Of the others, most were accepted at the American University at Blagoevgrad and Sofia University.

In the spirit of the traditional values of the College, Mr. Lou Perske put a special emphasis on their ambition to stick to high standard of academic excellence and personal integrity - fully aware “they were educating the future leaders of the country”. And he added that according to the best of American educational concepts, extra-curricula club activities contributed substantially “to developing all-rounded personalities”.

But I could learn more about the activity of over than 50 clubs from Mr. Bill Fisher, Dean of Students at the College:

“The club activities are voluminous and range from competitive to non-competitive ones, from swimming and fishing to basketball and volleyball. Culture is one thing a number of students are interested in. The Criss-cross club informs the students about cultural events in Sofia, while the Culture club enlightens their classmates on a variety of American and Bulgarian customs and holidays. There is also “the Weak Care Club” which is involved in charity. They sell baked cookies and other goods to the parents to raise money for the orphanage. Each club has its presiding officer who keeps me informed about what has been planned and what is going on. The art clubs are quite active, the drama club, standing among them. They’d had put up a few productions which were a huge success, like “Alice in Wonderland” and “Hair”. Now they are rehearsing “Dracula”, which is to be shown shortly. Some of the students think their extra-curricula activities are adding on to their assets as prospective university applicants”.

Mr. Bill Fisher was honest enough to discuss openly with me some of the problems he confronted as a Dean of Students. One of them was irregular attendance. Part of the problem was the increasingly demanding requirements of the College. In the prep, attendance was not a problem, but it turned into a problem with more mature students, who were moreover encouraged to skip classes by their friends from other schools, where truancy is a mass practice. Drug abuse is another serious issue which had to be seen within the context of drug abuse which is a true epidemic at many secondary schools in Sofia.

What is the College’s strategy in this respect? One thing is educating the youngsters about the hazards to their health, health classes which were incorporated in their biology or sports classes. Another thing was discussing the issue informally with them, or showing them documentary films about the devastating effect of drug abuse on young lives. Another problem, yet to be tackled, is the reintegration of younger and older students with each other. Naturally, it has to be done with the assistance of student government and by organizing more study trips and excursions.

Another more serious challenge is cultivating in the pupils a tolerant unprejudiced attitude to cultural diversity. They discuss different aspects of it in the English classes, they learn about long suffering minorities like gypsies and Jews. Moreover, the undergraduates are exposed to teachers  of different nationality and culture - American, British, Canadian, Russian, Georgian, which inevitably broadens their horizon.

Also, there is a code of honor, deeply embedded in the school’s tradition, which implies certain strict rules of behavior, like honesty, discipline, a sense of responsibility. I discussed this issue with Mr. Tim Smith, the College councilor, who  works hard at improving the students’ chances in applying at universities. He explained that, as far as the code of honor goes, they gave pupils a second chance, so offences done in the 8-th grade were not kept on record. But when the offences showed a recurrent pattern, strict sanctions were applied and the offences were put down on their record. Later, this information is passed on to prospective educational institutions in the US. The students are fully aware of this requirement in tune with the College’s mission to cultivate an acute sense of social responsibility.

 I also met Jill Newton, a biology teacher, who, unlike Bill Fisher and Tim Smith, was a newcomer to the college. She thought the kids were bright and eager to learn. But, in her opinion, they were a bit inhibited in expressing their point of view, compared to American kids who have no fear of doing it.

While walking around from one office to the next, from the library to the multimedia lab, from the biology to the chemistry lab, I could get the feel of the place where the youths seemed to be comfortable and at ease, always laughing and cheering. I watched them play basketball, strictly censuring each other, then other pupils, playing table tennis with “a coach” who supervised the fairness of the game, and some more inquisitive minds poring over books in the library, probably preparing their weekly essay.

While going around the college buildings, I had casual chats with students of a different age. What was common in their response was their sense of pride of belonging to such a reputable institution. They were strongly aware of the rare chance of being admitted on the basis of their wits and not on economic grounds. They all liked the liberal atmosphere where you could freely express your views and suit your various interests in the clubs. They appreciated they were looked after by their teachers as far as their plans of further education go. And most of all, for the excellent education that would give them better chances in the future. They all liked the intercultural atmosphere at the College, they thought it broadened their horizon and made life more exciting. Hopefully, on hindsight, they might think of the college years as the best time of their life.

On leaving the college, I contemplated the dignified outlines of the four buildings that have been beautifully restored and the spacious campus grounds that had turned into a jungle has regained much of their previous well‑groomed look. While enjoying the greenery around me I remembered a curious detail from the College’s history. When it moved to its present site, there was a rule - whenever a pupil did something wrong, he had to atone for his “sin” by planting a tree on the campus grounds. The “sin” had long been forgotten but the trees are still around, witnessing another “golden age” in the dramatic history of the American College in Sofia ...         

Sofia Western News Monthly, October 1998