Trustee profile

After taking a year off after a 12-year term, Rim Hinckley returned to the Board of Trustees this year. Why? Because she believes in Christian education.

“Reconciliation is even more important today. The whole education system has lost what the true meaning of education is. Institutions like Messiah need to stand out and stand firm in their truth,” she said.

Education and faith have been intertwined in Hinckley’s life from the beginning. When her parents immigrated to Philadelphia from South Korea in the 1970s, the neighbors invited the family to church. Although her parents weren’t Christian at the time, they dropped her and her siblings off every Sunday in hopes the children would learn English by attending. At home, she learned four priorities: family, education, career and then religion.

“Religion was fourth. Actually, that’s not the proper order,” she said.

When it came time to attend college, she chose Messiah to deepen her faith. 

“I learned there are all different faith traditions, but they all love Jesus. Not everyone worships the same way. That was eye-opening,” she said. “I learned to depend on God alone, which I think is a great lesson at a Christian college,” she said. “Professors taught us how to think not what to think. Messiah teaches you how to live well, not just how to make a living.” 

She majored in mathematics with a certificate in secondary math and eventually opened her own school—The Geneva School of Manhattan—in 1996, which provides a classical Christian education from preschool through high school.

 “Serving on Messiah University’s board is an honor,” she said. “They are committed people who love God and love serving to help shape Messiah to where it is. I can play a small part.”

- Anna Seip