The plane soared high above the mountains.

The ocean waves crashed along the shore.

The South African coastline beckoned.

Although economically poor, the area was spiritually rich. South Africa was the opposite of what Alana Toolie had imagined: beautiful and amazing.

With the help of the study abroad program, Toolie, a senior accounting major, found a summer home in Rondebosch, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa.

She felt welcome and was never homesick for the United States, where she had lived all her life.

“You can’t capture it in pictures. You can’t capture it in words,” Toolie said. “All I can say is ‘Come on, get on the plane and let me show you how it is.’ “

After her five-month stay last summer, Toolie hopes to find a home away from home for other minority students through study abroad.

Last spring, Toolie entered the Office of Study Abroad and has been a part of it ever since. She began working there in November.

Toolie is the only black student working for the office.

“Alana takes her work very seriously,” said Emily Brueseke, coordinator of study abroad and Toolie’s boss. “She has a passion for what we do.”

Minority-student interest has increased compared to previous years because of Toolie’s aggressive recruiting and peer groups, Brueseke said.

“If I could just get one or two people to experience what I’ve experienced, then I feel that it will trickle down,” Tooley said. “I’ve just got to get that one person.”

Toolie overcame many hardships, including losing her father at a young age and experiencing Hurricane Katrina.

After leaving her family in Chicago, Tooley traveled to New Orleans to attend Dillard University, a historically black college of about 2,300 students.

“She loved it,” said Jiavanna Whooper, Toolie’s older sister. “She was drawn to it.”

The sisters, born only 15 months apart, communicated through phone calls.

After working an entire summer to earn the money for everything she needed for life at Dillard, Toolie lost everything but the clothes on her back and her laptop, Whooper said.

Toolie left behind her new home and family to attend Eastern Illinois University when the hurricane destroyed New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005.

“(Toolie) is a champion,” said Bill Joyce, associate professor in the School of Business. “If I had 600 people like her, then I could take on the world. We’ll all say, ‘I knew her when.’ I think she’s destined for greatness.”

When homesickness and stress at school became too much, Toolie decided to escape – to Africa.

Through study abroad and the help of financial aid and loans, Toolie attended the University of Cape Town from July to November last year. She wants to return after she graduates in spring 2008.

She returned to Eastern’s campus refreshed and with strengthened faith.

Toolie was ready to promote the program, integrity, accountability, leadership and God.

She had received her defining moment, said Jimmy Rice, chief ministry officer of the Abundant Faith Christian Center in Springfield.

Toolie returned from Africa with hope and a sense of renewal that will propel her to her next level, he said.

“She has a larger view of the goals that she’s set for herself,” said Brenda Major, director of admissions. “She has a stronger commitment to serve.”

Although many people had a positive first impression of Toolie, Bilon Schultz, a 2006 graduate, did not.

The two met in a Spanish class during the fall of 2005, Toolie’s first semester.

“She annoyed me a lot,” Schultz said.

Her perception of Toolie soon changed after she invited Toolie to a church service. Their faith created a “commonality” and the two have been best friends since, equally contributing to the relationship.

Toolie has had an affect on the lives of many people around campus since she first arrived after Hurricane Katrina.

Africa had an affect Tooley.

She returned with a different perspective nationally and globally, Joyce said.

Today, Toolie is more culturally conscience and aware of her African-American heritage, Schultz said.

“I never thought that Hurricane Katrina, transferring schools, would all be a part of God’s master plan to get me to Africa to experience what I’ve experienced, to gain the relationships that I gained, and just grow so much,” Toolie said.

Toolie now sees Eastern as her home away from home.