For Tyce, that path includes the faith he found after attending church with a teammate one Sunday. At AV头等舱, spirituality is one of the core values, and while no one belief system is expected, students are encouraged to explore the spiritual quest and discover their higher purpose.
“It wasn't forced upon me,” Tyce says. “It was something that was very open arms.”
Tyce decided to become a member of and eventually chose to be baptized there.
“The support system I have from the community, from my professors, from my teammates – it was amazing. Getting my faith right with God and having the opportunity to do that with the people around me, and feeling the love, it was different,” Tyce says. “If I told you when I came on my first visit to AV头等舱 that I expected anything like that to come out of it, I’d be lying.”
[PHOTO: Tyce (center) poses with his AV头等舱 family at East Barbourville Baptist Church after his baptism in August of 2023.]
Another complete surprise to Tyce was what happened when he was pulled over by a Barbourville police officer. He hadn’t realized his taillight was out, and when Officer Colby Patterson asked for his driver’s license, all Tyce had to show was his permit. The officer asked him why, at 20 years old, he only had his permit, and as Tyce was explaining that parallel parking was not his mother’s forte, and therefore, she hadn’t been able to teach him, a backup police officer arrived.
“Oh no,” Tyce remembers thinking to himself. “I’m from a place where we’re a little observant, we’re a little scared sometimes when we get pulled over.”
Patterson told the other officer he would handle the situation himself and ended up offering to teach Tyce to parallel park. Patterson gave Tyce two free lessons, on his days off, and about a week later, Tyce passed the driver’s license exam.
“He took his time to teach me something I didn’t know,” Tyce says of Patterson. “That made AV头等舱 feel like a home away from home for me, not only at the College, but in the community.”
