Generations apart, grandmother and grandson share special Centre bond

Simon Forsting, class of 2026, will spend the fall attending college in Taiwan. He will be taking classes on the campus of National Taiwan University (NTU) through Centre’s Study Abroad Program.

Following his adventures from back home will be his grandmother, Burva Whitehurst Stanley ’50. As a student at Centre, Stanley volunteered to support American education initiatives in China during the Chinese Civil War  — a time of enormous upheaval across the region.

Now 96, she has witnessed seismic changes in East Asia that Forsting, a neuroscience major from Louisville, Kentucky, has only encountered in history books.

Stanley said she was proud Forsting opted to follow in her footsteps and attend Centre, a connection he also found significant.

“It was important to me when she wanted me to go to Centre. She’s so proud,” Forsting said. “We have walked the same campus — figuratively and literally. Grandmother was here 75 years ago.”

Starting in September, he will spend the semester in Taipei, studying at the island nation’s top-ranked university. Centre’s partnership with NTU launched in the fall 2024 semester and gives students the opportunity to participate in the International Chinese Language Program.

Forsting’s venture abroad is especially significant for Stanley, who was active across campus as a Centre student in the 1940s. While her experience and her grandson’s are separated by decades, their shared connection to Centre and its global mission unites them.

Stanley, an Ashland, Kentucky, native, was president of the women’s student council, served as associate editor of the Cento, was a member of the homecoming court, a member of the women’s athletic association, and was elected president of the women’s division of her class as a junior. She also served on a committee that, according to the 1949 Centre Yearbook, “raised funds for maintaining a professor” at Zhijiang College (known then by the Americanized spelling Hangchow College).

Centre had a deep connection with Zhijiang College as former President Robert J. McMullen served on the faculty there. He returned to the U.S. after being detained in a Japanese prison camp and was elected to serve as Centre’s 22nd president in 1944. He left office the year before Stanley arrived at Centre.

Stanley’s involvement in the committee took her to Syracuse, New York, for a national convention. The committee also organized campus events each year to support the Chinese college, which was founded by American Presbyterian missionaries in 1845.

Stanley remained at Centre following her graduation and served first as secretary to the dean of women and was named acting dean of women in 1952.

After leaving Centre, she taught eighth-grade English in the Danville School system and married the late Barney Stanley, who served as advertising manager for the Danville Advocate-Messenger newspaper. After the couple relocated, first to Washington, D.C. and later Fredericksburg, Virginia, Burva returned to teaching. She recalls drawing upon her Centre experiences to help manage some particularly spirited pupils.

“The students were happy to tell me that they’d run off five teachers during the last year,” she said. “I followed the strategy that I learned from Dr. [Charles] Hazelrigg at Centre and was firm with them. It worked. … When Barney and I returned to Fredericksburg to visit, students told me that I was the best teacher that they’d ever had. I’ll credit Charlie Hazelrigg and Centre for teaching me how to be independent, confident and flexible.”

Forsting has drawn inspiration from his grandmother’s journey and will carry that forward during his time abroad in Taiwan.

“At Centre you can chart your course,” he said. “A passionate student can go where they want [and] build something impactful, like Grandmother taking the role as Acting Dean of Women when she was so young.

“Hearing about how grandmother made change is inspiring, and I know that students can still make change at Centre. I’m proud that Centre continues to encourage us to see the world and shape it for the better.”