This is the 90th article in Bears Doing Big Things, a weekly column celebrating the stories of notable M-A alumni.
Bob Rice ’91 is a spiritual leader currently serving in South Sudan, East Africa, teaching at churches and supporting reconciliation. “The diversity and connections I made at M-A really set the tone for the rest of my life and career,” he said.
Rice played soccer and baseball all four years at M-A and enjoyed AP European History with Bob Hasbrook, who led a trip to Europe for several students in the summer of his senior year. “He was a very inspiring teacher,” Rice said. “He was always pretty goofy, but really just brought history alive for us.”
“Being with people from different backgrounds, cultures, and ways of seeing the world was very important for me, especially now as I live in South Sudan because we live in a very diverse place in terms of people, languages, and cultures,” Rice said.
After M-A, Rice attended the University of Colorado Boulder, studying economics and history. “I went into college with a declared business major because my father had encouraged it, but economics was part of the school of arts and sciences, which gave me more freedom to take classes like literature and history,” he said. “I took the classes I wanted while also making my father happy.”
Following college, Rice returned to California and joined his father’s company, working as a tax accountant. “It didn’t ever bring me joy, and I felt like it wasn’t who I wanted to be,” Rice said.
After working in customer service at Nordstrom and Silicon Graphics computer hardware company, Rice was hired by his local church to work in ministry as an assistant to one of the pastors. “I really came back to my Christian faith at the end of college, and this was the first opportunity to break out of the traditional work environment and serve in the ways that inspired me,” he said.
Rice then moved to Rwanda after having visited several times on short-term mission trips with his church, where he focused on reconciliation and management work. He also pursued a Master of Divinity degree—a requirement for becoming a pastor in a Presbyterian Church.
Rice also spent seven years serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo, working alongside the church in their Department of Christian Education. In this role, he focused on helping both children and adults reflect on their faith. “The people I met in Congo, especially in the face of very challenging circumstances like poverty and war, are all very inspiring and put a lot in perspective for me as I taught them,” Rice said.
Currently, Rice works in South Sudan training young men and women to be involved in ministry and preparing them to serve as pastors and leaders both within the church and in their broader communities. “I never expected to be in this role, but it’s deeply rewarding every day,” he said. “To be around these people, to do life with them, and to learn with and from them, is the greatest blessing for me. It has really shown me how powerful faith in any way and any religious experience can be.”
Rice’s advice to current M-A students: “In such polarized times, develop empathy and compassion for everyone around you. Reach out to those who are different and similar, and pay attention to people who are struggling in one way or another. You never know the friendships you could gain.”
