Despite Elizabethtown College being a small school compared to most of the colleges in the area, it is nearly impossible to know all of the students on campus. Each one of them has their own unique story on how they came to attend Etown, and it is important to know that their story is important. One such example is the tale of junior Jacob Schell.
Schell is a nontraditional student at 26 years old. He hails from Mount Pleasant Mills, Pa. near Selinsgrove, Pa. Growing up, he enjoyed spending time doing normal teenage things while hanging out with his siblings.
“I have a twin brother and an older sister that I spent most of my life with doing stuff like hanging out outside, playing video games,” Schell said.
All throughout high school, Schell was a straight A student. Still, he did not have a clear idea of what he wanted his future career to be. Straight after graduating, he attended a technical school in Lancaster, Pa. and majored in business administration.
“They didn’t offer a lot of classes, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do at the time,” Schell said.
After a year of attending this school, Schell realized that business administration was not the path for him. He dropped out and decided to enter the local workforce to see if he could find a job that suited him.
“I went through a couple of jobs over the next couple of years, and again, I didn’t like what I was doing,” Schell said.
When Schell realized that he needed to change his future plan, he looked first to his interests. For a long time, he has been fascinated with Japanese and general Asian culture. He began looking for colleges that offered Japanese courses, and he found Etown. To see if Etown was the place for him, he decided to try to take a Japanese course.
“I was like, you know what, let’s give this a try,” Schell said, “and three years later now, it’s actually really interesting, so I’m glad I made the decision to go here.”
Schell is now a Japanese/Asian Studies major with a studio art minor. Since he was unable to study abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as going to classes on campus. Schell is also taking online courses at a university in Osaka, Japan.
“It’s a little difficult because I got a couple quizzes coming up not only in my Japanese class on campus but the Japanese classes online,” Schell said.
After graduating, Schell hopes to join the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program. JET is a major international program that allows for people of all cultures to come to Japan to teach or work in local jobs. Schell’s main goal is to teach English or some other school subject in a Japanese high school.
Good luck to Jacob Schell as he continues his journey to hopefully end up in Japan!
