Hello beautiful person(s)!
My name is Joel and I ‘was’ an
international student from a beautiful country called Malaysia. I turned 20
this year (2016) and have been living in Washington State since 2012. Now I say
‘was’ because I’m an officer cadet in the U.S. Army and ROTC at PLU and was
naturalized in early 2016! Before that though, I was an international student
at both Green River College in Auburn, WA and here at PLU! I left my
Malaysian high school in 2012 and came over to the US to finish my high school diploma
and college education at Green River College (GRC) in Auburn, WA. I graduated
from GRC in Spring 2014 and I transferred to PLU right after that.
I was a Senior at PLU, until the ROTC
program pretty much changed my life. Now I’m back to a Junior standing as I
have to stay a minimum of 2 years with ROTC before I’m allowed to commission.
Before, I was only a PR and Advertising major and Business Admin minor but now
I’m also a Computer Science major! I will now graduate and commission as a 2nd
Lieutenant in May 2018 from PLU and ROTC.
I chose to come to PLU because of the
small class sizes, excellent faculty and staff members (everyone here is so
nice and friendly) and just because I love the Pacific Northwest. I really
enjoy the food, weather (rain is awesome), and the scenery here in Washington.
If I went off my original plan, I would’ve graduated and probably left WA in
2016 but I’m really glad ROTC ‘forced’ (in a very good way) me to stay in this
amazing place for another 2 years.
I really do consider my current work
to be part of the enjoyable things that I do during my spare time; I plan fun
events, help recruit students and meet lots of new people. I started working
here at the Office of International Admissions in October 2014 and had to take
a break in January 2016 because I went to my basic and advanced individual
training with the Army in February 2016. It’s October 2016 right now and I’m so
glad to be back working here again! I’ve worked different jobs over the summer
including being a server at a restaurant, a sales associate at Vans and at a
phone kiosk at the Tacoma mall and of course, being a soldier at Fort Lewis but
working here at the International Admissions Office at PLU is unbeatable! :D
Lastly, PLU is great for those that
love campus involvement because there are so many ways to get involved here!
This includes and is definitely not limited to clubs, exciting events and
different job opportunities! That’s another reason why I chose to come to PLU. You
can also catch me playing soccer, running, working out and hanging out with my
friends!
Speaking of friends, I’m the guy in
the Seahawks jersey sitting next to Shunying, one of our ex-bloggers and
International Admission Intern here at PLU. We’re now both soldiers and the
other two guys across us are soldiers as well! That was a farewell dinner for the
person in glasses who just left for basic training with the Army in early
October.
I hope to see you at PLU soon. You
will definitely have an amazing experience if you choose to come here. Please
do have a wonderful day and take care.
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