Life At Ripon – Jacob Sahr ’16

Chapter 1: A Change of Pace for Senior Year

[Editor’s Note: Chuchen Tan ’16, Sara Driebel ’16, and Jacob Sahr ’16 are writing rotating monthly entries for the Ripon College Newsletter chronicling their senior year experiences. We hope you enjoy their perspectives on Life At Ripon!]

Senior year is finally here! The past three years, comprised of so many fantastic experiences, have been building to this. It has been quite the ride with all of the stress, excitement, thrills and chills, but every moment has been priceless. The memories made in my time at Ripon College so far have helped forged who I have become, preparing me to take on life post-college.

Before I start to reminisce too far down memory lane, I should introduce myself. The short bio simply reads that I am a double major, ROTC scholarship, 21 year-old senior who is seeking to be commissioned as an active duty infantry officer in the United States Army upon graduation. Obviously, who someone is is comprised of much more than a series of titles and has much more depth than such a simple explanation can give. Over the course of this school year I hope to delve into who I am by sharing the experiences Ripon has given me and as well as by sharing my journey this year as I cap my undergraduate adventure.

I will start by talking a little about my academic career and experience as a history and politics and government major with a military science minor. Currently, I am taking 12 credits. This is the least intense course load I have ever taken to date. I am currently enrolled in four classes: the senior ROTC course (four credits), elementary statistics (four credits), preparation for the History seminar (one credit), and the Politics and Government seminar (three credits). What this means for me is that I will be able to dedicate time to other things that I may have missed out on in other years. I will be able to be more active with student organizations, in the community, and with my friends and family. How this compares to all of my other semesters is astounding. For example, last year at this time I was enrolled in 24 credits (six four-credit courses). Other semesters have been 20, 18, or 19 credits. Although I have taken heavy course loads in the past, I have been fortunate enough to excel in my courses. I have earned a cumulative GPA of 4.0 and plan to maintain that throughout my final year.

This route of course completion over the past few years has made me academically battle-hardened. At many points it was grueling and, I imagine, a similar experience as to being forged by fire, but like diamonds, much of this pressure has pushed me, refining my ability to take on problems and anything else there is to come. What I am looking forward to this year is that I will be able to have a much lighter academic load, a few less all-nighters, much more sleep, and time to dedicate to producing respectable senior undergraduate theses for both history and politics and government.

As I wrap up for now, I should mention that I am an avid outdoorsman. As a hunter I am dedicating time this semester in order try my luck at bear hunting. The tag is good between September 9 and October 6. If luck is on my side I will be sharing with you a fantastic hunting story. But until then, I will be living in the moment for the last year of my undergraduate college career. Cheers!

Jacob Sahr ’16

Posted September 15, 2015 in Alumni, Student.

---

Related Posts