I’m here to talk about my experiences at Nazareth College from one perspective: as a undergraduate student who lives over thousands and thousands miles away. My name is Angelo Jasa and I’m a marketing major with a music minor. I hail from the beautiful and luscious island of Guam.  I was born in the Philippines, moved to Singapore when I was five years old, moved to Guam when I was thirteen, and then moved here to Rochester to start my college career.  Queue the reaction . . . WAIT!? WHAT!? Where is that!? *GASP! Ok take away the gasp, I sometimes like to exaggerate. I often get reactions similar to this and it’s totally fine, let me explain (instead of telling you to “google it”).  Guam is an island located in the west side of the Pacific Ocean, and lies on the deepest part of the world, the Marianas Trench.  It took me about twenty two hours to fly from my first home, to my second.  It’s about a three hour flight to the Philippines, four to Tokyo, and about seven hours to Honolulu, Hawaii.  Finally, I’m not considered an international student because Guam is a United States territory and therefore I went to an American high school and I also took the SATs and all that jazz.  You may wonder . . . why Nazareth College? Why so far away? Why New York State of all places!? With all the snow and what not.  I used to be a music theater major, I applied and auditioned to colleges located in the east coast that offered the program.  I also made sure that the college had enough majors and programs that interested me, just in case I decided to change my major. Of course I looked at student to faculty ratios, campus safety, location, blahdeblahdeblah . . . and Nazareth College was perfect!

When it came to the whole college selection process, I dove in head first.  I really wanted to push myself to the best I can be, and I felt starting off with something I was passionate about helped me branch out to figure out what I really want to do.  Until this day, I still don’t know what I want to do, but I know Nazareth College has the tools and the instruction for me to eventually figure out it out.  Coming all the way from a small island to a totally different scene is scary.  Yes; I have had my moments of wanting to go back, and I still to do.  But, what I have learned is that the more you make your mistakes in an unknown place, the more likely you will succeed to better yourself later in the future wherever you end up.  My parents have always provided me the best education starting all the way from kindergarten until now, and I have tried to use every single second of my time at school to the best of my ability by trying out new things, creating connections through friendships and networking, and trying to succeed in everything I do.  Home maybe so far away from college, but the only way to succeed is to move forward, and moving to Rochester and going to Nazareth College is definitely a forward move for me.

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