Transfer students bring wealth of experience

Jake Taylor’s college career began a bit differently – he started at another four-year college, Evergreen State College.

He decided he wasn’t that wasn’t the best place for him, so he decided to take the long road, taking courses at North Seattle and Tacoma community colleges before arriving at the PLU campus.

The trip has given him a wealth of information and experience from which to compare notes. For Taylor, his previous experiences didn’t allow him to get what he wanted out of the university experience – namely a personal connection.

“As some of the other schools, I really had to put myself out there to meet new people, and that was hard,” he said. “Here, I can do that. This place has been really accepting and open-minded – people can really be themselves here.”

That has certainly been the case for on the men’s soccer team, for which Taylor plays. The younger players, which is just about everyone, call him “uncle.” He laughs at that, but notes that it’s been a great teaching experience – he’s teaching some of the fellow players Spanish, and he’s learning some Norwegian.

Taylor plans to major in global studies and journalism, and take those skills back to Tumaco, Columbia, where he plans to do volunteer work in literacy camps. The area is very important to him.

He was adopted at an early age, and lived in Gig Harbor, Washington, but Tumaco is where his birth parents are from. He relishes the opportunity to return and give back.