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The first time Jessup李基 heard about Dordt University was when he received a text message from one of Dordt’s 足球 coaches.

“He mentioned that the 足球 program was interested in me, and he would like me to come up for a skills camp to show them what I could do,杰瑟普说. “I was very anxious after reading that text because Dordt was the first school to take serious interest in me.”

He immediately checked out Dordt’s website and was interested to see that Dordt had a strong Christian culture. He’d originally been planning to attend college close to his hometown of 独立,密苏里州, 但他决定去多特的校园看看.

美丽的校园, 农业管理中心, and the 教授 I got to meet made it nearly impossible not to come to Dordt,他说. “我在大学里主要关注的是信仰, 足球, 和农业, 在拜访多特之后, 这是 easy to see that all my areas of interest were present at Dordt.”

He grew up on a family row crop farm, so he figured studying plant science would be a natural fit. But he wasn’t exactly sure what to do in plant science until he connected with one of his agriculture 教授.

“I’m grateful for Professor Jeremy Hummel who guided me through my academic journey and single-handedly inspired me to pursue a career in plant science,他说. “没有哈梅尔教授, I would still be confused about where I belong at Dordt and in the world of agriculture. Along with outstanding 教授 in the 农业 Department, 这些课程本身就很出色.”

他也很感激, 刚刚过去的这个夏天, he was able to work as an intern agronomist through Corteva Agriscience.

“This was a new step for me because I hadn’t worked in the research side of agriculture, 这让我很紧张, but because of the things I learned in my time at Dordt I was able to use lessons from class to succeed at Corteva.”

今年, he works as the feed barn manager for the cattle out at 农业管理中心. He works alongside ASC steward Mike Schouten. Having previously had no experience working with cattle, he now feels confident in his cattle management abilities.

毕业后, Jessup hopes to go into conservation through the government, with a goal of conserving and sustaining agriculture in the United States.

Jessup has played 足球 competitively for 17 years of his life. Growing up, he says, 足球 wasn’t necessarily fun; 这是 more like a job.

“我高中的球队是一个6人班的学校, meaning 这是 the highest most competitive level of 足球 where there was no room for failure, so being able to play for that program involved a lot of extra time up in outside of 足球,他解释道. “Growing up in that environment and then moving to Dordt 足球 was a major difference. Dordt 足球 is a family and faith-centered team that is so much fun to play for.”

He's made some strong friendships in the past four years, and he’s found that the coaches spend time not only coaching 足球 but helping him and the other players to embody four pillars: build men, 荣耀神, 国的影响, 激烈竞争.

除了足球和学术, Jessup has found a niche on campus by helping to organize on-campus pool tournaments. His father was a professional billiards player at one point in life, and Jessup has always been interested in following in his father’s footsteps. He and another Dordt student had an idea: what if they organized a pool tournament for men on campus? They spoke with Student 服务 staff, who helped make the dream a reality.

“We created an organized tournament with prizes that we knew people would be interested in such as free pizza and a trophy,杰瑟普说. “The most enjoyable part of the first tournament was running it. We made sure that there was no bias in the teams playing each other and that the tables and racks were perfect by managing each table.”

At the first tournament, there were 18 teams; by the second tournament, there were 25 teams.

Looking back at his Dordt experience, Jessup is grateful for the many people he’s been able to meet.

“我大一的时候, there was only one other person at Dordt from the state of 密苏里州, which made it hard for me to feel that I belonged, but after meeting people on the 足球 team and other students, 我觉得更自在了,他说. “It almost feels like everyone at Dordt such as the students, 教授, and even those in the community welcome us with open arms. 内向的人, it might not seem easy to make new friends in a new place 400 miles from home, 但在多特, 这是. I can think of so many people here that will be my lifelong friends, and I have only known them for four years at most.”