One mantra that has guided me throughout my life is “Be confident, yet humble”. Hello everyone, my name is Jerod Han, and I currently live in Northern Utah. Being the oldest of eight, I was given many opportunities to learn and direct people. I learned at a young age; I was a people-person, and people would follow me because of disposition. For example, if my friend’s parents knew they were going out with me, they did not have a curfew, but if they went out with another friend, they had a curfew.  During high school, I played football, wrestled, and I also played baseball during high school, and I was good. Baseball was my first love, and I looked for every opportunity to hone my skills. Through my athletic career, I learned that if I worked harder than everyone, I would be rewarded. At the beginning of my senior year, I chose to move to Las Vegas with my grandparents because of the living conditions at home with my parents.  I loved living in Las Vegas and took full advantage of the warm weather to play baseball. At the end of the senior year, I was drafted into the minor leagues into the Padres organization. This was a dream that I never thought would come true.  I played for two seasons, but I felt unfulfilled and chose to serve a mission for my church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the summer of 1997, I was called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the Washington DC North mission. These were the hardest two years of my life because I had to forget my own desires and help others with their desires. This experience helped me learn more about myself in the areas of self-development and I gained interpersonal skills that would serve me the rest of my life. I learned how to get along with people that I did not like and I also learned that I can do hard things. When I came home during the summer of 1999, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life.

 

In the winter of 2007, I decided to move to Utah to be closer to my family. Within two weeks, I met the love of my life, Belinda, and we have lived happily ever after. But the story does not end there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the age of thirty-one, I chose to pursue my education. Growing up I hated school and found no joy in it. I started at a junior college because I had been out of high school for over 14 years and my grades from high school were terrible. The first semester I attended college, I received a 3.9 GPA. During that semester that I knew I could go further with my education and set my view on Brigham Young University. I transferred to Brigham Young University in the fall of 2011. I was not prepared for that first year of university, but I worked hard and I finally graduated in April 2015. After graduation, I was not going to further my education, but I knew deep down that there would be more education in my future.

 

In the fall of 2016, I started at Gonzaga University and I have enjoyed every minute. From all of my life’s experience, I have been able to take all of them in furthering my education at Gonzaga University. Even though Gonzaga University has been my most recent stop, I feel like it is the beginning of my new journey. On this new journey, many opportunities are being presented to me and choices are being presented that were not there before I started my journey. My family and friend were not given these choices because they were not willing to put in the time or effort into getting what they wanted. If getting a college degree were easy, everyone would have one, but they do not. I never thought this journey could be so sweet and at times I did not know where the journey would leave me, but I have learned that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. And that is at Gonzaga University.