During New Student Convocation each year, Smith Jackson, vice president and dean of Student Life, selects four new students to hilight. By describing their accomplishments, challenges and future goals, Jackson unifies the incoming class. Jackson said there are more than four outstanding students in the class of 2016, but these represent what it means to be an Elon University student.

In this four part online series, read about each of this year’s honored students. Be sure to check the print edition today for an in-depth story about Jackson’s selection process, the history of the tradition and more about those chosen to represent Elon.

Jessica Schult

Hometown: Orefield, P.A.

Q: Why did you move to Singapore? What was it like?

A: I lived in Singapore for the past six years because my dad’s job took him there. He works in an industrial gases and chemicals industries, hes a business manager there. But he also mentioned that I majored in environemtal science, im a suba diver. When we moved out to Singapore my parents were like ‘Hey you’re really interested in underwater stuff, so would you be interested in getting certified to scuba dive?’ And so I’ve been doing all sorts of stuff with that ever since. I just got my dive masters certification this summer. So basically I’m allowed to lead people around, legally.

Q: Was the transition difficult?

A: When I moved out there I expected it to be a lot different. My dad described it as a tropical little island nation, so I was expecting palm trees and huts and stuff, as a sixth grader would, but it’s a lot different than that, it’s so modern, and everywhere you go there’s all the different brands that you’d see here, and people often ask if we’re behind on social media, but we’re not.

Q: I've heard you have visited Nepal. How did you decide to go there?

A: Caring for Cambodia is another big organization, and my mom and I had been on several trips with those sort of organizations, and they’re great, but we didn’t feel like we were doing any sort of hands on activities with any of the people that we met, so we wanted to do smaller activities that we could control more. So we found an organization for Nepal that’s called the Himanchal Education Foundation, and we went to this village that they sponsor and got involved there.

To learn more about Jessica, pick up this week’s edition of The Pendulum newspaper.