Courier

Media Credit: Brian Warouw Jason Herbert's journey has taken him from the far-off contry of South Africa to PCC.

Coupled with a sense of hesitancy that so often comes when college students are asked to describe themselves is, at least for Jason Herbert, a rarified sense that he is considering a truthful answer.

"Well, I'm very hardworking," he said before interjecting the comment with a disclaimer: "How am I supposed to answer this without sounding my own trumpet? I'm too modest."

The 21-year-old psychology major, better known on campus as the Associated Students' vice president of academic affairs, doesn't like making characterizations. Herbert will insist, in a lilting accent that isn't quite American, that he is actually "quite bad at making judgment calls."

But it was a judgment call-not to mention a leap of faith-that led Herbert to the U.S. four years ago this winter to attend PCC, leaving behind Whiteriver, Mpumalanga, his hometown three hours outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. And though Herbert had steeled himself for the move from South Africa in order to pursue higher education in the U.S., it didn't prepare him for the culture shock that would lead to academic probation in his first three semesters at the college.

His GPA dipped down to a 1.7 before he realized his unhappiness with the situation.

And for a person whose life and lineage can be mapped out across the globe-his father is British, his mother Canadian; he and his sister are both adopted and have never met their biological parents-the only place he yearned to be was Whiteriver.

"I remember being on a holiday back home," Herbert said. "I was with my mates, having a pint and telling them all the reasons why I was unhappy and they basically told me: 'Look, we want you to have this opportunity. An American degree holds a lot of weight and not everyone gets this chance, so do it for us.' And that's what made me stay."

To hear him speak about the subsequent turnaround, in which he got out of academic probation, joined academic honor society Alpha Gamma Sigma, was tapped for faculty-run society OMD and was elected to AS, is surprising not only for its clichéd quality but also because when he tells it, the opportunity for cliché is instead replaced by sincerity.

"It's simple," said Student Trustee Brian Abadia, who has worked closely on AS with Herbert. "Jason has a heart of gold. He works extremely hard. He goes out of his way to contact all the deans [for his committee]. Ask any dean, they all know who he is."

In addition to his position as vice president of academic affairs, Herbert is also chair of the academic commission, which is responsible for the academic well being of students on campus.

For someone who has summited Mount Kilimanjaro (the highest mountain in Africa), which he called "bloody difficult," the hardest thing about school is not doing the homework, studying or running from one AS meeting to another: it's simply being here.

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