Student Spotlight

Alex Yashchuk

Major: Pharmacy
Minor: Spanish

Hi! I am Alex Yashchuk, and I am from a small town called Rockton, IL. I am a second-year majoring in Pharmacy with a minor in Spanish. I chose pharmacy for several reasons; I wanted to combine my desire to help people with a subject that I am very passionate about, Chemistry.

I chose the John Martinson Honors College because I instantly fell in love with the JMHC when I toured it, everything from the prestige, campus location, the house system, and in my opinion, the coolest part, the Honors Hall. After being in Honors for a year now, I can say that I absolutely love the community because it is incredibly hard working, prestigious, and involved on campus, yet also quite social and modest. I also love the college’s dedication to our four foundational pillars: Leadership Development, Community and Global engagement, Interdisciplinary Academics, and Undergrad Research. The JMHC also offers extensive classes, research, internship opportunities, and study away opportunities to fulfill these pillars.

Coming into honors, I thought that the community would be anti-social, uninvolved, and would spend most of their time studying. However, I could not be more wrong, as I quickly learned that Honors students are some of the most involved on campus. In my first year, I got to get incredibly involved with the Honors college, attending many events, and meeting many people that help run the college. As for Honors-related extracurriculars, I joined the hall club, in which we got to help plan events (game nights, movie nights, Halloween murder mysteries, and even a formal dance) for the Honors College. I also joined Omicron Delta Kappa; an honors society located right here in the JMHC. And of course, I promptly applied to be an Honors Ambassador which has been one of my favorite leadership roles thus far.

While I have not yet utilized the JMHC’s extensive study away opportunities (I plan to in the future), I have gone on a few volunteer trips abroad, not involved with Purdue. First of which was halfway through my first semester to Normandy, France. On this trip I had the honor of helping bring two World War II veterans—both over a hundred years old— to Normandy where we could retrace their steps as they fought in the war to end all wars. On this trip I got to meet many other European WWII veterans as well. It was certainly the trip of a lifetime. More recently in June of 2024, I had the honor of going on a month-long missionary trip to Mexico City in which I was able to get involved with an excellent community, plan a church camp, and teach guitar and chemistry classes. This was an opportunity and trip of a lifetime that exercised every single one of my abilities.

After all is said, I love to travel, and meet people and I am honored to be a student at the JMHC. For prospective students interested in Honors, my advice would be simply: be bold, and get involved in the community. You won’t just build relationships and memories that last; you’ll also have the time of your life.