Sophomore Jacelyn Jorgensen has been named Student Speaker for McCook Community College’s Commencement ceremony Friday in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center. The ceremony starts at 10 a.m.
Jorgensen, grew up in Paxton, about 99 miles from the McCook Community College campus. Her parents are both coaches and teachers, and she loved growing up in small town, not far from the Broz family farm near Hayes Center.
Whenever the subject of where to attend college came up, MCC was always in the forefront – in part because Jorgensen’s mother Lindsey attended MCC, played basketball and “had a really good experience here.”
Coach Brandon Pritchett reached out in the recruiting process, and after touring campus, learning about the programs and taking dual credit classes in high school, “McCook just felt right.”
Despite all the familiarity, she was intimidated when she first arrived on campus. Her world had extended not by miles, but by continents. Her new teammates were from Latvia, Sweden, Australia, Germany and Spain. Her fellow students came from Canada, England, Serbia, South Sudan, Scotland, France, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia and Turkey.
Her freshman roommate in Brooks Hall was from Spain and Jorgensen recalls casually trying to tell her that she was going downstairs to eat supper – something she done for 18 years.
“My roommate had no idea what I was talking about. Supper? And I thought ‘this is going to be a long year,” she said.
It took a few weeks to settle in, build a routine, make good connections and focus on communicating better. Her strong academic foundation made for a smooth transition in the classroom and gradually that initial feeling of being overwhelmed led to growth and understanding – particularly in the gym where she went from a small D2 high school program to “basketball in six languages.”
“There was so much that I learned – about myself, about the game, about how others play basketball,” she said.
She earned President’s List honors in both semesters of her freshman year and was named to the NJCAA All-Academic First Team with a 4.0 GPA. On the court, she appeared in just over half of MCC’s games, averaging six minutes per contest. She also became involved in the International Club during her freshman year.
Over the summer she ran the Paxton swimming pool and despite being away from the MCC campus, she developed a plan for an even better sophomore year.
“I knew I was only going to play two years of college basketball and that it was going to be my final year at McCook. I wanted to make the most of it, relax, and have fun. And I wanted to and make more connections,” she said.
She achieved that goal. On the court she played in all 31 games and started three, with a much larger role on the team. More importantly, she felt more relaxed on the court, and she was having fun. That all culminated with a dramatic last-second, postseason tournament win at home against the four-time defending Region IX championship team from Casper, Wyo.
After joining just one group her freshman year – the International Club – Jorgensen became a student ambassador as a sophomore, giving campus tours to prospective MCC families. She joined Phi Theta Kappa and Student Senate and started working security as well as being a resident assistant. At MCC’s Honors Convocation in April, Jorgensen received the award for outstanding student in the social sciences division and received the Estella LaRue Scholarship for a student transferring to a four-year school planning to major in Education.
“Being able to be a part of so many different organizations, was really the key to my year. It’s so rewarding to give back to the college and community through these organizations,” she said.
All of it helped her grow and gave her confidence – enough so that when she saw posters on campus with details about applying to be this year’s commencement speaker, she didn’t immediately dismiss the idea. With encouragement from advisors and instructors, she applied.
“There is no way I would have even thought about applying for student speaker a year ago at this time,” she said.
Through it all, the primary goal of her time at MCC was to become an elementary teacher. Taking education courses with Tyler Esch helped narrow her focus. She was able to gain experience teaching, combined with “what-if” in-class discussions.
“I learned so much about the logistics of teaching and about the resources for teachers and I gained enough experience that I knew teaching was for sure what I want to do.”
She plans to transfer to a four-year school and become an elementary teacher. “I’d love to teach third grade, I think that is the perfect age.”
She also took psychology classes with Loretta Hauxwell – and started taking an online Spanish class with the goal of certification.
“When my teammates found out I was taking Spanish class, they started making me practice conversations a lot and quizzing me and working with me.”
A full-circle moment – from “communication issues” at supper as a freshman to finding “communication solutions” as a sophomore with help from those who didn’t fully understand her language a year ago. From a small nearby Nebraska town with 16 people in her graduating class, Jacelyn Jorgensen decided to “lean into” the uncertainty of a newer, bigger world and found fresh perspectives, inspiration, and endless opportunities from new friends coming to McCook from all over the world.