The Department of Health Sciences is pleased to present Andrew Schaefer as our latest featured student.

Schaefer was selected as a featured student due to his wide variety of interests and hobbies. He is a wonderful artist, who is passionate about “proper football” (soccer), and cars. In addition, he surprised us all this year by demonstrating that he can speak fluent French. Schaefer never ceases to surprise us with his extensive range of knowledge and talents!

Schaefer’s hometown is Spring Hill, Florida, a long way from Illinois State. After taking many different classes in other areas of study at the community college in his hometown, Schaefer decided to take biology, microbiology, and medical terms. After completing these classes, he decided to focus on something in the health care field that still had a management aspect to it, so that it could relate to some of his previous job experiences in management.

Schaefer is an active student on campus and in his field of study, he is the Vice President of SHIMA, the Student Health Information Management Association. This is an association where students can coordinate and operate a professional organization, develop leadership skills, and meet HIM professionals/graduates and HIM students. He is also a member of SHAB, the Student Health Advisory Board, which helps communicate any health related needs and issues within the student body to Student Health Services.

One of Schaefer’s favorite experiences at Illinois State was the close relationships he was able to develop amongst the friends he made in his major. If he could give any advice to students today that are just starting their college career, it would be to find a balance between your social life and schoolwork, as well as getting to know your professors. One of Schaefer’s biggest role models is Jeremy Clarkson, an English broadcaster, journalist, and writer who specializes in motoring. Schaefer admires how forthright he is in his views and how brilliantly he presents his information. In the future, Schaefer hopes to get back to the warm weather, working as a supervisor of Health Information Management in either Arizona, California, or back to Florida.

Thank you, Andrew, for being a part of the Health Information Management family at Illinois State University!

Andrew Schaefer was recommended as a featured student from Jennifer Peterson, a Heath Information Management Program professor.

From Ms. Peterson: “Andrew was selected as a featured student due to his interesting mix of interests and hobbies. He has a wide range of interests which made it hard to for him to settle on his major, however, he eventually found health information management and has excelled in it. He is also a wonderful artist, passionate about “proper football” (soccer), and truly passionate about cars. In addition, he surprised us all this year by demonstrating that he can speak fluent French. Andrew never ceases to surprise us with his wide range of knowledge and talents!