The Department of Health Sciences welcomes Jack Abel as the featured student for February 2018. Abel was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and raised in Bloomington, Illinois. He chose Illinois State because it was close to home and offered an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredited safety program.
Ever since he was a child, Abel always wanted to help people. In high school, he was a lifeguard. His first year of college he became the youngest member in the Bloomington Township Fire Department, and earned his Emergency Medical Technician Basic certificate. He enjoyed all of his jobs, but realized he would rather help prevent accidents instead of responding to them. He researched many different majors, but none excited him like the Safety Program. Abel said, “I remember walking out of my first safety class and knowing it was what I was meant to do. Now I’m almost done with all of my safety classes and I loved every minute of them.”
Abel is an outgoing and hard-working individual. In addition to being an Emergency Medical Technician Basic and a Basic Firefighter; he is a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, an Eagle Scout, and competes in physique competitions.
Abel is eager to start his professional career and hopes to pursue a career as a safety consultant or a safety manager for a manufacturing plant. His advice to future Redbirds is, “To really focus of schoolwork and studying. College has a lot of things to distract you, but you should always make your classes a priority.”
Thanks Jack, for being a part of the Safety Program at Illinois State!
Abel was recommended as a featured student from Associate Professor David Grieshaber, the safety program director. “Jack is a committed student with a fun family history of safety.” – David Grieshaber
