student

Jacob Brittingham '14

Biology, Theatre Performance | Point of Rocks, Md.

When I first started looking at colleges I didn’t plan to double major. I knew I wanted to attend a school with an open theater program, where nonmajors got to audition for productions. But my plan was to focus on biology. So when I arrived at Susquehanna, I entered with one major—biology.

In fact, my plan was to not do any theater shows right away, to get plugged in to my major. By chance, a friend encouraged me to audition for The Full Monty my freshman year, and I got a role. After the production, I had such an amazing experience that I realized that I had to study theater while at Susquehanna. So that’s how I became a double major.

My professors have been very supportive of my pursuing a double major. Once I got to know them and we talked about how I enjoyed both disciplines, we worked together to map out a plan for my coursework. Classes and rehearsals and research keep me incredibly busy, but I thrive on performing well in those varied roles.

The liberal arts introduce you to a lot of new and diverse ideas. For me, combining theater and science offers a duality that fuses together to form a great thing. My biggest reward in studying such contrasting majors is the people I meet. Everyone offers something new and everyone has their own story. That experience helps in trying to figure out a new way to do things. The more things you learn, the more you can look at things from a different point of view.

I plan to go to graduate school for biology. And then, I want to work as a spokesperson for the sciences in some way. I’d love a role educating people on critically important, but complicated issues that may be occurring. There’s a real need for experts who can communicate scientific concepts to the general population and that’s something I know I can do extremely well. When there’s something huge going on —maybe even a life-or-death issue for some—I want people to understand it.