Janice Barajas, ‘14, is a freshman at William Jessup University, located in Rocklin.
Q: How did you like orientation?
A: I really enjoyed orientation. I moved in a day before most people, and I met my best friend that day. Since then everyone in my wing or dorm and I have gotten along well. That same weekend my parents came to Rocklin for Parents’ Day, and my mom asked if I had made a friend already. And by the time dinner finished, she said that my friend reminded her of my elementary-school best friend.
Q: What are you majoring in?
A: I am majoring in biology as a pre-med student to become a (physician’s assistant) or pediatric nurse.
Q: What’s the campus like?
A: My campus is pretty small, and it used to be a warehouse, but they changed it into a university. The original location moved from San Jose to Rocklin.
There’s a different sunset every day, and people post a picture of it every day on social media. It’s a beautiful setting because it feels like you’re at home, but you’re with a lot of people your age and you end up forgetting that WJU is a university, not your actual home.
Q: How is your dorm?
A: My dorm is fine; it’s a little packed because I have a triple room, but I actually like it. I’ve never had to share anything with anyone, so it’s a learning experience.
The only thing I don’t like is that on Sundays you can’t visit the opposite gender’s dorm, but Monday through Saturday you can during open hours, which are 6-10 p.m. (But the door can’t be locked or you get in trouble.) There is also a lot of supervision.
Q: How are you enjoying the food?
A: The food is good. The head cook used to work for Google. You can either go to the cafe (and) quickly get a meal with the meal exchange plan or (at) Starbucks, or you can go to The Shack and actually sit down and eat.
The food can get repetitive because it’s always chicken, pizza, pasta, taco Tuesdays and warrior wraps, and every now and then they change it up. The only thing you have to be careful with would be the hamburgers or cheeseburgers because everyone gets food poisoning from eating them. So far I have gotten food poisoning twice, so I don’t eat hamburgers as often.
Q: How are the other students?
A: I get along with everyone, and everyone is nice to me. Something that I enjoy is that our resident assistant (RA) always decorates the wing to make it feel like you are at home. People always hang out at our wing because they want to feel like they are at home.
Q: What classes are you enjoying?
A: I am enjoying math because I sit next to five of my closest friends, and the material that we are learning is interesting. Another class that I like is New Testament because the professor’s lectures are online and they get recorded, so during class you can either take notes, do homework, do extra credit or socialize with friends.
Q: Are there any classes that you don’t enjoy?
A: The class that I don’t enjoy as much is Contemporary Discipleship for freshmen because there are 227 students in the class.
Q: What are the advantages of living in Rocklin?
A: There are a lot of things that you can do off campus like go to the Roseville Galleria mall, Sky Zone, Dutch Bros, restaurants, or a shopping center known as The Fountains. There are also different events you can attend. For example, there was a circus and a haunted house.
Q: Any advice for the class of 2015?
A: Keep your options open and don’t stress out if you don’t get into your first choices. In the end you’re going to end up at the university that you belong to.
