By Sean Doherty
Student Reporter
College is a change for everyone. A new place, a new routine and a new-found freedom.
It is easy to get caught up in the day to day, hour to hour class schedules.
But so much of “higher education” does not come from a desk.
Just ask Braden Schnaufer. The 20-year-old senior biology major calls the town of Felt home. But that’s not where he is from.
“It’s kind of a culture shock,” Schnaufer said. “There’s a lot of different things I had no clue were going to happen.”
He started out at Panhandle State University in Goodwell for a year playing for the Aggies.
Then he went into the Army, completing basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, then working as a lab technician in San Antonio, Texas and Lawton, Oklahoma, all while continuing his education through George Washington University.
After a brief stint in Austin, Texas, Schnaufer came to Northwestern Oklahoma State University, where he was originally recruited, to continue his pre-med journey.
Next year he will be in Fort Benning, Georgia, continuing to serve the country.
Schnaufer’s journey is not a conventional one, but he continues to learn, not necessarily through the classroom, but through experiences and people.
“The ability to adapt is so important. I grew up a little faster and it helped me understand people a little bit better. I definitely think school is important, but physically experiencing and going through things has been more educational and have had more of a lasting impact.”
So much of what students learn in college cannot be found in a $200 textbook.
Wherever a student comes from, and wherever their educational journey takes them, their degrees are not earned through credit hours in a lecture hall. It is from the memories and people met along the way.