Student Profile: Jacob Poliskey
Jacob Poliskey’s experience at Alma College has helped him cross a few adventurous items off his bucket list, including immersing himself in another culture thanks to a Spring Term trip to Peru.
“I got to see Machu Picchu, explore the Incan Ruins in the outside of Cusco, learn more Spanish, and climb an 80-foot rock edifice,” he says. “I also became really good friends with a few people I didn’t know well before the trip.”
Airplanes aside, the biochemistry major expands his horizons through many different organizations on Alma’s campus, including Phi Mu Alpha, Catholic Student Organization and the Physics Club. Poliskey also does independent research with biochemistry professor Joe Beckmann.
“I like research because of the one-on-one time you get with your professors,” he says. “You quickly become familiarized with techniques commonly used in research and become comfortable using those techniques regularly instead of just doing one lab for one class and then never revisiting those skills again.”
One skill his overall experience at Alma has taught him? Independence, says Poliskey, who plans to pursue a doctorate before entering the medical field.
“Before Alma, I’ve always been very dependent on the people around me, but living independently has helped me to learn self-reliance,” he says. “I’m sure this experience at Alma will really help me in the future.”
