Lilli had not said a word in a year when she went for her first adjustment. She immediately said two words and continued to improve with further treatment. The most noticeable changes Jasen and Jennifer have seen include a dramatic reduction of Lilli’s seizures and insomnia, an increase in her spoken words, and an improved gait. She still has her bad days and still has seizures, but her quality of life is greatly improved, and her parents are elated. Because they needed health insurance, Jasen went back to school and took enough courses in a “career-switch program” to get a job teaching. He taught middle school math and science for three years in Virginia. By that time their second daughter, Chloe, now four years old, had been born. It was when he found himself counseling another father with a child with cerebral palsy that he began to consider another career switch, this time to chiropractic. For Jasen, who is in his late 30s, it was a major decision to leave the security of his teaching job and come to Sherman, bringing his family to an unfamiliar place and taking the leap of faith to study chiropractic. And he was encouraged in that decision by his chiropractor in Charlottesville, Chadwick Hawk, D.C., the same man who had first adjusted Charles Agbetsoamedo in Ghana. “It was hard to leave the stability of an established career to go back to school,” Jasen said of the decision he made in the fall of 2009. “I wouldn’t have done it if I had not considered chiropractic such a noble profession. I love the thought of going out and helping someone else.”
nerve interference that subluxations cause, Jasen says, “I want to give hope to parents with no hope,” thinking back to the desperate days when he and Jennifer were searching for an answer that would help their own child. “When I was in school at Indiana University of Pennsylvania almost 20 years ago, it never crossed my mind that I would seek a career in chiropractic,” he says. But he points with pride to the fact that his alma mater now offers a degree in natural science with a pre-chiropractic track. The path certainly hasn’t been an easy one, but Jasen is firm in his convictions. “I have no regrets. I know that this is what I’m supposed to do.”
In the Minority Al Coston, Jr., at age 39, like fellow student Jasen, falls into a group of students who represent less than 10 percent of Sherman’s student body. When he was considering a career switch to chiropractic, he says that his age was a concern for him.
Though he has barely begun the program, it’s easy for Al to look forward to June 2014 when he will graduate. His current plan is to return to Michigan, but looking back on his time in the Army, he is also considering serving as a commissioned officer and doctor of chiropractic in the military. “I love the idea of serving my country and serving those who serve our country,” he says.
Through a series of phone conversations with Sherman Admission Representative Daria Winnicka, the married father of five daughters went through a methodical process of investigating his options and came to the conclusion that attending Sherman was the best choice for both himself and his family.
Since coming to Sherman, Jasen and Jennifer have welcomed their third child, Josh, now almost a year old. In answer to the question of where they will go next, he answers, “Wherever God takes us.”
“I wasn’t sure at my age if I would fit in,” Al says of his questions about becoming part of that minority of older students when he enrolled at Sherman in October 2010. “But everyone here stepped up and offered help. I was pleasantly surprised, and that speaks to the character of the school.”
What the seventh-quarter student does know is that he’s looking forward to graduating in 2013 and opening a family practice with an emphasis on children with special needs. Understanding now that all bodies function best without the
And age wasn’t his only concern. Unlike most of his classmates, he had little background in sciences. His circuitous journey to chiropractic had taken him through more than one career change and an undergraduate degree in business from
Initially worried about being an older student, Al says he has found plenty of academic and emotional support at Sherman College.
STRAIGHT FROM SHERMAN
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