Jacob Mitchell says Guilford's faculty and staff know you as a person, not a number.
Jacob wanted a college that knew him by his name, not by a number. He found that unique community at Guilford.
When he closed his eyes and imagined college, the high school version of Jacob Mitchell ’25 always dreamed big.
Big as in big school. Big campus. Big classes. “I always dreamed I’d be in the student section watching Division I football games surrounded by a lot of other students,” says Jacob. “Everything was always big.”
Jacob smiles thinking about those big dreams because when it came time to pick a college, while a student at Surry Early College High School, he picked Guilford, a college where class sizes are measured in the tens, not hundreds. A place where, as Jacob says, “you can see all of the campus no matter where you’re standing.”
And that’s fine with Jacob, who instantly fell for Guilford’s small-school charm and intimate, nurturing community.
About that community: Jacob grew up in Dobson, N.C., a town of 1,400 people where fields of tobacco and corn recede into the horizon; where roads are colored by red-brick churches and wrap-around porches and neighbors who know each other.
Community – back home and here at Guilford – is important to Jacob.
He says the College’s tight-knit community convinced him bigger isn’t always better. He says he’s always possessed an innate curiosity to how people interact with one another. “Everybody needs community,” he says. “That’s not to say you can’t go off and be by yourself from time to time, but eventually we need each other and Guilford allows us to come together and support each other.”
Jacob didn’t waste time getting to know and add to Guilford’s community. He was an Ethical Leadership Fellows Scholar and was part of the Guilford Christian Ministry and Office of Student Leadership & Engagement. He became Student Body President. He loves how Guilford’s community – students and faculty – are so supportive of one another.
Jacob says Guilford’s community makes it difficult to stand on the sidelines as an observer. “The community here, the environment that makes it open to have important conversations and care about your classmates is special. You want to be more involved.”
Jacob, a double major in Religious Studies and Philosophy who is attending Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., says the support from faculty and classmates helps students discover more about themselves and what they are passionate about. “I think a lot of people go to college to learn what it is they want to do,” says Jacob. “People come to Guilford to learn who they want to be.”
“I really think that community allows anybody to become a better version of themselves. I haven’t been (at Guilford) long, but I look at myself, the way I view others, the way I connect with others, the things I value, it’s just very different than when I got here,” he says.
Does Guilford sound like a community you want to be part of? Contact Steve Mencarini.