Today we speak with Chelsea Chaet, a sophomore Elementary Education and English double major with a minor in Theatre. She recently transferred from James Madison University.
Name: Chelsea Chaet
Year: Sophomore (Class of ‘22)
Major: Elementary Education and English
Hometown(s): Voorhees, New Jersey / Virginia Beach, Virginia / Solon, Ohio
Transfer Student? Yes
Where do you live? On-campus, Rowan Boulevard Apartments
How did you end up here at Rowan?
“When I was in high school in Voorhees, NJ, I could not wait to go to school out-of-state and get out of here. I never in a million years thought that I would be going here because I always pictured myself going somewhere out-of-state. Then I found out the summer before my senior year that I had to move to Virginia, which was a crazy transition. That was probably the hardest change I’ve had to go through so far, just moving states from somewhere that I lived my whole life. 
I went to James Madison University mostly because my family was in Virginia, and I thought it would be my new home. I didn’t think that we were moving again. But my family moved again to Ohio this past May. So I visited my friends here in South Jersey this past summer, and I got the idea to transfer back to school in New Jersey.
I knew that JMU just wasn’t the right fit for me because Virginia really wasn’t my home. For months I felt lost at JMU, like a fish out of water. And being back here, I just felt this overwhelming sense that I was supposed to be back here. I prayed a lot for guidance. Then I applied to Rowan, not really thinking that I would end up going here. It was just kind of on a limb, but I got in and I just felt so excited. 
Being back here, I just felt really compelled to go here, and that being back in South Jersey was what I was meant to do. But I felt that I really needed to grow and experience new things, which I did when I moved. So I feel like I was supposed to come back here as a changed, grown person. It felt so right, and honestly, I wasn’t afraid of things that I didn’t understand anymore. I always knew my home was here.”
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Story and Photography by:
Faith Lynn Diccion, sophomore theatre & RTF double major