Jaclyn Figg

Staff Writer

For some, there are times in our college careers when we wonder if we are on the right path. Is it really worth racking up these loans? Am I going to get a job pertaining to my major?

Christopher Sherrod found by staying on the path, college is worth it, and it opens doors to new beginnings.

“It was the best feeling ever, it was like accomplishing things people told you that you couldn’t do or you didn’t think you could do yourself, it was an amazing feeling,” Sherrod said.

A Pocatello native, Sherrod got a bachelor’s degree in health education and secondary education from ISU and will have his master’s in public health this coming May from Creighton University.

“It took me a little longer than I expected,” Sherrod said, “it took me six years to finish.”

After graduating in 2013, Sherrod had to make the decision to be either a traditional teacher or a community health teacher.

He went the direction of community health and got his first job in his field as a nutrition education specialist at the Idaho Food Bank.

After spending two and a half years there, he relocated to Denver for more opportunities in the health field.

Perhaps students think they need to have their college career laid out beforehand, or they need to pick a major and stick to it in order to be the most successful.

Sherrod was not sure what he was going to college for when attending Century High School, and didn’t figure it out until he was a sophomore in college.

A class with John Batacan, the clinical assistant professor in health education, was what sparked Sherrod’s interest in health education, and he continued from there.

Batacan and Janette Olsen, associate professor in health education, inspired him to take the path he did.

“They were awesome teachers, and they pushed me really hard,” Sherrod said.

Outside of ISU, Sherrod said his brother and his uncle, Henry Evans, the assistant director in the Office of Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, and Diversity, inspired him to succeed.

“At some points it was kind of difficult, but the experience of ISU was great, the campus life was good, the teachers were always available and you knew what they wanted from you. I really enjoyed my experience there,” Sherrod said.

Hardships Sherrod experienced while in school were more personal:  he felt a lack of focus at times, and also went part time for a while.

Around his sophomore year, Olsen suggested Sherrod go to the Learning and Disabilities Center.

He found out there that he was dyslexic, and they gave him tools to succeed in his college career.

“A lot of times I will read numbers backwards or put words in different orders, so that was a hardship I overcame through ISU,” Sherrod said.

Some of his favorite hangouts when he was in college were Tom’s Gyros, the Pond Student Union Building, Goody’s and at times Scout Mountain to hike or hang out.

“It was my zen place,” Sherrod said.

Sherrod is currently working at The Boys and Girls Club in Denver as a health professional teaching about healthy living and healthy lifestyles.

Sherrod is also currently working on an internship at the American Diabetes Association for his master’s.

He chose ADA because he is type 1 diabetic.

“Since I got diagnosed. Diabetes, nutrition and disease have been kind of like a career calling for me,” Sherrod said.

Kind of in the dark on what he was supposed to do when he found out he had diabetes, Sherrod felt like his education made it easier for him to live with the disease.

“People that don’t have that kind of help, it’s harder for them,” Sherrod said. “I just want to be able to give people help with diabetes later on down the line.”

This summer he will also have a fellowship in infectious diseases with the Centers for Disease Control.

Although the city is much larger, Sherrod’s transition to Denver has been a smooth one. He enjoys the diversity there.

“It’s very diverse here; I work with a lot of different people. Usually I work with kids and their families but I work a lot with predominantly African American, Hispanic and Asian families. That’s been cool,” Sherrod said.

For now, Denver is the place Sherrod has decided to settle but who knows what his master’s degree and the future will hold for him.

Future aspirations for him are to be a program manager or director for a health initiative, hopefully with diabetes as the focus.

“It’s something new and something different with more opportunities to help people,” Sherrod said.

“Eventually I want to come home and help people there, but right now it was something to help broaden my horizons.”