The University of Minnesota Scholarship Committee has selected Jacob Schoeneck as the 2018 SPQR Fellow. Jacob is in his last year of the Architecture BDA program. In a letter introducing himself to the other SPQR Fellows, Jacob wrote:
I am the middle child in a family of five from Rochester, Minnesota. My father is a carpenter and my mother is a janitor. Together they worked tirelessly to support my siblings and I, and to encourage us to choose our own paths in life. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up and so we didn’t get to travel much, but I have always appreciated my parents sacrifices and I am glad to have grown up here in Minnesota – a state that has given me a fantastic education and made my first generation college experience possible. As I approach my last semester in the Bachelor of Design in Architecture program, I also recognize that I am ready to leave this place. I’ve never left the Midwest and I’ve never seen a horizon that wasn’t flat. I’ve never seen a building older than three centuries. These are things that I’ve decided I must see for myself at this point in my life and it’s why I wish to go to Rome. I can remember as a child being obsessed with art and history. I would play old computer games about ancient empires and spend hours getting lost in my own drawings and paintings of faraway places. While I am excited to visit and intern in Rome for all that it may mean for my future career in architecture, there is another part of me that is simply looking forward to feeling that same sense of wonderment and awe.
Grazie, Jacob
• Follow Jacob and SPQR on Instagram: @spqrfellowship
