Following his Dream
Jalen Lewis, a junior at Olivet Nazarene University with a gift for speaking, has a dream of being in the audio recording industry. But what led him to Olivet to work towards achieving this dream?
He hasn’t always known he wanted to use his voice to entertain and educate other people. This dream came about in high school when he got a call from somebody saying he sounded like the Allstate guy. Lewis was unsure about going into the audio field at first, but he kept being told that he had a voice for radio.
Being told he had a voice for radio led him to look into the audio recording industry, but there weren’t many available opportunities right away. This time in his life led to many decisions that needed to be made. Would he go to college? Where would he attend? What school has the opportunities available for him?
While Lewis eventually made his choice to go to college.
“I wasn’t actually planning on going to college. I took a gap semester…but they [Olivet] kept sending letters…and they gave me a scholarship, so I said okay, I’ll go ahead and try it out,” he said.
With these big life decisions on the line, he found himself searching for a college. Although, he didn’t have to look too far because Olivet Nazarene University visited his high school in the fall of 2021. This was his first encounter with Olivet, and it left an impression on him, whether he realized it fully or not. He later received a letter in the mail from Olivet and this helped to cement his decision of going to ONU.
Working on his Craft
Lewis made it to ONU with the decision to follow his dream of going into the audio recording industry by focusing his major on radio and audio broadcasting. He is refining his craft in any way he can over his four years at ONU and is learning what it means to be in the audio recording field.
In his sophomore year, he started working at Shine FM where he has a radio show. While at Shine, he has learned that it’s ok not to be perfect but to focus on being a good communicator. He used his chill but goofy personality to bring personality to his radio show. This has allowed him to further realize who he is and how he can use that in his audio recording.
When talking about how his personality shines on air Lewis says, “I like to mess around a lot on my show [to entertain] people in the morning time.”
Outside of Shine, Lewis enjoys recording samples for commercials/audiobooks to further work on his craft and add these projects to his portfolio. He has values that his parents instilled within him which he withholds to this day and they impact his life. Some of those are integrity, honesty, and being hardworking, which he believes will allow him to take a step into the field of audio recording.
Finding his Faith
Lewis has a calm soul and it’s clear that the values he holds for himself play a meaningful role in his life. These values have led him to where he is today, being both the core of who he is and the decision he made to go to Olivet Nazarene University.
For a while, Lewis was on the fence about putting his full faith in Christianity. He wasn’t entirely sure where life was going and started to become disinterested in life itself. It wasn’t until an experience with God that led him to give his life to Christ. One day in the summer of 2023, he had an asthma attack that almost took his life away. It wasn’t until after that experience that he felt this overwhelming peace that he knew could only have come from God.
Lewis’s friend says one of his fondest memories with Lewis is, “Having a Bible study with him in summertime reading Job, helping him get back into the word.”
Lewis is surrounded by people who also want to see him grow in his faith and continue to develop as a person. ONU has further provided an environment to grow in faith and experience the love of Christ.
During his time at ONU, he has had many great experiences but in the words of Lewis himself, “[My greatest achievement is] giving my life to God in 2023…[which] holds more weight than any award or accolade that I have ever gotten.”
