Allow me to introduce myself to you formally: my name is Chuck Hassenplug and I am the second half of this goofy experiment in shameless internet-based debauchery called starvingcollegestudents.com. (That was a little wordy so I’ll try to keep the SAT synonyms to a minimum). Yes, I am a poor college student fighting the financial monster of college life, but I am so much more as well. Hopefully this page will give you better understanding of who I am and what I stand for.

I was born in little place called Tahoe, which is the Washo Indian word for Lake of the Sky. It is a beautiful lake surrounded by the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California. Tahoe is quite small population-wise, and fairly sheltered and conservative by nature. Yet this amazing area was my playground, my source of wonderment growing up. I will always carry Tahoe’s laid-back attitude and love of simple and honest pleasures everywhere I go. It will always be my centering point, a place to self-reflect, regroup, and set off from into the “bigger world”. It will always be home.

From the sum total of my experiences in Tahoe I arrived at UCSD, one of the finest colleges in California and the country, especially for my major: Premedical Bioengineering (I can almost hear the groans as I write this). Yes, it is an exceptionally difficult field to pursue, but its complexity is matched only by its dynamic potential. The body has always fascinated me as being the most perfect machine mankind has ever known (or will know, in my opinion), and I figured what better subject to devote my brain cells to than BE, at least for my undergrad years.

While BE is a stimulating and challenging academic adventure for me, it is not my passion. As I have meandered my way through college, learning about myself and rediscovering my past, I have come to regard people themselves as my primary interest, whether that has to do with their minds, their bodies, or their hearts (colloquially used as the emotional center). Medicine, psychology, and sociology all intrigue me as I go through life observing the human condition. There are many advancements to be made in all these fields, and I find that exciting and liberating. As such, I am navigating my way through a minor in Health Care Issues.

My second passion is an expansion of the first – I love to travel. It all started when my parents dragged me unwittingly around all over this great state, and into other states and countries as well when I was younger. Slowly, against everything I tried to do to stop it, their enthusiasm for different cultures and experiences seeped into me and now I can’t wash it out. I am blessed (or doomed, if you have no money) with a constant itch to explore the world and it’s multifarious people. By far the biggest influence on me has been from Mexico, where I have traveled several times and have always been exposed to its people’s warmth, generosity, and love of life and family. For this reason I am also conjugating my way toward a Minor in Spanish Studies, so as to better understand and communicate with the Hispanic way of life.

Reconciling these three diverse interests may be arduous in college, but I sincerely hope I can combine them into a key that will help me unlock doors to traveling and helping people around the world, in a health-related fashion. For a while now, my dream has been to work for the World Health Organization (WHO) after graduation, with a possible stint in the Peace Corps in between. I get really excited just thinking about the possibilities of these goals, and that lets me know I am on the right track.
Beyond my career goals, I have many other interests that help to define me. I enjoy playing all types of sports, esp. tennis, baseball, and surfing (not too good at the last one, Dave and I are still resigned to staying in the post-break white water). I also enjoy meeting new people and discovering new places, always trying to make life as big of an adventure as possible. Poetry, reading, and stirring philosophical discussions also are penchants of mine.

Well, now I can see that this is just about the cheesiest thing I have ever written, but I am too busy/lazy to rewrite it now. Basically, I love taking chances and expanding my horizons whenever possible, in the continual process of improving others and myself. This website is just another (albeit obnoxious) example of this, and I hope you at least get a chuckle out it. And please, if it turns out to affect you more than that, send us a donation or even an email to let us know how we can “take it to the max” even more.

To see some pictures of Chuck, click here.