Discovering What God Has For Him: Jae Young Yu ’28

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Jae Young Yu ’28

Jae Young Yu ’28 is someone who can’t just stay in his room after having classes all day. He has to move. That’s where track and field comes into the picture. 

Yu describes how the sport gives him the ability to train and become stronger. “Track is a very specific sport where you can see the progress, and you can feel it because of the work that you put in,” he said. “It gives me a lot of joy to be able to do something that I love and also glorify God in,” he said. 

The psychology major did not envision himself attending the same school as his sister. He found himself at Wheaton as a freshman anyway. He is thankful that he did.

Not long after committing to Wheaton, Yu connected with Wheaton’s track and field coach so he could participate in the sport he started in high school. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Yu spends most of his time with his track and field team and coaches, whom he calls family. “I’m very thankful for the team,” he said. “We all make sure everyone on the team feels loved, no matter how well we perform athletically. And the coaches are the best role models I’ve seen. I know that no matter what I do, they just want what is best for me.”

When Yu isn’t running or studying, he will likely be found playing the drums. A member of the chapel band, Yu has the opportunity to exercise his gift as a drummer while leading his peers in worship. “Chapel band has helped me a lot by fixing my mindset on a leadership role, where, even though I’m not a chapel band leader, I’m still a member who is in front of the school leading in a very important way,” Yu shared. “I’ve also realized how much my mood is affected if I don’t play well and I feel like other people are seeing me mess up. Because I struggle with recognition and praise, I’ve realized how detrimental that is to my heart of worship.” 

Yu has noticed this in other areas of his life. “Even through track, I want to make nationals and win awards,” Yu reflected. “But as I keep going through both of these things, the Lord is teaching me I need to fix my eyes on him. That none of these things actually matter, but they are only ways to thank him, and thank him through things that I genuinely enjoy too, which is such a blessing.”

The sophomore feels grateful for the ways he has changed since becoming a Wheaton student. 

“I grew up in a very secular public school where I was one of the only Korean students and one of the only Christians in the entire school,” recalled Yu. “I remember I put on such a face of wanting to be cool and popular. That took over for me from elementary school through high school, so I never really knew who I was.”

But the Lord nudged Yu’s heart. “I’d be praying about trying to find out who I really am,” he said. “And as I came into Wheaton freshman year, I got a hint of finding actual joy and being who I want to be, and not finding judgment in it.” 

Yu believes chapel has deeply impacted his spiritual formation. “I’ve realized how much of a blessing it is to be able to take time out of your week and out of your day to focus on what God has put into a speaker and the worship that takes place,” he said. “I thought only focusing on God at church on Sunday was enough for me, but I can never get enough of whatever God has for me.”