They find joy helping others

They find joy helping others
The Joehlins with a CFAES student ambassador standing together.

Story by Matt Marx, video by Walter Warkus, CFAES Advancement

They’re on the board.

Photos of scholarship recipients past and present can be found on Stan and Sharon Joehlins’ bulletin board in their utility room in northwest Ohio. Thanks to the Joehlins’ help, these individuals have transformed their lives in The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).

The very first scholarship beneficiary was a graduate student named Scott Shearer in 1983. Today, Shearer, PhD, is chair of CFAES’ Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering (FABE).

“It meant so much that a fellow agricultural engineering graduate would invest in my education,” Shearer said. “That gift inspired me to work even harder in order to ‘always pay forward’ as Woody would say.”

The joy of helping others is the Joehlins’ greatest motivator.

“I’ve been an adult for 60 some years now, and you find the greatest satisfaction in doing things for other people, the greatest happiness,” Stan Joehlin said.

Sharon Joehlin hangs photos of their gift recipients on the bulletin board as a reminder of the lives they’ve touched.

“I believe in these kids,” she said. “I believe in what they want to do and where they want to go.”