Alumni

Public Service: For Alumni, It's a Calling

JOHN E. NOEL ’94
State Representative, Georgia

Class size was also important to John Noel, who defeated a long-time incumbent in 2002 to serve in the Georgia House of Representatives for the 44th District, which includes the city of Atlanta and part of two neighboring counties.

“Lake Forest was most helpful to me [with its] small class sizes,” says Noel, who serves on the Georgia House Transportation Committee and has also supported environmental and job-retention legislation.

Citing the individual attention he received from his professors, especially history professor Steven Rosswurm, Noel adds that the College focused first on education. He contrasts Lake Forest’s concentration on academics with what he sees in Georgia. “The most important thing was being in the classroom. The athletics were great, but they were not the preeminent focus.”

Rosswurm remembers vigorous discussions with Noel, saying, “He and I used to go at it in a way that people who care about ideas do.” A history major who studied in London during his junior year, Noel says experiencing Lake Forest’s proximity to Chicago has aided him during his work as a state legislator. “The school’s location — so close to a rail line that ran into Chicago — [and the] beautiful train station made an impression,” he says. He adds that the lifestyle in Lake Forest was slower-paced in a fast-paced world familiar to people in Chicago, but was “100 percent alien to people in Atlanta.”

"The school's location — so close to a rail line that ran into Chicago — [and the] beautiful train station made an impression," says John Noel.