Freshman broadcast journalism major, Jake Schemmel, may seem like a regular student here at MSU, just trying to stay afloat during his first finals week ever, but that’s only one component to what makes this guy stand out amongst the hordes of people on campus each day. The Rockford, Mich. native uploaded a YouTube video earlier last week titled “My Story,” which showed Jake on the screen for seven minutes holding up a series of notecards depicting his “story”. The inspiration for this video was the death of his best friend, Stephen, in 2010, and numerous other deaths that he has experienced of loved ones in his life. He himself even admits during the video that he fell into depression but was able to keep his head up and come out of it a better, stronger person in the end. The central idea of his video is “ELE” or Everyone Love Everyone. Although the phrase stemmed from a favorite movie of his fallen friend Stephen, it has a much bigger message of loving people around you and helping them in their times of need. Towards the end of the video he says his message is, “No matter how hard life gets, keep your head up and keep smiling, it WILL get better.” As a testament to what a nice and caring guy Jake is, he even offers up his own time to talk, if anyone feels they should need it. With just under 649,000 views and 19,000 likes, his video is making waves not only here at MSU but around the country and world as well. Schemmer, who says he is just excited that his seven minute video has made a difference in so many people’s lives, has caught the attention of us here at HCMSU as well, not only for his message of “ELE,” but for being an inspiring Spartan through and through. Take some time out of your day to view hisvideo, and just remember Everyone Love Everone.
HCMSU: What made you want to make this video and get your inspiring message out to the masses?
JS: I saw videos like mine on YouTube, and thought about everything that had been going on in my hometown, and figured they could use something like it to help them out.
HCMSU: What was the purpose of this video and what do you want people to take away from watching it?
JS: The purpose was to prove to everyone that problems will arise in your lifetime and sometimes they will come in a consecutive period or they will be stretched over a period of time, and that no matter how bad things get, that they will turn around at some point and get better.
HCMSU: The message of “ELE” (Everyone Love Everyone) is such a great message, very inspiring, where did ELE come from and how did it begin?
JS: ELE is originally from the movie Semi-Pro with Will Ferrell where they have it as a team motto in their locker room. And my friend Stephen who passed away had it in the “About Me” section of his Facebook and he truly did love everyone and everyone loved him and after he passed, his parents caught onto it and did their best to keep it going.
HCMSU: You’ve been through an immense amount of loss throughout your life, what advice would you give to people who may be going through the loss of a close friend or family member today?
JS: That you should do what they would want you to do, and the main thing is do your best to keep your head up and focus on the positives, because it will get better, it may never see like that but they will get better over time.
HCMSU: Were you surprised with the amount of support and love the Spartan community and people around the country have given you since you uploaded your video to YouTube?
JS: Yes I was extremely surprised with how much support I got from not only Spartan Nation, but from everywhere else as well, from my hometown (Rockford, MI) and other places around the country and even outside of the country I got tremendous amounts of support.
HCMSU: You have over 500,000 views for your video in the last week alone, what has been the best part of garnering all of the likes and comments about your video on YouTube?
JS: To find out that my goal has already been accomplished and it hasn’t even been up for a week, it means a lot to me and brings a big smile to my face to see all the people I have been helping out.
HCMSU: We heard that people from all over the world have been contacting you about your video, what are some of the craziest places people have contacted you from?
JS: I recently had a lady Facebook message me from Africa, and another lady from England tell me she ordered “ELE” shirts for her whole school.
HCMSU: With all of the love you’ve been getting for your message and video what has been the best part for you from hearing from all of these people?
JS: That I have impacted their lives from just a little 7-minute video.
HCMSU: Have any of them shared their stories of loss and hardship with you?
JS: Yes I have had many people tell me everything that has taken place in their lives and how they have lost loved ones or have had horrible tragedies take place in their lives, it saddens me to hear them. But they say my video has impacted them and changed their view on life, so that cheers me up.
HCMSU: Any last words of wisdom or anything you would want anyone reading this article to know about you or “ELE”?
JS: I just want to say thank you to everyone who has sent me a message thanking me for my video and their prayers for my loved ones who have passed and for the ones who have supported the Stephen May Humanitarian Fund, where all the profits from the ELE shirts are being donated.