‘Theater is just so much fun, I didn’t want to let it go’
After a few starts and stops, Jenn Schaffner has found ways to keep her passion alive in and out of the workplace
One evening last week, Jenn Schaffner slipped away from her desk at Granite Edvance and pointed her car toward Lincoln. As darkness cloaked the mountains, she arrived at the Papermill Theater, wrapped herself in scarves and shawls, and prepared to call forth the spirits of the old paper mill.
It wasn’t the most unusual transformation she’s undergone lately. Over the past year, Jenn has channeled an amnesiac nun, a horned knight, and a rotund storybook character. Communications specialist by day, denizen of the community theater by night, she’s stitched together a professional-personal life that suits her perfectly.
But she’ll be the first to admit that it took her some time to get her act together.
Growing up in Bridgewater, a small town near Newfound Lake, Jenn discovered theater in eighth grade and became an all-out theater kid in high school. As happy breathing life into small roles as playing iconic characters like Cinderella, she won an acting award in a state competition her senior year.
After high school, Jenn at first planned to follow her passion, enrolling at the University of New Hampshire as a musical theater major. “Theater is just so much fun, I didn’t want to let it go,” she said. “But I very quickly realized I was a little fish in a big pond, and this was probably not going to be the career choice for me or the way to make money to pay off my student loans.”
Pondering other passions and interests, Jenn tried on a biology major, then a communications major, for size, as well as transferring to an out-of-state school. “At this point, I’d now been in college for three and a half years and was nowhere close to done,” she said.
It was time to regroup. Moving back to New Hampshire, Jenn got a job at Laconia Savings Bank (now Bank of NH) as a bank services representative. There, she discovered a love and talent for training, which she eventually parlayed into a formal role as bank trainer. During that time, she also went back to school and got her associate degree from NHTI, followed by her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Granite State College (Now the UNH College of Professional Studies).
Back in her home state, Jenn also found a way to keep her passion alive by getting involved in community theater. She even met her husband, Jake, during a production in her hometown. She now performs regularly with Franklin Footlight Theatre, Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative, and other theater groups.
Joining Granite Edvance in 2019 as a training manager, Jenn moved to the communications team last fall. Here, she gets to exercise her creative muscles daily and even put some of her theater prowess into play. For example, she’s the mastermind behind our social media videos – which range from the highly practical to the madcap. She loves bringing her training skills to our communications channels, helping educate students and families about their options – something she wishes she’d had when she was a student.
“In school, I wish I’d had more information or guidance on what would be a good field to go into. I wish I’d been given the opportunity to explore all my options,” she said. “I just think it’s so important to explore everything as soon as you can, so you can find out what you like and what you don’t like.”
This blog is part a series highlighting Granite Edvance team members’ college-and-career journeys. By sharing our own stories, we hope to help inform students about their options. Read more:
Sharing Our Pathways: Matt Wallace
Sharing Our Pathways: Merek Weisensee
Sharing Our Pathways: Chris Nadeau