Jason Kaplan can make walking into a wall look cool. He’s done that and more over his four years as a member and leader of the improv-comedy troupe Charred Goosebeak, which he claims he’s most proud of, because it categorizes him as “certifiably funny.”

In his senior year, Kaplan is excited to see the format of Charred Goosebeak change from crude comedy to hilarious longer scene work with an emphasis on building characters.

Among his many achievements, Kaplan has acted in University shows, playing Jacob in “Joseph and the Amazing Technocolor Dream Coat” and participating in One Night Stands as well as various hilarious stints on CUTV, especially during his first year at Colgate. Many of us can still catch his hi-jinks on Channel 13; indeed, Kaplan has even starred in some infamous CUTV commercials.

Kaplan has also served as a tour guide for four years, and has been credited by one doting mother, after taking his tour, as being able to “sell popsicles to the Eskimos.” He has also played club tennis, serves as a Link and was president of the Colgate Jewish Union during his sophomore and junior years. “But I don’t feel like I’ve spread myself too thin,” Kaplan said. “I just enjoy everything I do.”

Another thing he enjoys is researching. Last summer he worked with Harold Orville Whitnall Professor of Geology, Bruce Selleck. “We worked with snails,” Kaplan said. “and we got to crush them, to discover their isotopic data.” While the paper on this experiment is not yet published, Kaplan will be one of the head writers.

A geology major and Jewish studies minor, Kaplan journeyed to Australia during his junior year to break free from the bubble, to conduct geology experiments and, of course, to catch up on the “sports, beer and beach atmosphere.”

“If I could do everything I’ve done at Colgate all over again,” Kaplan said with an ironic smile. “I wouldn’t change a single thing.”

He envisions himself heading off to law school and becoming an environmental lawyer. “Above all,” Kaplan said. “the two words that define me the most are passion and adventure. I enjoy everything.”

And how can one enjoy everything? “By keeping an open mind,” he said. “and never fearing. The most amazing thing you can do on campus is to find a professor to become your mentor; then you truly will have a successful Colgate career.”