Some students, after graduating from Indiana Wesleyan University, go off to teach at a school, work in a hospital or pastor a church. But sometimes, they end up becoming a human cannonball.

Jon Cole (alumnus ’07), after graduating from IWU with a Physical and Health Education degree, joined the Chimelong International Circus in June 2011 to perform as one of about eight human cannonballs worldwide, he said. The Chimelong International Circus is part of the Chimelong Resort (the Chinese Disney World) and is located in Guangzhou, China.

Cole is shot out of a cannon for the finale of each show, which occurs once a day, in an arena that holds up to 10,000 people.

“It’s a very non-stable and risky business, but I always tell everyone, ‘You only live once, so you might as well do something that you love!’ We’d like to replace my current boss as the human cannonball on the Ringling show when he retires next year, but we’ll see how everything works out,” Cole said from China in an email interview.

Working with the circus is not a new thing for Cole, who grew up in Peru, Ind. Every summer, the Peru Amateur Circus comes to put on shows for about a week and a half in July. Youngsters ages 5-21 who live in Miami County can try out for different acts – flying trapeze, high wire, juggling, teeterboard, double trapeze, etc. – and the circus will teach them how to perform.

Cole’s mother put him in that circus when he was 5 and, throughout the years, he did myriad things including teeterboard, juggling, flying trapeze, tumbling and trampoline. He considered it the “best youth program in the country,” and he loved it enough to continue with it until he was 21.

“He pretty much always participated in the circus events,” said Mike Fratzke, professor of health and human performance at IWU. “He grew up in the atmosphere. I can see him having an adventurous spirit that would want to do something like that.

He had a contagious smile and was always a fun-loving guy.”

After graduation, Cole traveled for a year with The Flying Pages as a middle catcher for a flying trapeze act. They toured throughout the United States and Portugal. After a year, Cole returned to Indiana to teach for two years. It was during this time that he married the trigger woman who now shoots him out of the cannon daily.

“During my second year of teaching, I had the desire to jump back into the circus world,” said Cole. “My wife wasn’t so sure about the idea, even though she grew up in the Peru Amateur Circus as well. So we started praying about any opportunity that could possibly come our way. It seemed sort of funny praying to an Almighty God about running away with the circus, but we stuck with it.”

An opportunity came about when Brian Miser, a man who grew up in the Peru Amateur Circus the generation before Cole, made a deal with a circus in China. According to Cole, Miser is and has been the human cannonball for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for the past 12 years.

Miser’s deal in China involved sending one of his cannons to the Chimelong International Circus, but he needed a human cannonball to be shot out of it. Cole took the job.

“I would say it’s the best circus I have ever seen or been a part of,” Cole said. “Although I did several things in the amateur circus, there are few things that I can do at a professional level. When the cannon opportunity opened up, I loved the idea, and I thought it was a great way to get back into the circus world.”

While being a human cannonball may be an odd vocation, the people who knew Cole at school think it fits him.

“It doesn’t surprise me that he would do that,” said Sue Bowman, associate professor of physical education at IWU. “He loves the circus and loves being a performer.”

Cole and his wife are on their second contract with Chimelong International Circus, an agreement that ends at the close of February. But Cole said they would like to stay until November and then come back to the U.S. to join Ringling.

“That would be our dream, but we have no idea if that’s possible or not,” Cole said. “So, we’ll stay here as long as they’ll have us, probably. It’s a great gig.”

Indiana Wesleyan University welcomed four nursing students and one professor from Nanjing Medical University in China for a 12-day trip beginning Jan. 14. They visited IWU’s Marion campus in order to observe American nursing through a university exchange program.

Previously, in May 2011, a group of IWU students traveled to China through World Impact to visit a medical group there named “Light.” Josiah Kaufman (so), a nursing major, traveled on that trip.

“Basically we went there to see what [Light does] and help them continue to build relationships with the Chinese,” Kaufman said. “I mean they have been there for like 24 years, but one thing that’s really big about the culture of China are relationships. …The reason why they’re able to be there is because they’re providing a service to the Chinese, a medical service, but they also have to be really concerned about their relationships with them.”

This time, as Chinese students visited the United States, they learned about American culture and American nursing, according to Hazel Tan with World Impact. Tan served as a translator and guide for the Chinese delegation through some classes and activities. She said the students and professor really appreciate the religion-based programming at IWU.

“They did an intercultural class which they communicated in because they would tell the students about Chinese culture,” Tan said. “They enjoyed learning about our culture from the students.”

The Chinese students didn’t review syllabi or attend enough classes at IWU to recognize any specific differences in nursing instruction techniques, according to Tan. But they did notice differences between the two countries in the practice of nursing.

“In China, there isn’t that level of nursing where there is a nurse practitioner who’s able to do prescriptions,” Tan said. “Only the doctors are able to do prescriptions.”

In addition to attending classes, the students and professor said they enjoyed chapel, especially the music.

During the 12 days, the students stayed with host families in Grant County except for the weekend of Jan. 20-22, when they stayed in IWU residence halls, which they called “beautiful,” “like a home” and “colorful.”

Kaufman said he, among others, spent time with the delegation, getting to know its members and making them feel welcomed.

“I really enjoy just being able to talk with them about their culture and our culture and kind of laugh about my horrible Chinese and their much-better English,” Kaufman said. “It was really fun learning about their personal lives. It was something that I very much enjoyed.”

This concept of an international education delegation is not a one-time occurrence. A group of students and a professor from the Shenyang Medical College are expected to visit IWU later this month.