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Courtesy of Whittier Athletics--
During his time at Whittier College, it did not take long for Alexander Jelloian ’21 to make an impact both on and off the field as a member of the baseball team. Jelloian transferred to Whittier from Pasadena City College for increased baseball opportunities, and arrived in time for a sophomore season in which he gave the Poets a steady does of batting average, contact skills, and plate discipline. He batted .318 (.373 OBP) on the year, held a 10% strikeout rate, started 37 out of 38 games, and cracked a pair of home runs as a starting infielder for the Purple & Gold. He seemed destined for similar success as a junior, starting in all 15 games he played in while posing similar hitting number and running his OBP to north of .400. However, the COVID-19 pandemic had other ideas, wiping out the Poets season and effectively bringing a premature end to what could have been an extremely promising on-field career.
However, Jelloian’s contributions were not limited to baseball diamond. While athletics ceased, academics continued to be a major part of the Chatsworth, Calif. native’s life, and he graduated Whittier the recipient of several prestigious awards. The Business Administration / Political Science double major was named Outstanding Graduate in Business Administration, an award bestowed on the Whittier College graduate who maintained the highest GPA in their major for the graduating class. He was also a multi-time Dean’s List and SCIAC All-Academic team honoree, graduated Summa Cum Laude and was inducted into three different honors societies on campus. However, the accolades off the field didn’t end there. Jelloian would also be named as the SCIAC Baseball Character Award recipient for 2021 thanks, in large part, to his exploits in the classroom, as well as the Whittier College Presidential Scholar Athlete for his graduating year.
For all of this, Jelloian received the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and promptly began attending the London School of Economics and Political Science. There, he successfully obtained a Master of Science in Political Economy of Late Development in 2022. He has since gone on to work for the Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity, based out of Los Angeles, where he works to this day as a Research and Project Manager.
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