Penncrest Senior Basketball Star Headed to Chile

The looks came at Ian Campbell in assorted ways. At the lunch table, before basketball practice, minutes before class began. The ritual of seniors making the rounds of where everyone’s college destination was going to be invariably stopped when Campbell said, "I’m going to Chile" … followed by looks of disbelief.

The senior basketball star, an All-Central League choice who averaged a team-high 17 points a game last year, has opted to bypass college for a year and head to the South American country as part of an International exchange program.

Campbell will stay with a Chilean host family, where he’ll attend a version of Chile high school and play for the school’s club basketball team. Campbell, who carries a 3.5 GPA and ranked among the top-10 percent of his senior class, decided to spend eight-to-10 months in Chile as opposed to playing college basketball next fall.

It’s something Campbell decided in December.

"People live so differently around the world and I’ll get a new perspective on life," Campbell said. "I’m still going to college, I’ll just be in another country for nine or 10 months. It will take me a year to get to college. It’s all part of seeing how other people live, and there are different things that I want to experience. It seems like something cool to do. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. This will give me another year to figure it all out. I was pretty sure I was going to Chile right around the holidays and my parents were all for it. I don’t really speak Spanish, but I will in a year though.

"A few people thought it was a little out of the ordinary, at first. A few others, it took a while to sink in. Everyone reacted differently. The guys on the team took me seriously, but there were some that thought I was joking."

Campbell is also looking for the experience to enrich his life in other ways other than an additional year of playing basketball. Campbell, 18, has a little larger view of the world than other young people his age. Campbell and his family have been assured of his safety, and he plans on leaving for Chile either the last week of July or first week of August.

"I think I will appreciate what we have in this country, and I know I’ll change somehow, and I know I’ll learn a lot of things," Campbell said. "This is the only time in my life that I can do this and I have no real profession in mind. I think it will be a cool way to spend the year."