Online student finds passion, purpose getting involved on campus
- By: Indiana University Northwest
- Last Updated: August 25, 2026
Indiana University Northwest Student Government Association President Gabriel Ashbach poses for a photo in the Crimson Corner Game Room.
College wasn’t really on Gabriel Ashbach’s radar. After finishing high school, he went into a trade. Instead of textbooks and 9 a.m. classes, he was fixing ventilation systems.
But he decided to give college a shot. He enrolled at Indiana University Northwest and started exploring. Today, Ashbach is a highly engaged incoming senior working toward a degree in digital media and storytelling.
However, there’s something a bit different about Ashbach’s college career. His major is offered entirely online, so he has no in-person classes. Yet, he’s on the IU Northwest campus every day as one of its most involved students.
Gabriel Ashbach became SGA President, media leader, theatre director and more despite pursuing an online degree
About IU Northwest
One of nine campuses of Indiana University, IU Northwest is located in metropolitan Northwest Indiana, approximately 30 miles southeast of Chicago and 10 miles from the Indiana Dunes National Park. The campus has a student population of approximately 3,000 degree-seeking students and more than 30,000 alumni, most of whom remain in the Northwest Indiana region, and has been recognized by the Department of Education as a minority and Hispanic serving institution. The campus offers Associate, Baccalaureate, and Master’s degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Health and Human Services, the School of Business and Economics, the School of the Arts, and the School of Education. The campus is also home to IU School of Medicine-Northwest-Gary, the region’s only four-year medical doctorate program. As a student-centered campus, IU Northwest is committed to academic excellence characterized by a love of ideas and achievement in learning, discovery, creativity, research and community engagement. Indiana University is an equal opportunity employer and provider of ADA services and prohibits discrimination in hiring.
