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Hometown: Montello, Wis.
Major: Anthropology, with a minor in environmental policy and culture
Favorite form of social media? I’m anti–social media. I prefer just face-to-face interactions.
Proudest accomplishment: Learning Chinese. I’ve had to delay my graduation because I decided to take Chinese, but having learned the language, I felt a tremendous connection to China when I was there on study abroad.
What’s new with the Northwestern Sustainability Fund, which you co-founded and led? It was meant to give out loans to student groups to implement sustainability initiatives on campus. That vision has been dropped, but the mission of improving sustainability on campus is still there. Now we’re working with Engineers for a Sustainable World to try to get Northwestern to use 100 percent renewable energy.
Your greatest adventure? The six weeks I spent backpacking with two friends before studying abroad in Argentina. I spent half the trip with a student from Northwestern whom I didn’t know beforehand. She got her purse and passport stolen the first day we were in Argentina, and then doing the trip as low budget as possible was a challenge.
Favorite Northwestern class? Without a doubt, Intro to Russian Lit with Saul Morson (see "Russian Lit — Live"). It’s great because the themes from that class continue to resurface. I learned lessons about life, people, thoughts and feelings that I have used countless times since freshman year and that I believe will stay with me forever. The idea that life gains meaning from the small, everyday actions and occurrences more than the single, profound events has influenced me to change the way I live my life — I have re-prioritized my commitments, placing relationships above everything else. It has been a really positive change that has already made me much happier and more satisfied.
What’s next? I’m looking for an opportunity to use the skills I’ve gained and to be challenged. I hope to return to China eventually. I spent a year learning Chinese for a reason, and I definitely don’t want to lose that skill.