Gustavus Adolphus College

I was involved in EVERYTHING in high school! I was a captain for volleyball, CC running, and XC skiing, and also played varsity softball all four years of high school. I received many academic awards such as student of the week, Rotary student of the month, and Academic All-State for skiing. I also graduated 2nd in my class out of 420 with a 4.115 GPA, was the president of NHS, was a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters, was the historian for SERVE (a volunteer organization), and I tutored math and science. The most exciting thing I did before coming to Gustavus, however, was attending the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.!

I considered Gustavus because of their wonderful science program, but I picked Gustavus because of the feeling of belonging and community. I felt as if Gustavus truly supported developing every aspect of a person, and that it would do everything possible to help you succeed in becoming who you wanted to be. I did not feel like some random student lost in a sea of people, but a unique person who deserved everything I needed to achieve everything my body could physically let me! It was when I was touring campus my senior year that I knew I wanted to go to Gustavus. I felt a sense of being home.

I got involved in most of my activities by going to the Student Involvement Fair, an event where you can walk around to booths representing almost all of the organizations around campus! I play IM volleyball and softball, I am an overnight host, a Career Center host, and a mentor for Big Partner Little Partner, and I am in the Pre-Health Club, Tri Beta (the Biology Club), Swing Club, and Proclaim (Tuesday night worship). Swing Club definitely takes up the most time because I am one of the PR officers, but it is by far the club I am most passionate about! Swing dancing brings such joy to my life!

My favorite project of all time was the Create-a-Critter assignment I had in Organismal Biology. We got to create our very own organism, give it a name, give it extremely unique adaptations and characteristics, draw a picture of it, and act it out in front of the entire class! My partner and I created a Sparyl, a hedgehog-like creature that was green with bright orange spikes and caught its prey by rolling down the hill and catching it in its spikes! The funniest part was the class demonstration when my partner (playing the part of the Sparyl) jumped from the counter top and did a somersault over my classmate (playing the part of the prey)!!!

I LOVE the oven-browned potatoes, the sesame chicken, and the cookies (after putting them through a toaster of course!).

I have definitely visited my professors during their office hours many many times to ask for help! They always make themselves extremely available; I once studied with my professor for 3 hours in preparation for my final! I have also had professors who have hosted Halloween parties at their house (with costumes, of course), taken me hiking at a park nearby, and eaten lunch with me just to get caught up on what’s going on in my life!

Ideally, I would LOVE to be a swing dance teacher with my husband (whoever that may be) for the rest of my life!

Absolutely do not pay attention to price when picking your college! It’s definitely not worth paying less if you’re unhappy or unchallenged. If it feels right, if you feel happy, if you feel at home, then go for it. You’ll never regret getting the best education (and not just academically speaking) you could ever receive!

My favorite tradition is Sunday Evening Cheesy Bread! Every Sunday a group of my friends and I get together in one of our rooms, order cheesy bread from the caf, and go around and tell everyone what our highs and lows are of the week. It’s such a great way to de-stress, eat some greasy food, and be with your favorite people in the world! We’ve been doing this since the beginning of first semester our freshman year and we hope to continue doing it until we graduate, no matter what happens!