What is your NMU connection?
I am a graduate of the NMU English, TESOL, and International Studies departments. I have previously worked as an EN090 tutor, a North Wind delivery driver, a Work Study Intern, and I am now the most recent addition to the NMU Institutional Effectiveness office.
Your favorite NMU memory or story
I met one of my very best friends here while we both happened to take a class with the late Ray Ventre in the old Jamrich building. He had sat one level lower than me in the tiered lecture hall, and I noticed his laptop wallpaper was of the bridge to a Star Trek ship. It took a week or two for my shy self to ask him about it, but ever since, we've been like soul siblings. We've been friends for 11 years, we have matching tattoos, and he even got me a custom keychain with the coordinates for the old JXJ stamped into it to commemorate being friends despite having only one class together while either of us were students here at NMU.
Tell us about the significance of any teams, clubs or organizations you were part of during your time at NMU
I was a part of the Work Study program when returning to NMU in 2019 and I was hired by the Community Foundation of Marquette County. The staff of that non-profit are encouraging, kind, and understanding people, and they always made a point to remind me that my responsibilities to myself and my studies came first. I am lucky enough that I get to call them my friends.
Who is the most influential person you met during your time at NMU and why were they so influential?
I have had the honor of getting to know so many motivational professors in the NMU English Department. The faculty members there are absolute treasures to this university. Kia Richmond, J Marek Haltof, Z.Z. Lehmberg, David Boe, Patricia Killelea, Gabriel Noah Brahm, Russell Prather, Austin Hummell.
What is your current or former profession?
I was a Work-Study Intern, a Babysitter, an English as a Second Language Tutor, and a Substitute Teacher. Now, I am a self-published author and an Executive Administrative Assistant in the Institutional Effectiveness office at NMU.