What is your NMU connection?

I went to NMU in 2007, moved everything to Marquette shortly after, and worked with Dining Services until graduation in 2011

 

Your favorite NMU memory or story

The summer after graduation was my last full summer in Marquette, and I rarely had a 3 day gap where I wasn't in Lake Superior—either in the afternoon or evening. There were so many spots to stop for an hour before continuing on with the rest of your day. Sometimes alone, sometimes a couple friends, sometimes in a large group of strangers—there was always someone hanging out by the lake.

 

Who is the most influential person you met during your time at NMU and why were they so influential?

Shravan Rajagopal, a design professor that started a year after me. I switched to him as an advisor after my first class, because he knew how to push your design projects as far as they could go. A lot of my success in design is because I learned how to think and iterate in his classes, and most classmates that had a lot of his classes also ended up being successful...possibly due to the rigor of making it through some of his critiques. Regardless, I don't think I would have been able to be a working designer today if not for that connection.

 

Tell us about the significance of any teams, clubs or organizations you were part of during your time at NMU

It wasn't a club, but the folks I worked with for 4 years at the Wildcat Den certainly felt like it was a side organization. Looking through old photos, I see now that we were much closer than most coworkers ever get, and would hang out very consistently and in different capacities. It also gave me a chance to learn to cook a lot of things I normally wouldn't have on a college budget, so that was certainly a bonus.

 

What is/was your favorite thing to do in Marquette?

Pond hockey in the winter. In 2011-ish, there were two rinks that would be constructed by the city (Waste Management and Tormina's) and there was almost always someone already playing, so teams were always easy to create. I learned how to play hockey because of those rinks, and still play to this day! I don't know if those rinks still exist every winter, but I hope they do.