About Me
Accomplishments, activities, honors - you get the picture.
While in College
Volunteer Work
Concordia Cub Weeks
Concordia Cub Weeks is a week long camp for children grades 3rd through 6th. My history with this program starts in 1998 when I first attended as a Cub. Since 2005 I have been an active volunteer in the program, working as a counselor several weeks over the last few years. It's a lot of work, but the job is rewarding. This most recent summer, I played drums with the worship band and helped out with some of the tech needs of the camp.
For more information on Concordia Cub Weeks, visit cubweeks.org
Iowa Flood Relief
In autumn of 2008, I traveled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to aid in reconstruction of houses after summer floods had devastated the area. Working with a group of college kids from Ames, I helped instruct my peers on how to drywall a house. It was a lot of fun working with others and it was rewarding to help the victims of the floods rebuild.
Music
I am very thankful for my musical talents. I first started playing the drum set in high school. I played in pep band all four years. In my sophomore year I was recruited by our choir teacher, Mrs. Donna Bennett, to play drums for the varsity show choir, Momentum.
Now that I am in college, I continue to practice the drum set. I am privileged to periodically fill in on Sunday mornings playing with the worship band for Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Polk City Iowa. Another venue I usually play is Concordia Cub Weeks, a camp for children in Okoboji (see volunteer section). I always enjoy the opportunity to perform and the kids there love it!
Projects
I like to use some of my spare time to work on various projects of interest. I have posted a few of them on the projects page.
Continue to the Projects Page »
German
As I hope to someday work or study in a German speaking country, I really have enjoyed studying German at the university. In addition to the basic and intermediate German coursework, I am active in an extracurricular German activity called stomptisch. Led by a University instructor, students meet once a week at a coffee shop in Ames. The only rule is that everyone must speak only German. It really is a great method to break people from the mapped classroom German and stretch one's abilities to real life conversations and application.
This video was created by myself and several classmates (big thanks and recognition to them) to fulfill project requirements for German 201. It is meant to be funny. ;)
High School
Destination Imagination
Destination Imagination (DI) is an innovative organization that teaches creativity, teamwork and problem solving to students across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries. Its main program is an unconventional team learning experience where student teams all over the world solve mind-bending Challenges.
I was a member of a DI team from 2001-2005. My team competed at State competition in Grinnell, IA three times and even went on to global competition in Nashville in the final year that we competed. We presented theatrical/technical challenges. I constructed such problem solving devices as a home-made vacuum cleaner, a pendulum controlled light, a compressed air powered vehicle and many other bizarre and creative things.
For more information on Destination Imagination, visit http://www.idodi.org.
Competitive Math
I competed in mathematics competitions every year of Jr. high and high school. In my senior year of high school, my math instructor, David Law, entered the calculus students in two math competitions, Wayne State College Math Contest and The Merten Hasse Competition (University of South Dakota). I was excited and honored to win a first and second place awards within my division (2007).
Choir
I was a member of my high school's choir for 3 years singing as a low bass in concert choir events. Besides singing, I accompanied Momentum, the varsity show choir, on the Drums and traveled with them to perform at area competitions. I also played a big part in the technical aspects of setting up and presenting the school's yearly talent show.
Band
I performed with pep band, jazz band, and concert band. I also took part in workshops and various honor bands throughout high school.
Other Activities
Besides the above listed, I was involved in numerous other activities and events throughout my high school years. I was very active in my church, developing one of the first websites of it's kind to stream audio sermons. I also helped with sound for a community theater presentation of Seussical the Musical. I Attended 4-H, and was an active scout in the Boy Scouts of America.