Background

Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Graduation Year: 2020 Undergraduate, 2021 Graduate – On a 4 + 1 BS/MS Program
High School Experience: Public high school in Winnetka, Illinois with a graduating class of about 980. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Majors: Double major in Mechanical Engineering and Theater with a Technical concentration and a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering
Minor: None
Extracurricular Activities: I have a [leadership position] in the Tabletop Empire board games club, I’m part of the Film Society, I’m involved with the Footlighters musical theater group on campus, and I’m involved with Players Theater Group (PTG).

Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience? In what ways?
Table Top has been a lot of fun. It re-wrote a lot of the constitution and worked with the student government to reshape some student policies that were outdated. It’s been very interesting to learn how the university’s funding system works. For the Footlighters, I sound designed a full-scale musical before it went to Broadway. We were working with a British artist to re-write a musical that he never finished. I don’t think anything will come of it, but it was fun learning the professional playwriting experience. The Players Theater Group is the way technicians learn to work with low-budget space, but still provide a high-quality product. The Film Society is a family experience that allows you to learn whatever you want, such as concession stuff or working the film projector.