Transition to Penn State
Musical Life
Academic Life
Social Life
Living with Roommates
Where I'm From
I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but moved to Naperville, Illinois shortly after my 5th birthday and went to school all in Naperville.
When I first meet got to Penn State and people would ask where I was from, I would automatically answer 'Naperville', but I found out very quickly that almost no one here knows where that is. So I started responding 'Chicago', since everyone knows where Chicago is, and it's the major city Naperville is a suburb of. I used that response until the day a girl said to me, "Wow, Chicago! Do you go to school with lots of black people? Have you ever seen anyone get shot?" I was extremely confused at first, until I realized she thought I was literally from inner-city Chicago. So I started to split the difference, and now there is no confusion when I explain that I'm from 'the Chicago area'.
Once people find out I'm from the Midwest, they invariably ask me how I ended up all the way out at Penn State. The story is simple, really. Professor Glocke worked with my band in high school a couple times, so I knew I liked him as a director, and when I came out to Penn State for my audition I fell in love with it (despite a wind chill of -5 when I was here). I felt more welcomed by Penn State's music department than anywhere else I had auditioned, and that heavily swayed my final decision.
