| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | My most memorable childhood experience was my entire third grade. Before that, I never really tried in school. I was much more interested in friends and recess and fun, as most kids are. But then I met my third-grade teacher and had an immediate and huge crush on her. And what better way to impress a teacher than do well in school? I was suddenly taking homework seriously, trying to find opportunities for extra credit, studying for every test. My crush on my teacher was so obvious that when I would get in trouble at home, my parents would threaten to write a letter I needed to take to my teacher! What a reversal. The relationship never worked out, but the interest in school never waned. I did send her an update after I finished graduate school to thank her for being the little extra push I needed to succeed. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | I identify most closely with my mom. She and I have very similar attitudes and views on almost everything, including politics. She instilled in me a strong work ethic, sometimes to a fault when personal happiness is sacrificed for career success. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | The traits I most admire in an individual are the ability to solve problems, form relationships, and recognize when something is out of their control. Problem solving is essential in both personal and professional settings. If you can encounter a novel problem and quickly and efficiently work through it, you’ll be self-sufficient, satisfied, and better off for solving it on your own. I also admire people who can form and maintain relationships. I’ve moved around quite a bit, so being able to start a new friend group in each state has been essential to my happiness. Being able to maintain old relationships, despite many miles separating me and my family and my friends, has been critical to my happiness. Over my life, people have been more and more willing to move far from where they grew up. Learning how to build and maintain friendships is likely only going to get more important over time. Last, I appreciate people who can recognize what they can and cannot control, then adjust their perspective based on this insight. Some people get stressed and anxious about things that have zero influence over, which is a waste of energy and a sure way to feel depressed. Be aware of those things that you have no control over and exhibit a positive influence over them when given the opportunity but spend your effort making a positive impact where you can. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | The funniest thing that ever happened to me was the result of my dry sense of humor. I love jokes delivered deadpan. When I started a new job in a new state that was run by a controversial governor, I (in my mind) joked about how great he was and how much I supported his policies. In reality, I thought his ideas and policies were terrible, but my deadpan delivery to people who didn’t know me well could lead to them thinking I was serious. I maintained that joke for months. Every new policy got new praise. All but one person caught on and knew this was my way of joking about the governor in a place that we were not allowed to joke about the governor (government/military job). At one party I had at my house, where we were not constrained on what we could talk about, we were all talking about political stuff, and I was expressing my vehement support for gay marriage legalization (which was an ongoing issue through the 2010s). The one person who never realized my praise of the governor was a joke was extremely confused by the contradiction between my pro-gay marriage stance and my seemingly conservative political affiliation. Everyone laughed because I am very much on the liberal side of the political spectrum, she just never realized I was joking. This one person then joked that she was a great person for overlooking my “conservative values” to still be friends with me. It’s tough to translate the joke through a paragraph, but the months of build-up to get to that point was hilarious. We all still give that person a hard time. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | I most want to travel to the Galapagos Islands. These islands have several endemic species that I can see nowhere else. I remember seeing an episode about this place when I was young, and it has stuck with me since. The main thing holding me back is that it is a sensitive environment, and my presence (any human’s presence) would likely only hurt it. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | If I had kids, the thing I would want to pass onto them is the opportunity to be happy. A simple answer but ensuring the opportunity to be happy can be complex in execution. It means being healthy, having enough money to cover all your needs and many of your wants, the chance to earn an education, the chance to make friends, the chance to find and get involved in hobbies. I would also want to pass on the work ethic I inherited from my mom, the comfort public speaking I inherited from my dad, and the positive attributes from my partner (willingness to try new things, ability to make a comfortable nest anywhere, and her depth of caring for friends). |
