| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | When I was twelve years old, my father took me to see a college football game. My favorite team had not been very good for some time, and we happened to be playing the No. 1 team in the country that day. My dad almost sold the tickets because he felt there was no chance we would even compete in the game. I pleaded that he keep them, and he did. We went to tailgates. We walked through the bars with all the fans in the hours preceding the game. I observed all of the college students practicing yells and having fun. I had not experienced anything like it before, and I could not wait for the next six years to come and go so that I could join them. I watched as the band marched around the corner to play the fight song, and I knew, in that moment, this is where I was meant to be. Our team won. The experience was more than just a football game. It was a time I got to spend with my father, whose job often required him to travel, and be away from our family. I was able to see all of the wonderful times and friends that awaited me in college. It served as motivation for me to work hard in school, so that I would one day get accepted. I look back fondly on that day, and it is a story my father and I can share for years to come. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | My brother and I are close because of our sense of humor. Our worldview is similar and our experiences growing up were much the same. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | I admire a sense of humor and goodwill. The desire to find joy and laughter in every situation, compounded with the compassion to help others is a combination that is certain to produce a fine individual. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | While in Boy Scouts, my troop set out on an excursion to the Rocky Mountains. While hiking, we reached a man-made dam, built in the 1930s. I walked along the edge of the dam to take photos of the river below. The dam had a grade of nearly 80 degrees straight down, so naturally, my friends and I decide to dangerously toss the football around (fourteen year old boys rarely make good decisions). When the ball came my way, I stepped on a wet, mossy patch at the top of the dam. I slipped and fell a hundred feet into the river below, sliding and spinning as I glided down the surface, attempting to maneuver myself into the least lethal impact position. After I hit the water, I surfaced and gave the "all clear" to my friends. This may not classify as "funny," but it is fun to laugh about now. That said, I am very lucky to be here today. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | I would travel to solar systems recently discovered by NASA's Kepler telescope. Scientists agree that every star in the Milky Way is orbited by at least one planet. Those types of odds mean that a comfortably habitable planet is quite probable, and would make for a wonderful vacation. Earth is a beautiful and wonderful home, but one day it will become uninhabitable. The search for a new potential home is our society's most selfless investment. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | My gift of empathy. Everyone we will ever meet is experiencing life in a completely different way than we are. Each encounter with another person should be accompanied by an empathetic outlook on what they could be going through. The world would be a less hateful and violent place if we each took the time to show empathy for others' experiences. |
