Aleks “There are No Puns for Aleks” Gawronska ’18

Name: Aleksandra Joanna Veronica Gawronska

Hometown: Winthrop Harbor, Illinois

Major: Science Business

Dorm: Pangborn

Year: Freshman

Aleks Gawronska is a Catholic, an ardent feminist, and my future roommate. Let’s get to know this phoxy lady.

Aleks is originally from Gdansk, Poland, and immigrated to the United States when she was ten. She said she didn’t speak English until six months after starting school and she still speaks Polish with her parents. “All the kids thought I was the coolest thing because I spoke Polish, but I was really shy and removed because I couldn’t actually understand them.”

Aleks’s grandmother still lives in Poland, but she comes to visit every couple of years. She says that she hasn’t been back to Poland since moving, but that her family might be returning to visit next fall break.

Aleks is a huge sports fan, mainly basketball and football; her favorite teams are the Boston Celtics (in spite of never living in Boston and only visiting the city once) and the Fighting Irish. She says she loved the Celtics because the first NBA game she ever watched was game two of the 2010 finals where the Celtics played the Lakers, and I thought the Lakers were “ridiculously snobby.” “I decided to cheer for the Celtics and it stuck.” Regarding our own Fighting Irish, she said our loss to Kentucky emotionally destroyed her, and that if the women don’t defeat UConn, she’ll be dead inside forever. “Or at least until next season,” she said.

Her love for sports led her to shadow student athletic trainers to try to become one for the university in the future. Three days a week, she works from 6:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., helping out with football practice.

In the future, Aleks would like to be a consultant. Preferably, she would like to work from her future home, somewhere on a tropical island. “That’s the dream,” she said, with a hopeful gleam in her eye.

When asked about her hobbies, she had a very blank look on her face. “I don’t have any hobbies. The NBA is my only hobby, and I’ve said this for years now.” She then remembered that she also watches Parks and Recreation and Bob’s Burgers.

(Note: she also said that she watches anime, but asked for that to be left out because she doesn’t want people to know that she’s “garbage.”)

She is also very passionate about her political views and regularly refers to herself as “liberal trash.”

(Another note: she really enjoys referring to herself as trash and garbage.)

If Aleks had a chance to change one thing about her freshman year of college, she said she would have gotten more involved. She would like to join Project Fresh, campus ministry, and perhaps become a basketball manager.

Closing statement from the interviewee: “Wow, my life is really not that interesting and Megan is a jerk.”  

What a downer. Thanks Aleks!

• anime
• Notre Dame
• Poland