Campus Cutie: The Quad’s Nick Petro

Name: Nick Petro

Year: Junior

Major: Journalism, IMC

Relationship Status: Single

So we’ve seen it all over Facebook, but what exactly is The Quad? 

The Quad is a website dedicated to connecting the voices and opinions of college students beyond the classroom. In other words, the life of a college student is hectic and unpredictable, so this is website allows them to stay updated on the current events they truly care about in a matter of minutes.

What’s are your responsibilities when it comes to running the site? 

Well, four classmates (Max Hogan, Austin Hunter, Omar Jimenez, and Jack Mordell) and I created the concept of The Quad about a year ago. We all share the responsibilities of updating the website with innovative content on a daily basis – whether it be the design of the webpage or posting up-to-date news stories and entertaining videos. Also, The Quad has a team of amazing editors that controls the “Blogs” section of the website.

What’s your ultimate goal for The Quad? 

The ultimate goal for The Quad shifts on a day-to-day basis. In the beginning, we  came up with this master plan to start a talk show for college students, similar to that of Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel. However, that idea eventually evolved into a website for college students and manifested itself in The Quad. Who knows what will come next? We continue to throw different ideas at each other every single day.

What’s your favorite piece on the site so far?

Why? My favorite part of The Quad is either the “College Conversation” or the “Flow.” The “College Conversation” presents a series of relevant controversial topics, whether it’s about political education or Justin Bieber, and asks users to state their own opinions. The “Flow” is more for entertainment purposes than anything – it is a stream of attention-grabbing videos, pictures, and GIFs.

Give us one reason we should check out the site right now. 

While in college, you never know who you might run into. In case you get caught up in conversation, it’s important to stay up-to-date on current events in order to make an excellent first impression.

So you work on a college news site, what’s your favorite part of college?

 The variety of people I’ve gotten to connect and interact with in a classroom, extracurricular, and social setting. Every single person at Northwestern is so impressive in one way or another. Not only will these colleagues go on to do great things professionally, but many of them will be my life-long friends.

Least favorite?

I understand the value of attending and working hard in class, but it often feels like the amount of coursework handed out to students inhibits them from being taught what they really want to learn. A lot of necessary skills for the “real world” are acquired outside the classroom, whether it be in extracurricular activities or exploring the city of Chicago.

Do you think dating is easier or harder in a college setting? 

It’s definitely harder. Between classwork and extracurricular activities, it’s already tough enough to find a couple of spare minutes to spend time with close friends. If you’re in a relationship, there needs to be about 26 hours in a day.