Name: Austin Clark Shrum (’11)
From: South Lake, Texas
Her Campus (HC): What are you involved with on campus?
Austin Shrum (AS): SAE fraternity, outgoing president of College Republicans, and Reformed University Fellowship (RUF)
HC: What’s your daily routine?
AS: I wake up every morning on my couch (we have a really comfortable couch – I sleep on three for four nights out of the week) to the sound of Ronald Reagan blaring over my clock radio. I get up and go feed my Bald Eagle. I fix a big breakfast with Frank Sinatra on as background music. I try to be strategically two to three minutes late for class. I watch Sports Center for thirty minutes. I’m a masterful tweeter. I fill in my day with convulsively checking Twitter. I have to keep my fans posted, right?
HC: Do you have a lot of followers on Twitter?
AS: Not really, like seventy…
HC: What did you do when you heard the news about Osama Bin Laden’s death?
AS: As soon as I heard the news, I ran to my closet and threw on my American flag button-down shirt. I sent out some tweets about rolling the Quad, listened to Toby Keith, and shot-gunned a beer in celebration of our national victory. I was so excited to rage on the Quad, lead patriotic chants, and chase people around the Quad with a cut-out of George W. Bush.
HC: What did you do for Post Exams?
AS: I went to Holden Beach with friends. I stayed in the fraternity house last year in Myrtle, where I’d wake up to brothers coming back in the mornings with a shower curtain around their waists. So we stayed in Holden and commuted over to Myrtle for a couple of days to get the best of both worlds – wild and relaxing. Last year was my first year to go to posties. I had a lot of fun at Pirate’s Cove and the SAE day party (. . . but that got busted by the cops).
HC: What can you mark off of your senior bucket list?
AS: I streaked the Quad . . . twice. I also stole that cut-out of George W. Bush. I’ve made out in the stacks – well, in most buildings on campus, actually.
HC: What haven’t you gotten around to?
AS: I’d like to go tunneling and make out in the tunnels, too. There’s something to having all the rats crawling around your feet that makes you feel dangerous. I also want to climb a building at night. I’m trying not to focus on the regrets right now though.
HC: So what do you regret about your time at Wake?
AS: I feel like I relegated freshmen year to utter “Geedom.” I think I rallied after moving out of Johnson though.
HC: What are you doing after graduation?
AS: I’m going on a beer and baseball tour of New England with friends, and then I’ll be back at Wake as a fellow.
HC: As a graduating senior, do you have any advice to pass along to underclassmen (including incoming freshmen)?
AS: Never choose your first year seminar based on the title of the class. I feel like the really sucky professors give their classes really sweet titles to lure innocent students into their shittiness. The duller the name, the easier the class. I got like the fifteenth option and didn’t do anything in that class. Also, if you have the chance to choose between doing something fun and doing work, just remember that you’ll have time to do your work later.
*Photography by Kelly Russo