Year: 2017
College: Calhoun
Major: Undecided
Hometown: Chicago
Ian and I met in the overcrowded dining hall of Berkeley College for our interview, barely able to talk over the millions of conversations happening around up (not to mention Yale’s step dance team that gave an impromptu performance in the middle of dinner). But when Ian and I started talking, the freshman girls next to us immediately slowed their conversation to try to catch Ian’s answers to our Campus Cutie questions. Trust me, you’ll want to hear them just as much as they did, read on to learn more!
Fun Facts:
Favorite place in the world: Antibes, France
Favorite dance song: Timber
Celebrity crush: Kiera Knightly/Natalie Portman (“Except she went to Harvard…but I’ll get over it”)
Favorite late night snack: My mom’s brownies that she sends me, so good!
Relationship status: Single
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HC: What are you involved with on campus?
IS: I’m in Community Health Educators, which I love. I do a couple different running groups, too. For one, we do fundraising to support education and healthcare in developing countries, so for that we just did a half marathon in New York. I’m also a mentor for Squash Haven. And I’m also in Sig Ep.
HC: What’s been your best memory from freshman year so far?
IS: I’d have to go with Sig Ep Initiation night! They told us to be in our rooms at seven that night, but they didn’t come to mine until eight, so I thought I didn’t get in. I was ready to leave and do something to get my mind off of it and right then they came to my door! I rushed Sig Ep because there’s so much more to it than being a frat. They also made us go to this weird leadership camp…
HC: What did you learn at leadership camp?
IS: Actually, I learned how to skip out on activities by faking sick. Everyone else was really mad at me!
HC: Best class you’ve taken so far?
IS: Intro Political Philosophy for the professor, or Intro to Programming because I think its really cool. I also take Chinese and I love it. I’ll be in China this summer.
HC: What are your plans?
IS: I got a Light Fellowship, I’ll be in Beijing at the Harvard-Beijing Academy. I know a few guys who are going with me. I went to China a few years ago but lived in a rural area teaching English, so I’m excited to be in Beijing this time. You study Chinese for 6 hours a day, its really intense but also supposed to be a great time!
HC: Any embarrassing stories from freshman year?
IS: During the first month of school, I got locked out of my suite in the middle of the night in my boxers. After waiting in my entryway for almost an hour, a guy from across the hall came out of his suite, so I borrowed his phone to call Yale Security to come let me in…while in my boxers. Not my proudest moment.
HC: What’s something most people at Yale don’t know about you?
IS: I have a brother who is two years older than me and he is at the Naval Academy, so he’s going to be in the Navy. I respect him a lot.
HC: When you were a kid what did you want to be?
IS: I wanted to be an actor when I was really little, I did acting camp when I was in second grade. I don’t think I was any good.
HC: What would be your dream job today?
IS: I’m undecided on my major and what I want to do. But I love travelling and service work so maybe something related to that. I’m still trying to figure out what that might look like.
HC: Do you have any secret talents?
IS: I can make a clover with my tongue. I think that’s about as cool as my talents get, that’s where I peak.
HC: What are your guilty pleasures?
IS: I love Oreos and peanut butter, so underrated. Everyone always says its from the Parent Trap, I don’t know if that’s where I got it, but I started doing it when I was really little and haven’t gotten over it.
HC: What is your spirit animal?
IS: Maybe a dolphin. I like that they’re smart, but they also seem really nice and calm. They’re pretty modest, not roaring or anything, they just wanna have a good time
HC: What are three things you can’t live without?
IS: My running shoes, Old Spice and Calhoun [awwwwwww]
HC: What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done for a girl?
IS: The most romantic thing I ever did was in Middle School. My romantic side has probably gone downhill since then. I was asking a girl out and I was at my friend’s house…and of course it was a really big deal. [At this point the girl next to us in Berkley leans into the conversation and Ian invites her to listen to the story] We found a bunch of cardboard boxes on the streets of downtown Chicago, went to Walgreens and bought a bunch of sharpies, and we all went and stood outside on Michigan Avenue (a major street in Chicago). She was up on the fifteenth floor of the building, and all of my friends and I lined up with signs that said, “Will you go out with me?” I held the “me”.
HC: Favorite pickup line?
IS: Are you tired? Cuz you were running through my dreams all night.
HC: I’m sensing a running theme here.
HC: Yale girls are the best because…
IS: [In a mocking voice] “They’re the perfect combination of smart and good looking” – no I’m not gonna say that! I like them because most of them are pretty down to earth. They know how to have a good time but you can also have a meaningful conversation with them.