Year: 2016
Hometown: St Louis, Missouri
Major: Theatre Studies (and possibly economics)
College: Pierson (and he LOVES it. At first he wanted Branford or Berkeley like everyone coming into Yale does, but he adores Pierson, especially the community.)
Christian’s bright red sweater and enthusiastic smile caught my eye when he walked into Starbucks on a gloomy, rainy Wednesday afternoon for our interview. He greeted some friends on the way in and then made his way over to the table where we started the interview. He never stopped smiling for the entirety of our meeting.
Favorite Movie: “Disney movies– but I can’t pick a favorite. I love Finding Neverland and, of course, Titanic.” (He even saw it in 3D!)
Favorite song at the moment: “Domino by Jessie J is always a favorite, but everybody knows I love Barbra Streisand, she’s my go-to girl.”
Favorite study spot: “I really like the Starr reading room in Sterling Memorial Library. I started out being against the library, I only ever went in high school when I had some time to kill, but I went for the first time in November. I like Bass for reading, but for problem sets and hard-core work the Starr reading room is the best.”
Blue State or Starbucks?: “I’m not a coffee person. I like tea– so I love Jojo’s!”
One word to describe your first semester: “Fun, but that’s a boring word. I think I’ll go with fierce, it’s the adjective I always use.”
Did you have one or two specific highlights of your first semester?: “Performing in The Drowsy Chaperone, definitely, was a really fun experience, and it was great getting to know all those people. Also being tapped into the Duke’s Men and Yale Dancers was great. They are my closest groups of friends, and the people I go to.”
If you had to pick one, could you pick one between singing, dancing, or acting?: “I think I would take acting away first, because you can act through singing and dancing. I guess I would go with a cheating answer and say singing because I can act and move through singing. Ideally I would not have to pick between them.”
How was the Duke’s tour?: “It was really fun, and it was my first tour. I had to miss fall tour because I had already make plans to go home. Tour is definitely not a good time to try to get sleep or rest, but we sang at the CIA and the Capital, which was amazing. I love DC! Senior year my friends were all like ‘Let’s go to Florida for spring break!’ and I was like, ‘I am going to go to DC with my family…’”
Were you homesick at all first semester?: “No, I feel bad saying it but I really wasn’t. I was busy enough with a cappella rush and auditioning for shows and dancing. My family came up to see The Drowsy Chaperone, and there were enough breaks where I felt I got to see them!”
What is your home like? Any siblings?: “I have an older brother who graduated from SMU last year. He is now a first year med student at the University of Missouri, and my sister is a junior at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. She is on the gymnastics team there. We all sing, even my mom used to be a Mouseketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club, and my dad likes to sing, but not in public…he is a dentist, so he just sticks to that. We all sing, my brother started an a cappella group at his school and my sister sings in a choir, sometimes people call us the Von Probsts instead of the Von Trapps, but I am the only one who wants to really pursue it as a career.”
And finally…complete the sentence, “Yale girls are the best because…”:
“They are smart, friendly, flirty. But smart is the biggest thing because having someone to talk to is the best thing that you can ever have. I haven’t met a girl that I don’t like here at Yale, all the girls in YD are great!”