It’s that time of year again ladies. When neither warm socks, high boots, scarves, nor pumpkin spice breves can keep you quite warm enough. Yes ladies, we’re nearing the end of October—and we all know what that means: HALLOWEEN. So, if you’re looking for a little “eye” candy this trick-or-treat season or for a little something to keep you toasty on these short fall days, look this way. We’ve “struck” gold with our next campus cutie, Andy Struik.
Andy is a blonde-hair, blue-eyed sophomore from Cedar Rapids. As a middle child, Andy is placed directly in the middle of an older brother and a younger sister. Upon hearing such news, I found myself wondering whether or not he fit the middle child stereotype: Outspoken, frequently forgotten about…yeah, I can’t say that Andy meets any of the previously stated stereotypes. He’s outgoing, he loves people; he is your typical “one-of-a-kind” guy. (And yes I realize I just used “typical” and “one-of-a-kind” in the same sentence).
Growing up, Andy recalls being a terror to his mother. With a brother who was only 11 months older than himself, Andy and his brother frequently got themselves into all sorts of trouble. “He was more like my twin,” Andy reflected.
Despite the constant trouble he gave his parents, they must have done something right to get such a kind, caring, and friendly son. Just being in Andy’s presence is enough to brighten even the gloomiest of the cold winter days to come. Andy attributes his demeanor to his mother. “She’s the strongest woman I’ve ever met. She’s been through a lot and still makes it through”.
I think we can all take a lesson from her. No matter the strength of the coming storm, no matter how IMPOSSIBLE your humanities class may be, no matter how much we wish that certain someone would look our way, no matter how much reading your professors assign—our troubles are really small in the grand scheme of it all. I know that someday, when I get through all of the petty worries I let bother me, I want to have someone look at me and say that I was strong. No, even better, I want to be able to say it about myself—as should you ladies.
Andy ended up at UNI in a way many of us can probably relate. Senior year seemed to come too fast, and he found himself scrambling for applications. Andy happened upon the doors of UNI after it was the first school to respond to his application. Lucky for all of us ladies, Andy feels he couldn’t have made a better choice. “My favorite part of being a panther has to be the people, life long friends, and Campbell.” After hearing this from almost every campus cutie it must be true: we have the best people in the world.
Andy is a sophomore majoring in marketing and advertisement. Someday, Andy hopes to work for a company as the “advertising guy.” Within the next ten years, he hopes to be settled down with a job, a family, and possibly doing mission work. So there you have it ladies, it would seem that Andy has all of the criteria met: he’s family oriented, driven, he loves people, AND he’s this week’s campus cutie.
Before we parted ways, I had to ask the questions we as women are dying to ask: “What do you admire most in women?” AND “What do you look for most within a girl?” The questions gave me insight that we can all use as future business owners, magazine editors, mothers, wives, or whatever it is we choose to become: be yourself, be kind to others around you, let your personality show…but most of all, love yourself. We grew up being told to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”. But look deeper into this piece of advice. It isn’t just telling you to love others, it’s also telling you to love yourself. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have an example to love by.
So ladies, I don’t know about you but these campus cutie articles keep me “wishin, and hopin’, and dreamin’, and prayin’” when right now, what’s best is that I love the life I’m living. Stop thinking of tomorrow, or the life you wish you had. Be happy with the life that you have been blessed enough to have. You’re beautiful.