Favorites:
- Spot on campus: 7th Street Café
- Meal at Bucknell: Sunday night Wiener Schnitzel in the Cafe
- Thing about Bucknell: The sense of community between on campus. You can’t go anywhere without seeing a smiling face!
- Freeze Flavor: Coffee Freez with Butterfinger
Four Fun Facts:
- I have a deathly and irrational fear of Possums
- If I didn’t get into Bucknell, I planned on attending UCONN for puppetry
- Without looking at the flavor chart or tasting them, I can identify all 50 Jelly Belly flavors
- I can do the Single Ladies dance. Not well, but I can do it all the same.
What inspired you to start Dumbledore’s Army and when did you start it?
I actually am not the originator of Dumbledore’s Army – the club was started by Bucknell Alum Julie Kohn in 2009. Julie dreamt up the idea of a Bucknell Quidditch team but, faced with the setback of insurance policies and University rules, she changed her focus and created DA. Julie passed on the torch of Minister of Magic (president) during the spring of my Freshman year and I’ve been leading the club ever since!
When you began, what visions did you have for Dumbledore’s Army? What hopes/goals do you have for it now?
First and foremost, I set out to make Julie’s original dream of having a Quidditch team become a reality. But, after hearing about the Affinity Housing Program in the fall of 2011, my intentions switched gears. When I took over as Minister of Magic, the club was on the verge of dying away. My main goal was to expand the club…and what better way than to create a Harry Potter inspired dorm?! The hard work and dedication of mine, my Headmistress (vice president) and Quibbler Committee (exec board) paid off, and, in the fall of 2012, the club officially moved into our home for the year: The Burrow (Edwards House). Through The Burrow, DA has been able to host an even larger number of events across campus and we’ve grown almost eleven times in size since my Freshman year! As I get ready to pass on my presidency, I can only hope that the club continues to grow on – the Potter series shaped many of our childhoods and influenced us to become the people we are today. Our generation grew up alongside Harry, and just because the series is over doesn’t mean he can’t keep living on in our hearts!
Tell us a little bit about your love for Harry Potter: how you first came to love the novels, your feelings towards the characters, etc.
My mom first started reading me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when I was in the first grade. And I hated it. Though I still stand by the fact that the first few chapters of Book One are boring, my perception of the series has changed completely since I was 8. I waited out that first book – coloring as my mom read to me – and prayed that it would get better. By Chamber of Secrets, I was hooked. By the third grade, I was going to my first Potter movie viewing dressed in full wizarding garb. By my Sophomore year of college, I was wall papering my dorm room with over 140 Potter posters. Growing up with Potter crew shaped my childhood and helped create my love for literature.
If you could be a Harry Potter character for a day, who would you be and what would you do?
I’d definitely be Luna Lovegood! She’s so spacey that no one would notice if she wandered off and explored Hogwarts. Plus, as a member of Dumbledore’s Army, she’s close friends with all the best characters. First thing’s first…I’d cast some sort of spell to make my one day last as long as it possibly could! Then, I’d make sure to play a few games of Quidditch, visit Hogsmeade, try a Butterbeer, meet some house elves, the list goes on and on!
If you had a wand, an invisibility cloak, a flying broomstick, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, and a bison, how would you put them all together?
Oh, gee! I’d put the Bison on the broomstick while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, give him the wand, and have him fly across campus making it rain Bertie Botts.