Chris Higgins: Service Learning Intern and Comedian
Year: Eckerd College Class of 2014
Age: 22
Majors: International Relations and Global Affairs
Minors: Spanish and Environmental Studies
Hometown: Boulder, Colorado
There are many reasons as to why you would know Chris Higgins. Despite the fact that he graduated from Eckerd last year, Chris still plays a huge role on our campus. He is the AmeriCorps Intern in the Office of Service Learning and remains involved with Eckerd’s own improv group, Another Man’s Trash, as a guest performer. Chris was born in Atlanta, Georgia and was raised in Kathmandu, Nepal until he was five years old. Chris and his family then moved to Boulder, Colorado where he remained until college. Chris originally was drawn to the Office of Service Learning his freshman year as he grew up doing service, as the majority of his family vacations were service trips. During his freshman year at Eckerd, Chris participated in a Spring Break Service Learning Trip to Puerto Rico. This year, Chris is most excited for the Spring Break Service Learning Trip he is co-leading with Ronald Porter. Their Service Learning trip is local, taking place in St. Petersburg. Their trip focuses on environmental poverty and follows a new format. In this Service Trip, the location and focus have been pre-selected, but participants will format exactly how they address this focus. The Office of Service Learning is very excited to test out this new format because participants will be more involved in the planning of the trip rather than just signing up for a pre-planned trip.
After working as an intern in the Office of Service Learning, Chris plans on moving to Chicago to pursue his improv career. He was inspired to move to Chicago after AMT received a personal tour from the executive producer of an improv company. As a kid Chris was obsessed with Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy. Chris realized he should come up with his own material when he memorized an entire Pablo Francisco CD and recited it to his friends who thought it was hilarious. Chris began performing stand-up comedy at 18 in the pub. When I asked if he still remembered the first set he did, he immediately responded, “yup”. He first performed on his birthday, which just happened to be Saint Patrick’s Day, and while he was on stage, someone from the audience yelled that he sucked. Chris says he will never forget that moment since it was the first time someone told him he sucked. But, Chris made a joke about the guy’s bowl cut and continued with his set. Other comedic memories Chris has are memorable AMT sketches. Chris could not just pick one favorite set but he mentioned the Igor and Boris sketch he performed with Geoff and the Satanic Bunny sketch, but, of course, there are countless of other forgotten scenes that he loved performing. In addition to continuing to perform improv, Chris also performs stand-up comedy at Coconuts Comedy Club. Be sure to go to the next AMT show to see Chris perform!