Name: Stephen Piotrkowski
Hometown: North Franklin, CT
Birthday: August 23, 1993
Major: Journalism and Economics with an IMC Certificate
Relationship Status: Single
Why did you want to be on the Wildcat Welcome Board of Directors?
I would actually say that’s a pretty loaded question because there are lot of things that went into me deciding. First of all, going through Wildcat Welcome my freshman year, I had an unbelievable experience with an amazing Peer Adviser, which then inspired me to be a Peer Adviser myself. I really wanted to emulate what she did for me, and I would hopefully be able to do that for another group of kids myself. Once I actually went through the Peer Adviser program, I realized what actually went into being a PA and all the intent behind it and all the training, and I was just unbelievably interested in how you motivate two hundred people who are already leaders in their own right, and how you bring them together to become leaders in this specific setting. I just had an amazing time. I loved the old board, they had a hand in convincing me, and it’s been nothing but amazing for me on campus.
What are you looking forward to during Wildcat Welcome this year?
There’s a lot. It’s kind of already started for me, which is really weird just because of marketing recruitment and Peer Adviser apps coming out, Wildcat Welcome is already like 90 percent of my life. I’m most excited to see what Peer Advisers look like when they first meet their kids. I’m sure my kids probably have a great recollection of what my face was like. It lit up, huge smile. You realize that you get these kids to lead through the week and it’s just an unbelievable experience.
What else are you involved in on campus?
I’m the director of Medill for Wildcat Welcome. I am on the Academic Committee for the Associated Student Government, so anything that deals with academic administrators or just the academic wants and needs of the student body I’m involved in. I’m currently involved with making a possible International Studies major, we’re seeing how things go with that. So that’s really exciting. I may be joining another committee in ASG; we’ll see how that goes. I’m on the Marketing Committee for Dance Marathon. I’m on club tennis, and I’m on the Inclusion Task Force for the Department of Campus Community and Inclusion. DCIC is a new department at Northwestern. It’s really exciting; we’re a group of twenty students that get together. We’re kind of just deciding the best path to follow in terms of addressing community and inclusion.
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
Alright, I have two guilty pleasures. One is that I watch Grey’s Anatomy religiously. I started watching when I was little with my mom and sister and it has continued to this day. My second is, in terms of like food guilty pleasures, if you give me a hunk of chunky peanut butter and I can put it all over apples, I’ll eat that all day long.
What are your pet peeves?
One of my pet peeves in terms of girls is girls that don’t know what they want. When they make me decide everything, I hate that. I am totally fine with a girl walking into a situation and being like, “This is what I want, and let’s go do it.” And I think that’s totally cool. Confidence, it’s a great thing.
What qualities do you look for in a girl?
As I said before, she has to be confident. She has to know who she is and be able to express that within a group of people. She has to be able to laugh at herself. I could say a sense of humor, but you don’t have to be able to like crack jokes, you just have to be able to laugh at yourself if you trip and fall. Just make a joke about it. Just be you!
What is your ideal date?
First of all, it would definitely be in New York. I grew up with two older sisters so I have a very traditional sense of what a date should be. Definitely pick the girl up, we would go to a really nice dinner, and then after that we would kind of just walk around the city, explore, have a little adventure. She has to be able to go with the flow.
What is your funniest first date story?
My first long-term girlfriend was through like junior/senior year, some of freshman year of college. Our first date was actually Easter, and I went with her entire family to her grandparents’ house. And just before this, I had cut my hair into a mohawk for soccer. And so I was introduced to her incredibly traditional grandparents with this mohawk and with her entire family, and it was a really interesting day.