You may have seen her cruising on her skateboard, headphones in with a smile on her face. Well, here she is–Dakota Connell-Ledwon (or Kota for short)!
For starters, tell me a bit about yourself–hometown, major, hobbies, clubs, deep dark secrets?
I’m an English major with a creative writing concentration and I’m from Davie, Florida–palm trees! Beaches! It never drops below 80 degrees! I’m a proud member of the baritone section of the marching band, fall pep band, and basketball band. I’m also the VP of Mustard, ND’s creative writing club (Why Mustard? The world may never know…). In whatever free time I have left, I jam out on ukelele, play Frisbee on the quad, and binge watch Archer and Orange is the New Black. I cannot whistle.
I can’t whistle, either. But I’m curious, what has being part of the marching band taught you?
That there are NO limits on what I can accomplish. I picked up the baritone three weeks before band camp my freshman year. It was my first brass instrument. Four hours of practice a day for two weeks and I had the Victory March down. Three days of band camp and I had become a fairly competent marcher. One year later and I am the happiest I have ever been–because band is my niche, my love, my group of friends. I get to travel, perform, and spend a lot of each day with people who I know are going to be with me forever. And all because I took a chance and picked up an instrument.
We all envy your optimism and determination, but you must be human, right? What really gets on your nerves?
Nothing gets on my nerves. I am a constant ray of sunshine in bleak, overcast South Bend.
I guess you aren’t human after all. But anyway, onto a deep question. If you could meet any person, living or dead, who would he/she be?
Definitely Oscar Wilde. He gave great advice – “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much”- and wrote fantastic, clever, controversial books. I would love to have a frustratingly intellectual conversation with this author.
English nerds unite! Personally I’d meet John Steinbeck, but that’s besides the point. Lastly, a fun question. Describe your personal style!
Probably a mix between Zooey Deschanel in New Girl and edgy ripped jeans (possibly from falling off my skateboard). With the odd comfy sweatpants day (frequently) thrown in.
Thanks, Kota!
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