Bus-y : the act of having a lot on your plate
Bee : a student at St. Ambrose University
Two words together, you have an involved Ambrosian, a Busy Bee! One in particular that I scouted out this week is Andrea Adam.
She is a sophomore from Iowa City majoring in Exercise Science for Pre-PT. She has truly excelled here at Ambrose throughput her freshman year and now is a Biology SI for Dr. Hixon’s class and was accepted into the Cadaver Lab offered on campus. Her dream job involving physical therapy would be to work with pediatrics. She has a special love for kiddos! Not only is this visible in her major, but also as a Morale Captain for Dance Marathon (Team #15 if you’re a dancer in search of a team for The Big Event). I got chills talking to her about her love for dance marathon. She said, “I love everything about it,” and continued to tell me “I have a friend who died from stage 4 lymphoma 2 years ago which was a really hard time to get through, but now I dance for him.”
However, her caring heart does not stop there. When asked what she loves most in life, without hesitation, she replied, “Family, friends and faith.” Her actions do, in fact, speak louder than words. She is a Peer Campus Minister, attends Mass ‘n’ More weekly and sings in the church choir on Sundays through the Music Ministry program. These aspects of her life make her a present and active member of our campus faith and, in turn, a great role model for all who look up to her.
This easy going, welcoming and relatable personality of hers could be credited to the close relationship she has had growing up with her three older brothers. As much as she loves them, she does admit they have been a pain in the booty over the years. “They have always been very protective of me and we have no secrets between us,” she starts out, “I don’t wish it was any other way.” But with every set of siblings comes a natural sibling rivalry, of course. “When we were younger, my brother picked me up by my hair and drop kicked me all for just wanting to change the TV channel,” she reminisced with a smile on her face. Ah, I could feel the love (haha).
I could also feel the love as we moved onto our next topic: relationship status. Sorry boys, she’s taken by one lucky dude: Nathan Kuszynski. Andrea and Nathan crossed paths last year during swimming season. She played a little hard to get, but eventually realized it was meant to bee. Her relationship advice straight from the heart was, “you can’t rush into anything because it’s important to give yourself time to know what you really want.” I could not agree more!
Speaking of swimming, did you know that she is a National Champion in 1 and 3 meter diving? Wow! How many people get to say that? Even better, she accomplished that as a freshman! I had to scoop my jaw off the floor after hearing that fabulous news. Not only does she dive, but she also swims the 50 and 100 meter freestyle events. Are you wondering how much time all of that practice takes in a week? Well, I was, and when she said “about 18 hours plus meets on the weekends,” I immediately tried to figure out where that fit into her busy schedule.
When Andrea isn’t buzzing all over campus, she finds herself spending time listening to her go to music, the Hamilton soundtrack, or watching her favorite TV show, New Girl. As much as she enjoys relaxing in her room, to her, nothing beats the great outdoors. Whether it’s hiking in a park, walking around the botanical garden at Vander Veer or laying out on a beach, she is always in the mood to enjoy some fresh air!
Over all, Andrea LOVES Ambrose and everything it has to offer for students! She enjoys the small class sizes, but her favorite thing about our university is how friendly the professors are, especially Dr. Axup in the chemistry department. When elaborating on her reasoning, she remembered that, “Last semester he took us out for pizza and it was really fun getting to know him better.” Being able to have these kinds of social interactions with your professor makes the semester all the easier because you feel comfortable going and talking to them. How great is that?!
Her parting words of wisdom, to her fellow Bees, is to remember, “It’s not about calming the butterflies, it’ about getting them to fly in formation.” When faced with those difficult situations in life, an important moment at a competition or a problem you don’t understand, use the excitement and adrenaline from those butterflies to push through and organize your thoughts. In reference to one of her favorite Hamilton songs, “You only get one shot at what you are doing, so you might as well make the best of it.” I couldn’t have said it better. Oh, and most importantly, she says, “always BEE Happy!”
All photos provided by Andrea Adam