A member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, the track and field team, and the UNI Green Project… This Junior Psychology major does it all! Meet this week’s Campus Celebrity: Claire Johannesen!
Name: Claire Johannesen
Hometown: Waukee, Iowa
Year in school: Junior
Major: Psychology
Favorite Food: Even though I hate choosing favorites, my default favorite food is pizza. Pretty basic but it’s so versatile and, of course, delicious.
What is your favorite part of UNI? UNI is like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears: just right : ) For me, it’s a perfect size and has a great feeling of community. If, however, I had to choose my absolute favorite part about UNI I would say all of the wonderful people I’ve met.
Why did you choose UNI? Honestly, I don’t really know. There’s not one specific reason that I can point out. I came on a visit when I was a senior and I just felt comfortable here. I actually didn’t even visit any other schools. Even though I don’t really know what my thought processes was when I decided upon UNI, I know I was confident in my decision.
What is your favorite college memory? Oh man. I have a pretty horrible memory when it comes to life events. UNI has brought so many memories but the problem is that I can never think of them on the spot! ONE of my favorite memories is living in one of the towers (Dancer I think…) the week after school got out my freshman year. We had to stay on campus for a track meet the next weekend and had the building all to ourselves. It was pretty awesome.
What are your plans after UNI? Well, as of right now, my tentative and vague plan is to go to grad school. Where? Most likely out of state. For what? Not completely sure, but most likely something in the field of psychology (social or positive psych). I would also love to bop around the country and do some exploring with my friend Amy.
What activities are you involved with on campus? For starters, I am on the track and field team here at our lovely university. My teammates are pretty cool I guess… : ) I’m also a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and a member of UNI Green Project (mainly because green is my favorite color but being involved in an organization concerned about sustainability and other such “green” things is an added bonus). Finally, I’m involved in some research here on campus with one of my professors.
What is your dream job? Good question. I don’t have any specific job in mind. Rather, I have an idea (or dream you could say if you so prefer) to live a certain lifestyle. One that allows me to work but also allows me time to be at home (if I have a family) and do other activities (including but not limited to: traveling, volunteer work, exploring etc). I don’t want my job to be my life but rather to have my job add to my life in some meaningful way.
What do you like to do in your free time? Recently, I have become rather enthralled with climbing rocks. For the most part I climb imitation rocks (specifically the one at the WRC), but I did get to go on a climbing trip with some great people. I’m also hoping to do some local exploring soon- maybe there are little rocks or cool trees to climb in the area. Reading is another thing I enjoy doing during my free time. I guess should mention that I do like to spend some time with my friends too…. OH! How could I forget?? I have a wonderful time pretending to be able to play my three sting guitar (José) that my roommate Maddie and I found by the dumpster a year ago.
Any Inspiring quotes or sayings you like to live by? I wouldn’t say I live by these quotes but they’re pretty good…
“The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring twopence what other people say about it, is by that very fact forearmed against some of our subtlest modes of attack” (The Screwtape Letters)
“The way you invest your love, you invest your life” (Awake My Soul, Mumford & Sons)