Interests & Hobbies

My tagline claims that I love swimming, reading, video/TV streaming services, and traveling. While all of these are true, here’s some other interests and activities I participate in outside the office.

Volunteering

• Judge at Technovation Challenge in 2018, 2019, and 2021
• Panelist at a Tech Talk at several of the University of Minnesota’s Coding Bootcamps
• Volunteer at RailsConf 2019
• Volunteer at various nonprofit organizations, such as Arc Value Village, Perspectives, and Feed My Starving Children in the Twin Cities

In College

• UMM Open Hatch event leader
• Calculus 1 Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) tutor at UMM
• Student Campus Ambassador at UMM
• Orientation Group Leader at UMM in 2016
• Participant in the UMM Honors Program
• UMM Concert Choir Dress Manager
• UMM Dance Ensemble Treasurer
• Dance teacher to children at a local dance studio
• Participant in the NATS Competition 2014
• Participant in a Senior Recital in April 2017 (recordings and program)

Traveling

I know I already claimed to love traveling, but since I try to go to a new country every year, here’s a cool list of all of the foreign countries (or non-continental U.S. states/territories) I’ve been to:

0. China 🇨🇳
1. Iceland 🇮🇸 — it was only a layover and I never left the Reykjavík airport, but I like to count it anyways
2. France 🇫🇷
3. Spain 🇪🇸
4. Puerto Rico 🇵🇷
5. Alaska 🇺🇸
6. Netherlands 🇳🇱 — also a layover, and I also never left the Amsterdam airport
7. Czech Republic 🇨🇿
8. Austria 🇦🇹
9. Germany 🇩🇪
10. England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
11. Montréal 🇨🇦 — technically Canada, but saying Montréal is cooler than saying Canada
12. Kenya 🇰🇪

LEGO Sets and MOCs

In April 2020, I started to get involved more with LEGO. I think a huge part of this is because we’re all stuck inside from the COVID-19 pandemic. But, I discovered a tool called BrickLink Studio, and you can use it to build your own LEGO sets. This tool looks like it’s from BrickLink, but it’s fully supported by LEGO as well… in fact, LEGO’s own employees use Studio to build the official sets! So, I thought I’d share some of the LEGO sets I’ve built and designed (also called MOCs—or My Own Creations), as well as some LEGO sets I’ve purchased and played around with. See my dedicated LEGO page for more!

Theatre

When I was in middle school and high school, my family and I spent countless hours driving to and from rehearsals from shows. Every show I was a part of was enjoyable, and I loved learning from all of the cast and crew members I worked with. For a list of the shows I worked with and the training I participated in, see my dedicated Theatre page. Huge shoutout and thank you to my family for always being supportive of my theatre pasttime and for always being willing to help me out.