Townsend Hall

Senior, geography (urban planning)

Hometown and state?
Manchester, Massachusetts.

Why did you come to UM?
Missoula is a great city. I can do all of the activities I love to do right out the back door.

What surprised you most when you arrived on campus?
How intimate campus feels, considering it has 13,000 students. It feels like a way smaller school than it actually is.

How do you study?
If I’m writing a paper, I start a week before it’s due, write a few pages a night and then proofread. I like to study in the UC a lot. There aren’t too many distractions, yet I don’t feel like I’m sitting in a cubicle. There’s some greenery too. It’s nice.

Do you participate in any sports?
I play lacrosse. We were recently national champions for club division, and that has allowed us to go up another division and play more challenging teams.

Weren’t you named All-American?
The last two years I was All-American for attack.

What does "attack" mean?
It means a forward, like the goal-scoring.

So that means you scored a lot of points?
Yep.

Are you in any other clubs or activities?
Not officially, but I have acquaintances on the biking team and snowboarding team. I don’t snowboard; I ski, but skiers are allowed to go with them.

Telemark or alpine?
I have alpined my whole life. Last year, I started telemarking and I am not going back.

Who has influenced you most in your time at UM?
My friends. I made great friends in the dorms, in Craig Hall, and pretty much they’re still my best friends three years later.

What’s your best tip for saving money in college?
Buy good food, because you’ll put more time and effort into making it and then you won’t be running around buying fast food.

What’s the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to you?
It was pretty exciting being named MVP for the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League.

How would you solve the energy crisis?
Solar panels.

Do you have a hero?
No. I’ve never had a hero.

Sum up your life philosophy.
Have fun and be patient. Patience is a virtue. I’ve recently learned that with a lot of things I do. As I get older, being patient is better.

What’s your desert island album?
Something by Clinton Fearon.

What’s your preferred mode of communication?
Verbal. Not cell phone.

So you’re not on MySpace or any virtual community?
I have Facebook. It’s a good way to keep in touch with old friends. I’m not a heavy user.

Describe your personal style or fashion sense.
I like to keep it simple and clean.

What’s your greatest hidden talent?
I can tell you a lack of a talent.

Okay.
I can’t burp. I’ve never burped in my entire life.

That’s seems like it would be dangerous.
It probably is -- I should get it checked out.

If you could be any animal, which one would you be?
A dog, because they always get to experience the cool stuff and look up to someone who is more knowledgeable than them.

They get to have heroes.
Yeah, they have heroes.

What’s your favorite bumper sticker?
Anything without words.

What’s your favorite place in Missoula?
Up on Sentinel. I live near the trail and I like to go up there and check out the view. I also like Rattlesnake Creek. There are good swimming holes and big fish.

What’s your favorite Montana body of water?
Lake of the Stars in the Mission Mountains. It’s a high alpine lake with jagged peaks coming right out of it, and there are cutthroat trout.

What’s the best ticket in Missoula?
Having a barbecue with friends, with food you bought at the Farmer’s Market, then going to a concert, then hanging out.

-- Interview and photography by Winona Sorensen