Senior Leslie Eddy makes mark with both personality and campus involvement
By Elizabeth Tertadian
Clicking through the weeks on her Gmail calendar, senior Leslie Eddy kindly reminded me that there are fewer than 17 actual school days left in the year, and each day, Eddy watches her giant to-do list get smaller, a reminder she is that much closer to graduation.
"The more I do, the more I want to do," Eddy said. "I don't say no to things without a reason."
On the exterior, Eddy is a double biology and music major, has lived in Shipstad for four years, is a member of the crew club and is currently an RA and anatomy TA. She fully invests herself in UP life, and seems to have her hand in a little bit of everything. Beyond that, she is regarded as one of the most extraordinary and genuine people on campus.
"She is really weird and natural," said sophomore Taylor Douvikas. "Like I love how she says 'hi' to me by meowing."
Event-filled year
This year, Eddy was played major leadership roles in Health Care Awareness Week and the Willamette River Festival, an educational gathering about the river's attributes. Although it was raining and attendance at the event last week was lower than expected, Eddy saw the festival as a success. The Electric Opera Company performed, and students could taste-test water sampled from all the buildings on campus to see if they could tell a difference. According to Eddy, all but three or four students were able to correctly identify where the water came from.
The idea for the festival came from Eddy's involvement in crew. After hearing rumors about how awful the Willamette River is and its terrible water quality, Eddy decided to host an event that would raise money for crew and bring attention to how great the river really is, with hopes that people would take pride in it.
"I row on it every day and it's still awesome," Eddy said.
Eddy has been involved in crew since her freshman year, when she unexpectedly found herself at a rowing practice. She initially thought rowing involved a small wooden boat, and was met with a surprise when she arrived at the dock and saw the long, sleek row boats. She was unaware that crew was a sport, and never did any sports in high school. Eddy quickly fell in love with crew, and was treasurer her sophomore year and then president her junior year.
Life on the Ship
Eddy also loves Shipstad, and has lived there all four years while at UP. She spent her freshman year as a wing representative, and sophomore year as the treasurer for Shipstad. Her junior year, Eddy was the vice president of RHA for financial affairs.
"I have huge Shipstad loyalty," she said. "It's a beautiful place."
This year Eddy is an RA, and loves it. She credits her residents, saying they are the best residents she could have asked for.
They are equally pleased to have her as their RA.
"She makes you feel special," said sophomore Lauren Freeland, one of Eddy's residents.
"She is just amazing," said sophomore Leah Biesiadecki, another of Eddy's residents. "She's always able to make time for us."
Although she had to give up crew this fall to be an RA, she was able to participate in crew this spring.
Gmail Alert: Obsession
According to Eddy, Gmail is the best thing you will ever find on the Internet. She uses it daily, and her favorite feature is the calendar. She uses the calendar feature to map out her days down to the minute, and has her entire life color-coded. Eddy even picks times to do specific assignments, and every aspect of her life has a different color. For example, all the events she is involved in are orange.
"I have every minute of every day logged," Eddy said. "It's good to remember little appointments with."
Tango Love
When she is not busy rowing, involved in events, being an RA or tutoring anatomy, Eddy enjoys dancing, especially the Tango. She has been ballroom dancing since eighth grade, when she and her dad enrolled in ballroom classes together at PCC. She learned all kinds of ballroom styles, but fell in love with Tango and never looked back.
"With tango there is no basic step. It's completely improvised," Eddy said.
Dancing sternum to sternum, the Tango is essentially a moving hug.
Future plans
Taking a hiatus from crew this year left time for Eddy to be involved with Health Care Awareness Week, which, according to her ,was a good thing because she needed something to fill her time. Eddy's involvement helped her recognize her passion for providing health care to those in need. Over winter break, Eddy realized she wanted to be a doctor, a goal she plans to pursue in the future.
After graduation, Eddy will teach math to high school students with Teach for America in San Antonio, Texas. She also hopes to teach band there, something for which Texas is known. Eddy has already begun researching the different musical programs of the high schools in San Antonio, and discovered that each has a mariachi band students can take for credit.
After spending two years working for Teach for America, Eddy plans to apply for medical school. However, she is not writing anything in stone, and is open to whatever comes her way.
"The human body is the only machine that improves with use and decays with inactivity," Eddy said.
