SUZANNE

A red-headed charismatic freshman at the University of Minnesota. The short girl with the bright green eyes that sits next to me in Bible-Context and Interpretation every Tuesday and Thursday morning. A friend who has opposite views and different ways of doing things than I, which I learned when we sat down and told each other more about ourselves.

Suzanne met me at “The Cube” on campus. We got the last open table right next to the noisy espresso maker at the Starbucks coffee stand. Eating a brief lunch as we spoke we expanded on the little we had already known from talking in class as well as the things I knew by adding each other as Facebook friends earlier in the semester. The following is what in total I have learned about this girl named Suzanne:

Her name sounds and reads as one that you would think to find in the 1950’s or 60’s. However in 2010 she can be grouped in a category that holds the ‘typical college kid.’

Growing up and spending all of her life in the town famous for its Midwestern water parks, Wisconsin Dells. Never having been there I am still well aware of what a vast tourist attraction that this city is. For those of you reading this and are bewildered because you have no idea what I am talking about basically the city of Wisconsin Dells is over run by resorts with wild water parks and roller coasters. It is a summer vacation that the people in the Midwest can drive to but still get away. As Suzanne explains the location is beautiful. The landscape is much like that of Minnesota, there are trees, hills, green grass and lakes everywhere. Due to her environment and the attractions of the town in the summertime Suzanne spent a lot of time outdoors through out her life. She says she likes to hike and spend her time on the lake when outside. When she wasn’t outdoors growing up Suzanne seemed to be channelling her creative side. She participated in band beating the drums in percussion, and she danced her butt off. Participating in both dance studio classes along with dance team when in high school Suzanne made it sound like she was always twirling around on her tip toes.

Suzanne has two pets. Marvin and Lulu. Marvin is an annoying bird that her family has had forever. He doesn’t talk but whistles and gets overly excited when he hears you pouring cereal into your bowl in the morning. Lulu is a young yellow lab, at the age of one and a half. She is lots of fun and Suzanne is starting to miss her while she is away.

As for favorite things Suzanne shares her father’s love of popcorn and ice cream. She is also an Italian food junkie. Suzanne likes to travel and hopes to go to Italy one day where she has family and can eat all the food she wants! Suzanne enjoys singing and dancing and could read a good book by Jodi Picoult at any time.

For education before college Suzanne was enrolled in public school. Her high school held around one thousand students and classroom sizes were small averaging from 20 to 25. Suzanne always attained high grades through out school and was continuously on the honor roll. As I already stated Suzanne preformed with the dance team at school, she was also a member of the football cheer leading squad and pole vaulted in Track & Field.

Suzanne’s parents divorced when she was five years old. Both her mother and father have been remarried since then. Her mom went to tech school and now works at a company where they do something with closing the deal when you buy a house… Suzanne didn’t have the proper name or job title for it so we will just leave it at that. Her mother’s husband is a conductor on the railroad. Suzanne’s father recently retired and moved to Colorado. Before this he was a detective Sargent. Her father’s wife held a job as a dental assistant before the retirement and the move to Colorado. Due to her parents divorce Suzanne said her life was a little crazy due to jumping around from house to house.

Suzanne is religious. She is a Christian and says she leans more towards a Baptist denomination. When she was growing up Church was a must every Sunday morning. Once life got busier as she got older and into high school this changed a little. Getting up at 8AM to go to the early service which her dad preferred wasn’t always an option. Suzanne seems she is strong in her faith and now she tries to go to Church again weekly. She is taking a class on Bible Context and Interpretation (the class we have together/how we met) to broaden her knowledge on the Bible as well.

As for politics Suzanne leans more toward the Republican party. Her reasoning's are strongly influenced by her parents whom are republicans. Overall though Suzanne favors the politicians she has something in common with- those she can relate to.

Suzanne stated that her parents didn’t pay for much so she began working to earn the things she wanted as well as save for the future. Her first jobs consisted of babysitting and nannying young children. One summer she worked in an office at a camp called Yogi Bear where she did paper work for incoming campers. Then she began working at a restaurant as a hostess. In this job she would greet and seat customers coming in as well as answer the phones. After working there for a while Suzanne was moved to a serving position. She stated that the money was good income, especially in the busy summer months where the restaurant was flooded with tourists visiting the attractions of Wisconsin Dells.

Suzanne has always been responsible for paying for her car insurance. This is the only monthly bill she has to pay. She seems to be a saver too when it comes to money. All of the tips she made while waitressing went to her savings account. She does have a credit card but uses it rarely. Because she is jobless and the commonly titled “poor college kid” she is careful with the money she spends. Suzanne doesn’t go out and buy items regularly. When it comes to clothing she isn’t the one spoiling herself with all the A list brand names. She doesn’t see the need in having a million North Face sweatshirts or Coach tennis shoes when she can find the same types of items at a more practical cost. Suzanne is going to be responsible for paying for her college education and she knows that she better be careful with her money because she is going to need it later!

When it came time to chose a college Suzanne was drawn to the University of Minnesota because she loves the atmosphere the Twin Cities offer. Currently she is a freshman and so far her college experience has been all positive. Suzanne lives in the dorms on campus and is enrolled in 15 credits worth of classes. Besides taking Cultural Studies her courses consist of World Music, Mastering Skills for College Success as well as Bible: Context and Interpretation. Suzanne has good friends from her home town that are at the U of M, and her sister lives nearby. Being involved in groups including Habitat for Humanity and Campus Crusade and having good friends and family close are a good support system for Suzanne. Overall it sounds like Suzanne really enjoys the style of college living and she plans to continue her studies at the University of Minnesota. Like most of us, she says it is a lot of work but she still finds time to go out to the Gopher football games as well as hang out with friends. Suzanne plans to earn a degree in Psychology and possibly go on to graduate school. She has hopes of becoming a psychologist so she can earn a living helping people.

And as for the view on workers unions (which we need to know for this project) Suzanne says she is unsure of how she feels. Her step dad is apart of the United Transportation Union and she has seen how it affects her family first hand. Her step dad was once injured on the job, the union backed him up in court and was helpful and supportive. However, Suzanne feels that people should get rewarded and paid according to how hard they work. Many of step fathers friends work “harder than him” but he takes home much more money because he works for a union and she says that that really isn’t necessarily fair.