About Me

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Intro

I'm nice.

What? Not descriptive enough? Well, welcome to Minnesota. We pride ourselves on being nice. Oh, and hard-working, tough, helpful, and humble. We have to be since it's so cold here, or windy, or hot and humid, or mosquito ridden...but we're not complaining. Nope. We're too nice for that. 

The brutal weather makes us stronger; it's practically part of the curriculum here. Perhaps this is why my track teams are such standouts—spend enough time with me and you'll become pretty speedy, too (if only to get from building to building without being too battered by the elements). It also may be why I have so many bio majors: Mosquitoes make excellent specimens.

Just because freshmen week square dance is usually canceled due to the skeeters, spring tornadoes flatten the campus, and classes are sometimes canceled in order to fill sand bags to prevent the overflowing Minnesota River from running through the streets of town doesn't mean my students don't have fun. How else are they supposed to deal with the uncertainty of it all? You never know what the next day's going to bring, so carpe diem and bottoms up.

Name

My mascot is "Gusty." Technically it's a lion, though the moniker took on new meaning in 2002 when a series of tornadoes came through and nearly destroyed the whole campus. It was apparently the worst natural disaster ever to come upon an American college campus. Top that.

Hometown

St. Peter, MN. It's almost the capital of Minnesota, but not quite. The town's beautiful, picturesque, and situated on a bluff overlooking the Minnesota River. It has everything you need for a balanced college experience—a food co-op, wellness center, coffee shops, movie theatre, cornfields, churches, and bars.

Birthdate

1862

Body Type

I'm a strapping blonde Swede, born and raised in the cornfields of Minnesota with the rippling Thor-like muscles to prove it... Oh, wait. I'm actually super tiny.

Sorry to crush the daydream crusading through your brain. The truth is that I have less than 3,000 students. So, yeah...tiny. Get ready to get to know just about everyone who goes here. But that's a good thing, I swear; they're just about the nicest folks around.

And though I'm an intimate community, my campus sprawls across 340 acres of land. If you need a little quality alone time, you can definitely find it.

Current Living Situation

Freshman year, everybody lives on campus. I have tons of different dorm options: some featuring amazing views of the river valley, and some with slits in the wall for windows. No matter your view, though, all of my dorms have a great sense of community.

After freshman year, there are some off-campus options. Why you'd want to live off campus is beyond me, though. After all, it's regularly in the negative degrees three months out of the year here, so even if you have a car, it probably won't start. And that means you'll be bundling up and walking to class. On the upside, I suppose you might recognize someone you know under their scarf, hood, and parka and be able to say "hi." Consider it another opportunity to be nice.

Relationship Status

I claim St. Olaf, Macalester, and Carleton as rivals, but they don't even seem to know I exist. Their choirs are showcased on A Prairie Home Companion, they're mentioned on The Golden Girls and in Dave Eggers Books, and they think they're a little closer to Ivy League than I am (not sure where they get this idea, though, since it's just as hard to get accepted here as it is to any of them). Whatever, I'm over it.

Religion

I'm Lutheran and affiliated with the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America), which is probably the furthest left-leaning of the American Lutheran Churches. Lutherans are Protestants and there's a lot of protesting going on if that's what you're into. There's also daily chapel at 10:00AM with "sermons" from lots of different voices—including you if you have something to say (or sing).

Politics

Like the other Lutheran private schools in MN (have I mentioned there are several?), I am strongly left leaning, but in a nice way, of course. I mostly put my political convictions into action rather than into argument. I've earned a top ten ranking from the Peace Corps for the number of students volunteering to serve. 

President Obama even named me to his Community Service Honor Roll in 2010 and I host a MayDay Peace conference every year.

You should apply to me if...

your main hope in life is to make the world a better place and you see lots of different ways to do that, then we might be a good fit—especially if you have plenty of winter clothes, appreciate community, and can handle extreme weather.

Website

https://gustavus.edu