Making the most of education in and out of the classroom.
When Holden is asked why he chose Grinnell College, he usually jokingly responds: “the dean of admission talked me into it”. Truthfully, Holden came to Grinnell because he wanted college to be a time he would experience new things. He liked what the dean told him to expect from the social life, academics, extracurricular activities and weather at Grinnell.
He enjoys the intimacy, support, freedoms, and winters in Grinnell (he's from Florida) and overall likes being in a different environment than where he grew up in.
His path to Grinnell is unique from many other Grinnellians because he did not originally intend on going to college. He got his GED with the intention of joining the military but instead worked for two years and college “just kind of happened”.
During his first year Holden was involved in the Student Government Association and Grinnell Jewish group-Chalutzim. He also works for Grinnell’s IT department as a Technology Consultant and during the 2010 summer he worked for IT full time as a manager. In the 2010-11 school year Holden will continue to be on several student and academic committees and serve as a Student Advisor and will be on the cabinet of SPARC, the student publications committee, as its Technical Advisor.
Academically, Holden is an economics major but also loves philosophy and is considering majoring in both. The two professors he has taken the most classes with are Professor Joseph Cummins, a classics and philosophy professor, and Professor Mark Montgomery, an economics professor. Professor Cummins was his tutorial advisor, and Professor Montgomery is his current advisor. Ultimately, Holden’s dream is to help people start small businesses and be successful in those businesses by helping people conquer common barriers.
