These moments present a brief portrait of Senior Matt Gacioch: generous, helpful, optimistic, and most definingly-genuine.
When Matt Gacioch first came to the U of M, he was Pre-Med. Now, four years later, he will be graduating with a degree from the Program in the Environment and minors in Peace and Justice and Global Change, "the ultimate hippie track," jokes Gacioch. But he will be graduating with more than a degree. Arguably, Gacioch is the most notable student in the environmental world here at U of M. His classmates and friends are not surprised at all that he will be the student speaker at the 2010 PitE and SNRE Commencement Ceremony
"I could not think of anyone better," says senior Margo Ludmer, a PitE and Spanish major and friend of Gacioch. Ludmer first met Gacioch when he joined MSA's Environmental Issues Commission two years ago, and now she and other peers know him from everywhere related to environmental and social sustainability. He's a big deal!
"The Dana commons is the hub for environmental students, and whenever he walks in, he goes from table to table. [With all his involvements and] being a PitE peer advisor, everyone from freshmen to seniors know and love him," says Ludmer.
Gacioch did not always know where he'd be today, but he had always been connected to Ann Arbor. He was born in Ann Arbor, but grew up in Rochester, New York. He hadn't returned since the age of three, until he decided to attend U of M. He remembers the photograph of himself as a two-year-old wearing a Michigan T-shirt. He guesses he was always meant to be a Wolverine.
He is the "upper middle" of four siblings. His father is a Cardiologist and his mother was a Business teacher. As a kid his family always did outdoors activities. They went on camping trips and travelled a lot. "We are really close. We're connected by our family traditions," says Gacioch.
As a freshmen, the Billiards Club was the only student organization he had been involved in. He is now the President. Fortunately, he never felt pressured to become a doctor, but he was good in the sciences and thought he would like it. Middle of sophomore year he discovered his true passion, went in a new direction, and hasn't looked back since.
Full emersion
By junior year, Gacioch was eager to make up for lost time and took a full emersion approach. Since then he has been actively involved in EnAct, EIC, and PitE Student Club. He is also an organizer for Brewing Hope, a PitE peer advisor, and one of four board members and project manager for the Student Sustainability Initiative. "Not only is he involved, but he actually takes initiative." says Ludmer. No one seems to know how he does it all.
When asked how he chose these organizations, he joked "I just decided to do the first half of the list." More seriously, Gacioch believes that all of these organizations address the environment and social sustainability in different ways.
SSI takes up a lot of his time, and gave him so much opportunity to learn. In his involvement with SSI, he has been able to build bridges between students, faculty, and administrations. Gacioch believes that a dialogue is important for change. Other students can follow Gacioch's lead, he says "There is a mechanism in place, a vehicle [that allows students to have a voice] search out the mechanism, if there isn't one-create it. "
Within two years, Gacioch has taken up many leadership roles and learned the most unique skills. For example, he now knows how to roast coffee beans after his involvement with Brewing Hope, a student initiative that he and four other students started. Brewing Hope brings fair trade, organic coffee beans to Ann Arbor from Chiapas, Mexico, and raises funds for Chiapas music program. He has also learned to respond to emails quickly. In general, he advises, "Not everyone loves the environment, as I have my love affair with it. Just get in involved. Everyone has a passion, it's never too late."
Leadership
Gacioch always had a leader personality. Yet, he is not a dictator. He does not choose to command a room when he walks in. He does not demand control. His tenets of leadership are collaboration, communication, and his ultimate secret: charisma. "When people see his passion, charisma, and the warmth he brings, they can't help, but follow him," describes Ludmer. In his personal life, Gacioch promotes sustainability by "leading by doing." His housemates have started purchasing organic food, composting, and recycling. He wears reused clothing (only three articles of clothing he wears in the photo shoot were bought new) and rides his bike everywhere.
The future?
His diplomatic response: "I'm taking a couple of years to explore the country, myself, and my interests."
First stop, right after graduation, with or without a job, he will head out to the Rockies. He plans to work for different environmental intiatives. He plans to travel. He has already been to 39 states and 18 countries and he will be knocking out another state next weekend, when he goes to Tennessee for a half marathon. He just keeps discovering the world.
He also plans to practice cooking, study astronomy, run more marathons, start a garden, become a beer connoisseur, not own a T.V. , try mason work like his Sicilian Grandfather --really just explore everything and anything you cannot learn in a college classroom. "I'm willing to go back to grad school next year if I find my passion right away, but I'm not going to stress out about it until I'm thirty and I still don't know what I want to do with my life."
Gacioch's optimism about the future will be the motif of his commencement speech. Thinking about it, he says "Fortunately, I'm not nervous. It's an incredible honor...I always seem to give anecdotal, unsolicited advice, so I might as well do it in front of hundreds of people!" Inspirationally enough, he wrote the speech in airports on a trip back from Scandinavia. He says that spring break in Iceland, Denmark, and Norway really did inspire him to think about the future.
As he starts the next phase of his life, Gacioch's younger brother will also start a new phase and enter college in the fall. When asked what advice would he give, he laughs, "I have been giving him advice from the get-go. I tell him to do what he's interested in. I tell that to a lot of people...Despite whatever pressures people may feel...Undergrad is the time for you do what you love doing, or finding out what you don't love. There's always time. Your entire life will not be determined by these four years... just let yourself grow."
Comments |
blog comments powered by Disqus