1.     How long were you at Ramalynn for? 

From age 3 to 14, so 11 years! 

2.     Did you participate in any extracurricular activities at RMA? If so, what were your favorite moments? 

Yes, I did! I was in Sports Camp (obviously), student council, knowledge bowl, and math olympiad! My favorite was the knowledge bowl! A lot of good knowledge bowl moments. Great winning the ribbons and making it to state in Chicago. But I’ve heard you guys have been poppin’ off in knowledge bowl since I left!

3.     What was student life like at RMA? 

I think the thing that stood out to me- because I was at Ramalynn for 11 years then I went to Minnetonka High School- which was a very big public high school, so I really appreciated the small class sizes and I think maybe because of the small class sizes or the curriculum, but it really did feel like a family. I know you guys always say that, but it was really nice to be able to spend SO much time with people both in class and between classes, before school and after school. I felt more motivated to learn because of the connections. 

Check out the video of Eidan's first day at Ramalynn HERE!

4.     What school tradition were you most excited for each year? 

The farm festival! I loved the bonfire. It felt like a mature kids’ party because we had so much freedom on the farm and so many cool activities. I always remember the gossip was fun. All the plays were really fun too. Performing Hiawatha still sticks with me from when I was in second grade. Saturnalia for Latin class was so fun every year too!

5.     What were some of your favorite memories of your time at Ramalynn? 

Lunch conversations and before school conversations were so fun. Especially once you get to Middle School, (I’m assuming it’s not laid out like this anymore) but before “Morning Meeting”, when you were in Middle School you could sit at the big table. Middle Schoolers would get there before the morning meeting and sit there and talk for a while. I felt so important because I could sit in those chairs too. Ms. Lynn actually called us out on it too. She was stepping in for morning meeting one day and she thought it was weird for us to be sitting in the chairs while everyone else was sitting down and we realized that made sense so we sat on the ground. I just think the informal conversations were really fun. 

The trips at the end of the year were always so fun. Specifically, my eighth grade year when we went to the Water Park of America. That was very fun, playing the nintendo switch!

6.     What did you do after you graduated Ramalynn? 

Minnetonka High School

7.     What activities did you participate in High School? 

I played soccer, I did Model UN, I created a Star Wars Club! That was fun. I don’t even like Star Wars enough to start a club, but I had a friend who wanted a Star Wars club, so I started that for him. I actually did Knowledge Bowl, that was fun. I was captain of the Knowledge Bowl team, which I credit almost entirely to Ramalynn. 

8.     How do you think your education compared to your friends who went to other schools? Did you feel more prepared for high school and college? 

Yes! Absolutely, 100%. Because of Ramalynn, it prepared me more than a lot of my friends from other schools. When I think back on it, there was a huge emphasis on helping kids learn what they want to learn, more than forcing kids to learn what the state curriculum says they need to learn, or what teachers want them to learn. I often felt like, especially in the earlier years, I was just given toys to play with and I could play with whatever toys I wanted, and the learning snuck in there without me knowing. That was really helpful. But in the later years, what I found REALLY cool after going to Ramalynn was the selection of courses that Ramalynn offered that were not what people were getting in other schools. Being able to take Persian and Latin and even having an Environment class, Ms. Lynn with Wisdom Tales and Philosophy, that was really cool. That diversity of coursework was something that my friends from public schools didn’t get at all. It helped me in college to realize there were things out there that I would not have otherwise explored. Especially with Philosophy and Environment, I wouldn’t even have considered majoring in those two things without Ramalynn teaching me that they existed and that they could be useful to me. I found that really helpful. 

9.     What are you up to these days?

I did a four year Bachelor’s and Master’s program, so in my undergraduate, my majors were Political Science and Public Health. And then I graduated from that in 2022, and this past year did a Masters in Public Policy with an emphasis in Environmental Policy. Big into environmental stuff right now. So I graduated from that in May and currently am working as an Environmental Planner. It’s called Sustainability in Public Health technically for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. I’m full-time there. I did an internship over the Summer and they hired me full-time for the Fall.  

10.  What are your future aspirations and goals in life? 

It has been a BIG turning point graduating college, so this is a question that has been on my mind a lot! I think it’s tough because when you’re in school you are thinking about how you get to the next step in school and when you’re out of school there is no structure anymore. The goals that I have, at least career-wise, are that I want to do something meaningful and feel like I am creating positive change in the world. Which is part of why I went into sustainability in the first place. Personally, I guess I have a personal goal to go to all the National Parks before I’m 30. A lot of camping and traveling, and I’m halfway through that now! It’s hard to say my goal is anything beyond having fun, I’m gonna do this job until I stop having fun and then another job until I stop having fun and just travel when I can in between. Live life!