
Jacob Camden
Student Mentor
Sunday at 4:30 pm in the Living-Learning Center
Full Profile
Major: Philosophy, English
Minor: World Literature and Blount
Hometown: Lafayette, Louisiana
Interests: philosophy, literature, art, video games, creative writing, food
Favorite Quote: “Ah, children, ah, dear friends, don’t be afraid of life! How good life is when one does something good and just!” — Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Christopher Harden
Student Mentor
Sunday at 4:30 pm in the Living-Learning Center
Full Profile
Major: Latin and Microbiology
Minors: Blount
Hometown: Pensacola, Florida
Interests: Yarn crafts (knitting and crochet), Certamen, May Jongg, Santa Impersonation, and Model UN
During My First Year: In the middle of my first semester, I wished to learn the art of crochet, which inevitably led to that of knitting. With this newfound love of yarn craft, I have carved out an odd niche for myself within Blount being known as “the boy who knits.” I hope to add to this epithet in coming years, perhaps even adding it to my repertoire of assumed names which already include such hits as: “Iggy,” “Topher,” “Dopus Popus,” “guy with the sweaters,” “Pontifex Minimus,” “Large Vanilla,” etc


Kate Huffman
Student Mentor
Monday at 1:00 pm in Oliver-Barnard Hall
Full Profile
Major: Math
Minors: physics and Blount
Hometown: Statesville, North Carolina
Interests: Reading, art, cooking
Favorite Quote: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – from Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax.

Sara Gautreaux
Student Mentor
Monday at 5:00 pm in Tuomey Hall
Full Profile
Major: Biology- Pre-med
Minors: Blount
Hometown: New Orleans Louisiana
Interests: dancing, yoga, reading, rewatching Grey’s anatomy over and over again
During My First Year: Late night breakfast at lakeside was the highlight of my freshman year, but it wasn’t the waffles that made it so memorable. It was my best friend and me screaming about Shakespeare and The Aristocats at the top of our lungs sitting in the corner of the dining hall.

Madelyn Verbrugge
Student Mentor
Monday at 5:00 pm in Tuomey Hall
Full Profile
Major: Interdisciplinary Studies (New College), photojournalism
Minor: Blount Scholars Program
Hometown: Kentwood, Michigan
Interests: reading, photography, running, watching terrible game shows
During My First Year: I’m tiny and I look really young so the first few times I went to Lakeside the workers consistently asked me how old I was or where my parents were.

Anna Pitts
Student Mentor
Monday at 5:00 pm in Tuomey Hall
Full Profile
Major: Art History and Studio Art
Minors: Blount
Hometown: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Interests: Ceramics, hiking, dancing to good music. Really interested in graffiti/street art. Love flowers.
Favorite Quote: “There is water at the bottom of the ocean” – Talking Heads

Riley Michlowitz
Student Mentor
Tuesday at 11:30 am in the Living-Learning Center
Full Profile
Major: Creative Media
Minor: Creative Writing and Blount
Hometown: Theodore, Alabama
Interests: Reading, writing, swing dancing, crafts, hanging out with people, roller skating, bowling, socializing, and all things Disney
During My First Year: At the fall Get on Board Day I was walking back to the dorm with a fellow Blountee after looking at and speaking to every table. When I got to the Ferguson Center crosswalk headed towards Blount there were several food trucks making very greasy food. Without watching where I was stepping, I slipped on a ton of grease that was leaking out of the food trucks. I didn’t fall like any regular person, I fell in slow motion like I’m pretty sure I fell in actual slow motion. To make matters worse I got covered in grease, fell in front of at least 500 people who definitely saw me, and the guy behind me just stood over my head and said “Oh no” instead of helping me up. My friend helped me up after I almost knocked her down like a bowling pin and we walked as fast as we could to get back to the dorm so I could shower and change.

John Pace
Student Mentor
Tuesday at 11:30 am in the Living-Learning Center
Full Profile
Major: History and Economics
Minors: Blount, Randall Research Program, and Self Designed Minor (Alabama Studies)
Hometown: Auburn, Alabama
Interests: Watching Movies, Reading Comic Books, swimming and water skiing, History, Politics, Alabama Facts
During My First Year: I dressed up like Waldo for Homecoming last year, went to the football game, and got featured on OldRow Sports

Sammy Sawyer
Student Mentor
Wednesday at 12:15 pm in Oliver-Barnard Hall
Full Profile
Major: English, Economics
Minor: Blount, Italian, History
Hometown: Marietta, Georgia
Interests: playing tennis, playing the guitar, reading, and watching movies
During My First Year: A friend and I decided to go to a concert in Birmingham. We drove into the city and rolled up to the parking attendant only to realize that we forgot to get cash. The parking attendant said she didn’t have the card reader, so we would have to go to the Regions ATM a few blocks away. We told her we would be back in a few minutes. Four broken ATM machines, miles of circling city blocks, and a whole hour later, I got my $20 from an ATM. We returned to the parking lot to the sounds of the opening act finishing their set and the sight of a parking attendant with a card reader. I gave her the hardest $20 I had ever earned, the bill only slightly damp from my hysterical tears, and enjoyed the show.

Khloe Starling
Student Mentor
Wednesday at 12:15 pm in Oliver-Barnard Hall
Full Profile
Major: Psychology
Minors: Blount
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
Interests: I like going to the movies, listening to music, and my clubs
During My First Year: One time my roommates, a few people on the hall, and even a couple of people from other floors all got together to pull an all-nighter for no other reason than for fun. We played video games, watched movies, and ate junk food. By the end of the night, we all went to the fourth floor to watch the sunrise. Best night of freshman year!

Nathaniel Trost
Student Mentor
Wednesday at 12:15 in Oliver-Barnard Hall
Full Profile
Major: Music composition
Minors: French, art history, Blount
Hometown: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Interests: Music, Art, Philosophy, Literature, Hiking
Favorite Quote: “You have to have a high conception, not of what you are doing, but of what you may do one day: without that, there’s no point in working.” -Edgar Degas

Leah Francois
Student Mentor
Wednesday at 3:30 pm in Tuomey Hall
Full Profile
Major: Theatre
Minors: Blount and Creative Media
Hometown: Stone Mountain, Georgia
Interests: Singing, Acting, Disney knowledge, Make-up, Comic Book lover, Marvel and D.C. lover
Favorite Quote: Supermodels. Heh! Nothing super about them… spoiled, stupid little stick figures with poofy lips who think only about themselves. I used to design for GODS!!” – Edna Mode

Ember Mattingly
Student Mentor
Wednesday at 3:30 pm in Tuomey Hall
Full Profile
Major: Criminal Justice
Minors: Blount
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Interests: Renting Dogs from TMAS, reading books, nature documentaries, taking care of my pets
Favorite Quote: “When you left crying at Klutch, Ron was holding hands and dancing with a female and took down her number. Multiple people in the house know, therefore you should know the truth.” – The Letter, Jersey Shore.

Sabrina Bolt
Student Mentor
Wednesday at 3:30pm in Tuomey Hall
Full Profile
Major: Nursing
Minors: Blount
Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Interests: Hiking, going to sports events, event planning and fundraising
During My First Year: One of my favorite memories of my first year was my friends and I took a kiddie pool and beach chairs to the quad on one of the hottest days of the summer. Being from the north in Alabama heat, I regret nothing.

Sophia Ancira
Student Mentor
Wednesday at 6:10 pm in the Living-Learning Center
Full Profile
Major: Marketing and Art History
Minor: French and Blount
Hometown: Huntsville, Alabama
Interests: Baking vegan* goods (*sometimes), collecting records and polaroids (not the new skinny ones, the wide square kind), and in my free time I enjoy* working out (*again, sometimes), visiting farmer’s markets and cities larger than Tuscaloosa, and volunteering at local elementary schools
During My First Year: My suitemates and I were good friends with another suite of boys down the hall, who had a non-ironic poster (from the Ferg Poster Sale) of “Beach Bums” (I am sure from the title you can imagine what this picture captured, and it was not just crude slang for homeless people living on the beach). We were gifted a smaller version of the poster after attempting to long-term “borrow” the original and assert ownership of the traditionally misogynist poster. However, our suite was also used for tours throughout the year, and every parent who walked through our doors reacted with mild to intense surprise, mostly bemused at such a poster belonging in a girl’s suite. Both posters survived the year and will continue to be housed in our respective apartments next year. Jasmine and Stephanie continue to be faceless icons (we named the models, for obvious reasons).

Matthew Carter Curl
Student Mentor
Wednesday at 6:10 pm in the Living-Learning Center
Full Profile
Major: Philosophy and Political Science
Minors: Blount Scholars Program
Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama
Interests:Poetry, poker, target shooting, driving/racing, reading, writing, swimming, cars (ask me about my favorite engine), music, “philosophizing”, politics, law, debate, cooking (grills a mean steak), and, unfortunately, day-trading
Favorite Quote: “We get it Matt you’re a philosophy major, can you take your… philosophizing somewhere else? Because half the time I don’t understand what you’re saying and the other half of the time I just don’t care.” – A dear friend

Grace Henshall
Student Mentor
Thursday at 3:00 pm in the Living-Learning Center
Full Profile
Major: Political Science
Minors: Blount, Environmental Studies, Internationals Studies
Hometown: Arlington, Virginia
Interests: sports, watching tv, reading, vines, frisbee, the crimson tide
During My First Year: One of the very first nights of school, before many people had moved in, my roommate, our friend and I were bored and decided it was time to make friends and see who else was in this weird Blount program with us. We decided the best way to do that was to have a dance party so we sent out a message and a video of us dancing to Fergalicious (what else) to the Blount groupme, to see if we could rally anyone else to join our cause. Someone told us to come to the 3rd floor lounge and dance… Turns out everyone was studying for Bio bootcamp and NOT in the mood to dance, but we (somehow) persuaded some kids to come have a dance party with us all over the building. Probably one of the best ways to start college/ make friends

Corinne Baroni
Student Mentor
Thursday at 3:00pm in the Living-Learning Center
Full Profile
Major: Environmental Engineering
Minors: Blount
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Interests: Outdoor Activities, Service, Art, Food, and many more
During My First Year: If you ask me about birds, I will tell you that I do not like them. I was once ambivalent towards these flying creatures, but everything changed earlier this spring.
I was at Moundville for a SEA (student engineers in action) build. We were finishing up a fence. Our building site was a small pavilion, and in the upper left hand corner of this pavilion there was a bird’s nest. As we were measuring what would eventually become the fence posts, a baby bird fell out of the nest with a loud thud. Tragic, you must be thinking, but just listen to the rest of this story.
We spent a moment mourning the fallen fledgling before returning to our work. About 20 minutes later, when we were all engrossed in the final measurements, disaster struck.
Out of absolutely nowhere (or, more realistically, the left hand corner of the pavilion), something suddenly swooped full force into my hair. For 2 whole seconds, absolutely no one knew what was going on. Everyone was in shock until someone finally realized that the thing that had landed in my hair was the momma bird! At that moment, the momma bird started thrashing around and pecking at my head, while I simultaneously erupted into screams of “GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFFFFFFFF!!!!” and began dancing like a lunatic in an attempt to ward of the aggressive avian. Finally, my friend Ryan smacked the bird out of my head, and all was well.
I spent the rest of my day with my hood up making jokes about how “connected to nature I must be” for a bird to “land” on me but really just trying to downplay the fact that a bird either attacked me or mistook my hair for a nest… either way, ouch.

Emily Kim
Student Mentor
Thursday at 6:00 pm in Tuomey Hall
Full Profile
Majors: Neuroscience (New College)
Minor: Studio Art, Blount
Hometown: Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea
Interests: Running while watching DD&D, thieving raw sweet potatoes from dining halls, word mashing (woshing), rock climbing, growing out my wisdom teeth
During My First Year: At the end of first semester, I (impressively) consumed four oatmeal raisin cookies and five servings of bread pudding to decompress after my back-to-back bio and chem finals!

Sam Hallam
Student Mentor
Thursday at 6:00 pm in Tuomey Hall
Full Profile
Major: Nonprofit Management (New College)
Minors: Spanish, Social Innovation and Leadership, and Blount
Hometown: Scottsdale, Arizona
Interests: running, playing soccer, juggling, engaging in community outreach, attending obscure sporting events, watching Netflix comedy specials, traveling, eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and writing 450-750 word essays!
During My First Year: Over spring break, my girlfriend and I went to New York City. We were walking toward Battery Park when a man approached us and asked if we were interested in buying tickets for a boat tour of the Statue of Liberty. I have a notorious inability to say no, so I bought two tickets. He directed us to walk a couple of blocks down and find a woman in a red polo shirt. When we located her, she told us to get on a shuttle, which drove us fifteen minutes away to an abandoned alleyway. We waited in a short line and boarded the boat. Everything seemed normal until EDM music began blasting from the ship’s speakers and a voice came over the intercom to inform passengers that there was an open bar downstairs. People began to drink and dance as we sailed under the Brooklyn Bridge and toward the Statue. At one point, a mosh pit even formed in front of the DJ table. So, that’s the story of how I accidentally rode on a party boat in New York City last year!

Sarah Osucha
Student Mentor
Friday at 2:00 pm in Oliver-Barnard Hall
Full Profile
Major: Chemistry and dance major (pre-med track)
Minors: Spanish and Blount
Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee
Interests: As I am also pre-med, I am involved with shadowing and volunteering, and I love to dance and eat food with friends in my free time.
During My First Year: One evening, I left my key in my room as I was studying down the hall and my roomate locked the door when she went to bed. I knocked on the door many times but she wasn’t waking up. I tried to pick the lock of the door with a bobby pin for about an hour (those Blount locks are super secure) then I decided to just borrow a blanket from a friend and sleep in the fourth floor lounge. It was actually quite cozy up there, until I was woken up by maintenance staff that needed to clean. Key tip: your RA will unlock your door for you once for free, use that if you need it!

Alden Elizabeth Wells
Student Mentor
Friday at 2:00 pm in Oliver-Barnard Hall
Full Profile
Major: Environmental Engineering
Minors: Blount
Hometown: Andalusia, Alabama
Interests: Knitting, video games, board/card games, baking, hanging out on the quad, reading, chemistry
During My First Year: I always thought I was above tying my shoes in public until one fateful day my shoelace got stuck in my bicycle gears when I was riding down the bus/bike lane by Fresh Foods. It got to the point where I had run out of shoelace and could not longer pedal, so I had to physically throw myself off my bike into the sidewalk to avoid getting hit by the bus behind me. The bus driver stopped the bus and asked if I was alright and I just gave a meek thumbs up