I grew up in Weston, FL with my mom, dad, & brother, Will. I spent most of my days playing outside (in the street!) and being obsessed with Pokemon. I loved building things, taking things apart, and imagining crazy adventures & inventions. In middle school I was on a swim team and played roller hockey, and in high school I played football all four years at St. Thomas Aquinas, which has the most players in the NFL of any high school. I also sang in the chorale for a couple years.
At St. Paul Lutheran Church I went to pre-school, took first communion, got confirmed, became part of the youth group, and was introduced to Spoke Folk. When I was in second grade my dad got diagnosed with ALS and passed away when I was in fifth grade. He sang in the choir, served as a Lay Minister, and volunteered his time. During his battle with ALS, St. Paul became hugely important to me and my family as the church lifted us all up throughout it. Recognizing God working through His people in such a tangible way brought me closer to Him despite how terrible ALS is.
I went to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and played Division III football for two years before stopping to make time for other passions. I chaired a hardware hackathon called Build18 (build18.org) and studied computer engineering. School was really hard. I don’t really want to talk about it. I didn’t sleep much. I almost minored in creative writing (poetry) but dropped my last required class because it made me start to hate poetry. I still like poetry tho.
Massachusetts 2011 was my first tour, and Florida 2018-19 will be my tenth tour and first time directing! Spoke Folk is a big part of who I am. I’ve grown in Christ through the years and through the tours, and am always amazed to see the work He does on each and every one. For me, Spoke Folk is a community built on Christ’s love, and through it He’s shown me that He is real and that He is worth pledging my life to. The best thing about Spoke Folk is the people but the rest of it is also the best. In case you were wondering Connecticut is by far the hardest state to bike in and I’m hoping we go back soon (I really like the biking part of tour).
I worked at Magic Leap in Plantation, FL as a software engineer on their mixed reality device and currently live in the heart of Silicon Valley, CA working at NVIDIA as a self-driving car software engineer. I like tech stuff and doing tech things.
In my spare time these days I like to make coffee, cook, workout, play boardgames, learn about Christ (bible, books, podcasts, etc.), and play fortnite with other spoke folkers. I’m also really into memes.
The main things I strive to do everyday are be Christlike towards everyone, utilize the gifts God has given me as completely as I can, and create something new.
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