Greetings! My name is Andrew Swisher. I’m the newest addition to the Ponies! I hail from the sandy and sunny beaches of Laguna Niguel, Calif. I moved with my family to the great northern land of Minneapolis in elementary school. I always ask myself, why in God’s name did we move to this frozen tundra I now call home?

I will never know the answer to this question. What I do know, though, is that I grew up surrounded by a great community in Wayzata. I attended Wayzata High School and was involved in all sorts of fun activities and clubs — choir, the German Club, the tennis team and National Honor Society.

Like most people my age, I decided to explore a college degree. This was the first step in a long journey that would lead me to the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. After my first week at this glorious institution, I was already bleeding maroon and gold. To this day, I have never missed a Gopher football game. Even though we sucked last year, we can only get better from here, right?

Regardless of how bad our football team is, as soon as I came to the U I quickly got involved in student life. I am the current President of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, the current treasurer for the University Student Legal Services, and I’m also a member of the Pre-Law Society. That’s always a mouthful when I tell people, so if I ever see you, expect that I’ll just say, “I’m very involved.”

I also destroy myself with work, and have no filter or sense of fulfillment. Because of this, I have taken a lot of different jobs throughout my college life. I honestly don’t know how I balance it all, but somehow it happens. Someday I’m sure it will all catch up with me. My first job is with a student-run PR agency at the U called CLAgency. Through this, I assist the Office of Institutional Advancement in promoting departments within the College of Liberal Arts. I also decided to pick up another job – an internship at the Minnesota Senate interning for Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen. Senator Ingebrigsten was a great guy: good heart, good morals, and always knew how to make a joke out of the smallest things.

That’s enough work – here are my likes and the random tics that make me who I am. My heritage is Italian, so, yep, you guessed it – my favorite foods are pasta, pizza, and lasagna. Pretty much anything with red sauce has the key to my heart.

Of course, to really know and understand who I am as a person, you need to know my favorite color. It’s green. How’s that for a fun fact? In my free time — if I ever have any free time, that is — I enjoy going to movies (mostly just for the popcorn), cooking, playing tennis, working out and going out to the lake. I’m also a Sagittarius, if you’re into that zodiac stuff. A very interesting fact that most people don’t know: I am a very good ping-pong player. I’m no Olympian, but I would bet all the money in my checking account, which is almost empty, that I could beat you in a game of ping-pong.