When did you graduate from Bluffton High School?
I graduated in the class of 2000.
You are living in Michigan working for the Social Security Administration.
Give us the short version of how you went from Bluffton to where you are now.
I went to college at the University of Findlay and double majored in Business Management and Business Administration with a Sports Management Emphasis. After I graduated I was hoping to try to play baseball for a little while longer, but the injuries piled up so I figured I had better find a job. I got in touch with career services at Findlay who set me up with an interview with the agency. It went really well and here I am today!
When you were in high school did you ever think you'd work for the Social Security Administration? Did you even know what Social Security was?
When I was in high school, I thought after college that I would be doing something sports related. I always wanted to be an athletic director for a high school but I knew it would have been difficult unless I got into teaching. I was contemplating trying to get my master's in education so I could go that route but once I got a job with SSA that ended those thoughts.
When I found out about my interview with Social Security, I had no clue what it was. I remember having to Google it and tried to do some research about it. One of the first questions I was asked at my interview was what I knew about Social Security. I was honest with my boss during my interview and told her I knew little to nothing about it and she said, "The less you know coming in, the better."
Tell us about your job. What do you do?
I started in September 2005 as a Claims Representative in Toledo. Basically what I did was took applications and processed claims for Social Security Retirement, Disability, and Survivors benefits. In September 2011, I was promoted to an Operations Supervisor in Monroe, Mich. Now I'm supervising a small office of 11 people who basically all do the same job I started out as. My employees range anywhere from three years of service to over 30 years of service.
Tell us a little about your family.
I married my beautiful wife, Meeghan, a little over two and a half years ago. She is a Registered Nurse at Toledo Hospital and is currently going to Lourdes University to get her master's in nursing education. We bought a house just on the other side of the state line in Temperance, Mich. We have two dogs: Wally, a white lab, and Izzy, a Golden Retriever. We also have a cat named Achilles.
We seem to recall you were a lifeguard for a while at the Bluffton pool. How many seasons were you on the pool staff and can you recall some of the other life guards at the time? How long can you stay underwater?
I worked at the pool for a total of seven years. I was on the Front Desk/Concessions my first year. I was a lifeguard for three years and an assistant manager for three years. I worked with so many people from Bluffton and the surrounding areas and it was an experience I will never forget. It's so weird now seeing some of these kids who were in some of my swim lesson classes all grown up and graduating high school now. It definitely makes me feel older each time I come back to Bluffton.
I'm not sure how long I can stay underwater but I'm going to be 30 here soon and know that my lungs aren't as good as they used to be. I do try to swim every once in a while at the YMCA close to my house after I work out.
Can you remember who you sat beside in first grade? Can you even remember first grade? Anything special come to mind?
First grade is a little fuzzy for me. I remember a lot about Kindergarten and second grade but there's a year in between that's a blur. All I remember about first grade was that Mrs. Lortz was my teacher.
Have you adjusted to life in a big city? What do you miss about small town living?
I don't know if you'd call Temperance a big city. I must admit though, life is a lot different here than in Bluffton. There are a few things I miss about the small town living. One thing that I miss is just seeing familiar faces. Whenever I go anywhere around here, I hardly ever see anyone I know.
When you go anywhere in Bluffton, you pretty much know about every person you walk past or at least know who they are. I miss going to work out at the BFR every day and playing basketball with the DTR men during their lunch break. Bluffton will always hold a special meaning to me but I couldn't be happier where I'm at now and am excited to start and raise a family here.
What car did you take your driver's test in?
A 1987 Chevy Celebrity. I remember at the time being disappointed when my parents brought the car home because I always wanted a Ford Mustang or some other type of cool sports car but looking back, I loved that car and am very grateful that my parents bought it for me.
Assuming you are a sports fan, what pro teams or college teams do you follow?
I'm a huge Michigan Wolverines fan. I try to go to at least one or two games a year and am working on my wife to get season tickets here soon. I grew up a Michigan fan so I guess I was destined to move across the border. I was brought up in an OSU family, and a majority of Bluffton is OSU fans, so it's nice living in Michigan now no longer getting hassled all the time about liking the Wolverines. Other than that, I still follow the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Cavs. I also try to make it to a few Toledo Mudhens games every year.
Now that you are safely out of Bluffton, do you care to admit to any pranks you were involved in while at BHS?
I had some pretty crazy friends I can tell you that. My two best friends in high school were Kyle Lowry and Adam Thomas. We pretty much hung out on a daily basis. Towards the end of my senior year, I also started hanging out with a group of guys in the class below me and am still pretty close with some of them. We did our fair share of toilet papering, water ballooning, and frog gigging. It hasn't been long enough to tell you about all the really fun stuff. I tried to stop them every time but couldn't so I just went along with it.
