By Anna Van Vooris

Anna Van VoorisHometown: Chipita Park, Colorado Nickname: With the middle name Grumpper, most of his nicknames go along the lines of Grump, Grumpy and Grumpster. Signature High School look: Afro. Why you might know him: Though he is often occupied with his major, art and the pre-med program, he has had a stint with the track team, managed the student lounge last year and can occasionally be spotted rock climbing with the Macalester Climbing Club. Why you ought to know him: Even though he never took any art classes in high school, Andrew Flynn often did small art projects at home for fun. For him art was not something he thought of pursuing seriously until he got to Macalester and realized that he could utilize the myriad of facilities in the department while still studying other disciplines. Andrew started his art career at Macalester, like so many others, in 3D design. And although he still has a strong interest in medicine, the art department won his heart during his first year. Interestingly enough, Flynn has managed to create a synthesis between his two passions. For example, his senior art exhibit features a series of anatomically correct body parts (mostly bones). The majority of the works for this exhibit are sculptural, bronze casting and wood carving being the two prominent techniques. The bones have been scaled up in size– so don’t be fooled into thinking they are dinosaur bones. Instead of using his time abroad to peruse art, Andrew spent a semester in Costa Rica volunteering on a paramedic ambulance for the Red Cross. While there, he spent time collecting data on traffic accidents and by the end of his time had generated statistically verified functions that were used to determine at what time and on what days it was most important to have paramedics on call. Although “I didn’t study art specifically, I did see a lot of it,” he said. Taking his passion for exploration, which he honed during his time abroad, Andrew plans on taking two years off after school to travel. His first order of business, he says, is taking the MCAT, and after that the fun will really begin. In his time off he hopes to work as a park ranger in Joshua Tree and then spend some time climbing all of Colorado’s “fourteeners” and finally Denali. He is also applying for some internships in Africa, but if those don’t work out, he said, “I’ll probably just be a smokejumper.” (For those of you who don’t know, smokejumpers are highly skilled forest fire fighters who parachute down to fight remote fires before they get out of control.) After all that, he plans on resuming a life of academics by going to Medical School. With his medical and art backgrounds, there is high hope that Andrew will decide to forgo his wild plans in order to become the Art EMT here at Macalester. refresh –>