By Emily Howland

The Mac Weekly: What are your majors?Franz Meyer: Chemistry and Political Science.

Nick Carpenter: History and Hispanic Studies minor.

TMW: Where are you from?

FM: St. Louis!

TMW: Did you know each other before?

NC: Not really. We raced against each other in high school.

FM: Our moms work together, though.

TMW: In what area?

NC: The exciting field of textbook sales.

FM: For McGraw-Hill, where we worked our first summer out of college together.

NC: It was horrible.

FM: We did data entry. We shot rubber bands at each other and watched the World Cup.

NC: Cubicles are where your soul goes to die.

FM: Our first time meeting each other we spent ten hours in a car driving from St. Louis to Macalester.

TMW: What separates you from the rest of Macalester students?

FM: We’re foosball champions.

NC: As freshmen there were a bunch of older guys who played foosball all the time. We went down after dinner every night and got crushed. We started to pick up some tricks from the international guys that played. By the end of sophomore year we were right up there.

TMW: What do you get for being foosball champions?

NC: We had a trophy that was a mound of all the dismounted foosball men from the table.

FM: We don’t know where it is. It’s M.I.A.

NC: Someone will unseat us eventually.

TMW: Who is your main competition?

NC: Henrik and Armagan.

TMW: Why are you the best?

FM: Nick plays offense and I play defense.

NC: We have pretty formulaic playing styles.

FM: We play a lot. Lots of practice.

TMW: What brought you together as friends?

NC: Running.

FM: We run step-for-step, meaning the same times.

NC: Since it’s distance, it’s helpful to have someone there to push you.

FM: Nick has never beaten me in an 8K but every 5K Nick has crushed me.

NC: Which is weird because Franz smokes me in anything shorter than a mile.

TMW: The cross-country team has a good Halloween party every year. William Wallace is Scottish and he loves freedom and he’s loud and obnoxious and he has a giant sword. I now have a giant sword, blue face paint, and I’m ready to go.

NC: I was a lost boy on a giant milk carton. Some people were appalled by the idea.

TMW: How did you decide to keep going with WW?

FM: I made the costume after soccer season was over. Junior year, I was like, I’m president and I have this sweet costume, so I’m going to start wearing it to soccer games. I learned the sons of Scotland speech by listening to it over and over again and now I AM WILLIAM WALLACE.

TMW: How long did it take to memorize the speech?

FM: Anywhere between half an hour and 45 minutes.

TMW: What is it like to wear a skirt in front of a crowd?
FM: As president, I got up and spoke in front of a lot of people often, so that part wasn’t terrifying, but wearing a kilt is a little chilly in the winter. But you know what? A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

NC: I tend to just stay out of the way.

TMW: How do you personally relate to William Wallace besides the hair?

FM: WW was an individual who loved freedom and I am an individual who loves freedom and I’m willing to fight for it.

TMW: How will you take after WW in your life after Mac?

NC: Hopefully not.

FM: I plan on not being drawn and quartered in front of an audience of hundreds of people cheering.

NC: I plan on you not being a thirty year-old wearing a kilt.

TMW: So you’re not going to come back as an alum and be WW at the games?

FM: Either I’m going to pass the torch, someone will pick up the torch or WW will fade from the annals of Macalester sports history, which would be sad, but better for my emotional well-being.

TMW: Do you dress up for other sports as well?

FM: I’m planning on going to the volleyball game on Wednesday and hopefully I’ll hit up some basketball games this year.

TMW: What are some things you hope to do before graduating?

NC: I’m working on my seven-club passing. When you have two people, it’s easy to pass six clubs between two people but adding the odd number of clubs is really hard.

FM: Nick is the Grand Nagus of the juggling club.

NC: I am the dictator. I do the budget and make all of the decisions. I’m leaning toward being the tsar because it has a very iron fist connotation to it.

TMW: Why do you juggle?

NC: I started in high school. It’s fun. A really unique type of person is drawn to it. Here it’s predominantly female, which is unusual. There are the athletic jugglers and the clown jugglers. I’m a social juggler. I like passing with people and going to conventions and stuff.

FM: I would like to win the RPS tournament.

TMW: RPS?

FM: Rock Paper Scissors. Nick and I hosted it last year. Last year about 60 competitors and about 30 spectators showed up. We made a bracket. It’s very competitive. This is our final chance to be champions.

TMW: Is it about skill or luck?

FM: You know, Emily, you have to feel the other person. You see them, and you don’t look at their hands. You look them in their eyes and you know.