Hungry student plans to use monkeys to clean up the rivers and the environment

Ashley Karras

James Gedge

Sophomore, civil engineering

Caught: Fine Arts Building

Utah Statesman: Why did you come to USU?

Gedge: Family tradition. It has a good engineering program, that’s what I was going into.

US: Was? Are you thinking of changing?

Gedge: Contemplating it quite a bit. I really like designing things and I really like the arts. In my engineering classes, the excitement has worn off.

US: Where are you from?

Gedge: Riverton.

US: What is your favorite thing about USU?

Gedge: It has a real college atmosphere. I went to SLCC and it’s nothing like USU. It’s like Logan is the university, I guess.

US: What is the worst part about campus?

Gedge: You have to study and learn. That’s not bad though, it’s good.

US: What are five words that describe you?

Gedge: Sports-fanatic, creative, honest, fun-loving, odd.

US: What do you like to do in your free time?

Gedge: Play basketball or just watch a movie. Hang out, preferably with girls, but if it is a guy, that is OK, too.

US: What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?

Gedge: Cow tail in Brazil. It was really good. It is kind of like a strong meat, but it’s really good.

US: What is something you would never leave the house without?

Gedge: My keys to my car, even if I’m not going to drive my car. Clothes.

US: What was your dream job when you were little?

Gedge: I wanted to be an accountant because they worked with math and I liked math. Not anymore. I don’t want to sit in an office all day and just do nothing.

US: What is your dream job now?

Gedge: I would like to be president of an architectural landscape firm.

US: If you were designing your own yard, what is something you would add?

Gedge: It’d probably have a garden maze with a basketball court in the middle.

US: What are your favorite foods?

Gedge: Steak and ice cream. One, then the other.

US: What do you have in your CD player right now?

Gedge: Collective Soul.

US: Whom do you admire most?

Gedge: My parents. My mom because of her personality and values. She wouldn’t hurt anybody. My dad because he is an honest guy and he knows how to teach.

US: What is something about you that you wish you could change?

Gedge: I wish that I could make decisions a lot easier. The tough ones, like majors, girls, life.

US: If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?

Gedge: The ability to learn easier, to be smart and to know how to fly an airplane.

US: If you had a day to go anywhere and do anything, what would you do?

Gedge: I’d probably go to Italy. I would like to see the Roman empire and the history there.

US: If you could travel back in time, what time period would you want to live in?

Gedge: 1930s, right after the Depression, not during. It is like the new birth of the United States.

US: What is the worst date you’ve ever been on?

Gedge: Most of them were good, I can’t complain. One time I ended up telling a story throughout the whole dinner and I was never able to eat. My date ate everything, so I was hungry the rest of the night.

?US: Do you have any superstitions?

Gedge: While I am watching sports, particularly football, if I am sitting a certain way and something good happens, I try and sit that way again to see if it’ll help.

US: If you were a professional athlete, what sport would you play?

Gedge: Golf. You play four days a week, practice the other three. You’d get to play on the best grass in the world.

US: What is the worst injury you have ever received?

Gedge: Internal bleeding to the head. I was racing my friend. He was on a skateboard and I was on my bike. I tried to go faster, the chain slipped and I went over my bike.

US: What would you do with an unlimited supply of monkeys?

Gedge: I would teach them to clean rivers. That’s kind of mean. An unlimited supply of them, I know it defeats the purpose of saving animals to clean the environment.

-ashleykarras@cc.usu.edu