David Ziegler
I'm David Ziegler, a 23-year old student at MIT, the best technical school in the world. I'm in my fifth year now, having just received my Bachelor of Science. Barring some catastrophe, I'll be receiving my Master of Engineering degree in June 2005.
I'm originally from Northern Virginia, where I went to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a governor's magnet school. You have to apply to get in, and the curriculum focuses on technology. For my senior project, I created a website that the school still uses to manage much of the behind-the-scenes administrative work.
While at TJ, I was a member of the crew team. I had a great set of friends that I competed with for four years, and the coaches we had were really incredible. I was a coxswain, which means that I sat at the end of the boat and yelled at the rowers. It's a little more complicated than that, but my friends would say that's what I did.
At MIT, I participated in crew, but stopped after my first semester. I wanted more time for school and stuff, so crew had to go. That summer, I decided I wanted to get in better shape (I missed the small amount of working out that I did in crew), so I started running. It was a great fit -- I'm tall, skinny, and I had a fair bit of endurance. I was not a stellar runner then, nor am I now, but I'm steadily getting better. I've stuck with it since, and now I've run two marathons (the SunTrust Richmond Marathon). I ran the first one on my 21st birthday, with my mother, in November 2002. It was a wonderful birthday present.
Here at MIT, I'm involved with Theta Xi, my fraternity. I've held multiple roles, including Vice President, Scholarship Chair, and Risk Manager. I'm also involved with TBP and HKN, two honor societies. And of course, I've been coerced into officer positions in those as well.
Finally, and most importantly, I fell in love with Sarah. That's the single best thing I've ever done. She means more to me than anything, and I love her like crazy. We've been together for four years, and we just got married this summer.