New lede: As a college junior, making routine trips to the University of South Dakota for ROTC, living in Europe as an elementary student, and having done many interesting activities in the past, makes Gage Thackston a well-experienced individual.
From Kansas to Germany to Morningside and London, Gage Thackson seems to have done more than your average college student. Gage, a mass communications major and a graphic design minor, is from Leavensworth, Kansas, but moved around quite a bit. When he was in first grade, he moved to Parsberg, a tiny town in south-eastern Germany. While living in Europe, he travelled around, including going to Paris, France. While living in Parsberg, Gage learned some German, but over the years has lost touch with most of it. Come fourth grade, he moved back to the United States.
Now enrolled at Morningside for his junior year, Gage plays soccer on campus and has already completed his May Term requirement by going to London this last May. Gage is also part of the ROTC and has been for the past three years. His plans for after college graduation is to be in the army and serve his country. Gage used to do mixed martial arts, or MMA, boxing. He didn’t have many injuries, aside from hurting his wrist and having a hairline fracture to his nose. When Gage was asked about one of his most memorable experiences, he couldn’t pick just one, but finally landed on his experience down in the ocean. “I went scuba diving to an old World War II battle ship,” he said.
If anything, this should should teach us all that we don’t know each other. There are people out there that we see everyday that have amazing stories to tell, but we don’t take the time to seek those stories out. Gage has lived and will live an interesting life, and this assignment did show me that I need to open my eyes more- seek the stories that people don’t show on the outside.