20 Questions: A sketch of Centre Director of Volunteer Service Patrick Noltemeyer

1. Position/title: Director of Volunteer Service and the Bonner Program.
 
2. Hometown: Louisville.
 
3. Career highlight: In the spring of 2005, I joined six students and Megan O'Brien, our Director of Student Activities, for a week-long service trip to McDowell County, West Virginia. We partnered with the community center in the small town of Caretta to construct a new roof for a family's home. By the end of the week students who had never before swung a hammer were driving nails with ease and even upgrading their abilities to using a circular saw. Our team did some amazing work and really was able to make a difference in the lives of family members who that week became our friends. This spring I led another team to Caretta and plan on going back this fall.

4. What brought you to Centre? As a graduate of Centre, I recognized the significance of the undergraduate experience Centre offers and wanted to play a part in providing that experience for others.

5. Favorite/amusing/profound student anecdote? This summer Teresa Johnstone ('09) lead a group of her new co-workers back to Caretta to attend the local Bluegrass Festival and meet the people she had gotten to know during our First-Year Bonner Service trip there this spring. [The Bonner Foundation is a national organization that develops student leaders dedicated to community service.] Teresa really understands the power of relationships and has learned the difference between simply service and engaging a community. In short, she's a student who "gets it."
 
6. Family details: A younger brother and parents in Louisville. Older brother and sister-in-law in Northern Kentucky.
 
7. Hobbies: Photography, traveling, being outside, finding fun in everything.
 
8. Pets: None right now—too busy to be home enough for one!
 
9. Prized possession: The stacks of photographs that remind me of family, friends, trips, celebrations, and all good times of the past.
 
10. Last book read:Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road, by Donald Miller.
 
11. Memorable trip/vacation: A trip to Montreat, North Carolina where I was for a Bonner conference. I had the chance there to hike up the highest peak this side of the Mississippi River, stay in a beautiful historic Fellowship Hall, take in the vibrant downtown life of Asheville, North Carolina, and enjoy the serenity of the Appalachian Mountains.
 
12. Favorite movie:The Usual Suspects.

13. Favorite album:All Points Bulletin by Dispatch.
 
14. Favorite food: A steak cooked just right.
 
15. Favorite smell: See #14.
 
16. Person you most admire: My younger brother, Daniel.
 
17. Living figure you'd most like to meet: Bill Clinton.
 
18. Historical figure you'd most like to meet: Theodore Roosevelt.
 
19. What would you be doing if you weren't working at Centre: Either working for a non-profit, recruiting and placing volunteers in the community; or, working as the director of an outdoors camp somewhere in the Carolinas.
 
20. Describe yourself in three words: Dedicated, positive, thoughtful.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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