She is a mathematician, a musician, and maybe most importantly, motivated. “She combines humor, wit, silliness, passion and focus into everything she does. She doesn’t let challenges and mistakes overcome her and she always figures a way out to overcome them as well as help others overcome their own challenges,” Savannah Maynard said.

If you have ever met Olivia Niles, you know this describes her brilliantly.

“Olivia’s interest has been and will be nothing but piano and [boys] would have to go to all of her recitals to have a shot.” — Yumiko Oshima-Ryan

Olivia grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado. She spent her childhood looking up to her older brother, playing with her dog and learning music.

Olivia enjoys school, in high school she was in the Mathematics Honor Society. She also joined the swim team for some time, before focusing more on her musical career, which spanned from being a color guard in the marching band to playing piano and violin in the orchestra.

Being a well-rounded student in high school, she had many options when searching for the right college. “I wanted to go somewhere north of Colorado that had big trees,” Olivia said.

After living in an area of plains, she wanted to experience new surroundings. Other qualifications that a college had to meet included having a strong STEM program, as well as a music department where she could continue her love for music.

Even though she remembers visiting Gustavus during a blizzard, she also remembers loving it. After a scholarship event and opportunities to meet some professors, she knew she wanted to be a Gustie.

She is now a senior majoring in both mathematics and music. Surprisingly, she was not initially expecting to pursue music as an academic major, even though she now performs in the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra.

“I was thinking about it as a possible minor, but not really as a major until I took Music Theory and was pushed by my teachers, who noticed that I was already in the music building all the time,”Olivia said.

One of her professors, Yumiko Oshima-Ryan, recognized her potential from the start. “Olivia was an ultra-serious student ever since she came to Gustavus… well maybe too serious to realize she needs to relax more.”

Yumiko warns boys not to keep their hopes too high, as “Olivia’s interest has been and will be nothing but piano and they would have to go to all of her recitals to have a shot.”

Since the time she was in elementary school, music evolved into something more for Olivia, but she still has a sense of humor about the somewhat unexpected nature of it.

“I would sometimes joke that all I wanted was to have the abbreviations of my majors to be a piece of candy,” she said.

Her humor is appreciated by many, including her good friend and roommate, Savannah Maynard. “She is one of the funniest, and sassiest, people I’ve met during my time here at Gustavus.

“She never passes up the chance to make a joke and make people laugh, it’s one of her best qualities, even when she makes fun of you to your face, you know it’s because she knows you can handle her humor and that she considers you a good friend,” Savannah said. “On the flip side of her humor is a seriousness and passion for everything she does.”

Although she focuses the majority of her time on school, she finds time to work and do other activities. She works as a piano accompanist for the college and is a teacher’s assistant for Music Theory. Olivia also spent her sophomore year as a CF and is a tour guide in the summer.

Olivia’s favorite things on campus include the cafeteria’s mac and cheese and talking casually with professors. “It makes [them] less intimidating when you have conversations with them and have seen a photo of their pets or something. It humanizes them.”

She also has fun going to campus events on the weekends to learn about other students studying in different fields than her.

Olivia’s time at Gustavus is coming to an end. After graduating, she aspires to attend grad school and get a doctorate in mathematics.

“[She] has the ability to be the funniest person in the room, no matter what room.” — Jonathan Hickox-Young

Olivia is a busy student without much time for hobbies, but she still counts music as one. “Half my life is a hobby… and I’m getting credit for it.” She also enjoys taking selfies with dogs and learning random facts on just about anything.

“Olivia, a senior music major, is enjoying her life, being double major with Math, performing at the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, accompanying performers, being a TA, playing in a chamber music, and somehow still manages to live her life with a lot of energy and performing her music at her best,” Yukimo said.

The people who know her best seem to be able to only describe Olivia in lists. “She’s a fantastic tour guide, a phenomenal musician, and a caring person,” Sophomore Jonathan Hickox-Young, who met her in the summer tour guide office, said.

Olivia is a lot of things, occupies many places on the Gustavus campus, and “has the ability to be the funniest person in the room, no matter what room,” Jonathan said.