How would you define passion?

“I would say that passion is an intense feeling of love for something.”

What are you passionate about and why?

“I would say that I’m passionate about friends and family and trying to make everyone happy. I’m passionate about these things because I’m someone who feels it’s important to be empathetic and conscious of other peoples’ feelings, and family and friends are a huge part of that and me.”

What is empathy to you?

“In basically any interaction with other people, it’s trying to see everything from different angles other than your own. Possibly the perspective of the person you’re communicating with, and just trying to see the full picture rather than just your own perspective. Expand the way that you view different topics and other things. Your initial reaction is not always the best judgement.”

If you knew someone was passionate about something, but weren’t sure about pursuing it, how would you advise them?

“If you’re passionate about something, then it’s obviously something that you care about. It will be worth your time to stick with it and try to make it a major factor in your life and play a big role in who you are.”

– Andrew Kassuelke

Beneath The Crown is a project created by Nick Theisen (‘15). It is inspired by Humans of New York (HONY) and aims to bring the community of Gustavus Adolphus College closer together by providing the perspectives of the many different people who live and work at the school.