Devon Wilson of CUS’19!
Devon grew up in a small town in Kansas and lived there until attending Vassar College where he graduated from this past May before taking off for his summer with Bike & Build. After 4 years, he received a degree in physics, and has become a mediocre guitar player. Devon was heavily involved in the Habitat for Humanity chapter at Vassar and became the president, as well as the archery club. He enjoys dark comedies and “working on cool stuff.”
During Devon’s first year at Vassar a friend of his had a friend who had done Bike & Build and he said to Devon “you seem like the right kind of crazy for something like that.” He went on to look at this opportunity and finally got around to participating in 2019 and now wonders how he ever lived without his CUS’19 experience.
Since getting back from CUS, Devon has been working with an amazing architectural roboticist in Poughkeepsie and still cycling as often as he can. He continues to commute by bike and reminiscing about cranking out 80 miles back to back with his team. This coming summer, his friend Narendra will be riding with the NUS’20 team, so Devon will get to follow the joys of his journey.
Devon JUST accepted an AmeriCorps VISTA position in St. John Kansas. He will be working to plan art-based projects and the renovation of Grey Studio – a historic photography space. Devon got to visit this studio over the summer when CUS stopped in St. John and worked with Stafford Economic Development. After that tour, it left an impression on Devon and he decided to apply. He says, “𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺.”
This is a super exciting next step for Devon and we love seeing alumni make connections along their rides that impact their future. For fun, we asked Devon to share one of his favorite memories and some of his big takeaways from Bike & Build last summer. Here’s what he had to say:
𝘐𝘯 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵. 𝘈𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘬𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘬. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘉&𝘉 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦; 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦.
1. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦.
2. 15𝘮𝘱𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜.𝘚.
3. 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘪𝘴 𝘉𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.
4. 30 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.
