Evan Meyer '05

by Emily Ty '12

Hailing from Plymouth, Wisconsin, mid-west native Evan Meyer was drawn to St. Olaf for its "strong commitment to the traditional liberal arts and for the emphasis on global travel." Upon entering college, he immediately took advantage of both. As a member of St. Olaf's Great Conversation, he went on to become a Classics major, with a concentration in Linguistics. While most of his classroom time was spent in the English department, Evan expounded on his Classical studies by spending a month in Greece. His love for travel led to an Interim internship in Cameroon and then a semester off to study abroad on Global. These experiences only served as the beginning of his travel adventures.

After graduating St. Olaf, Evan took a path that most typical Oles wouldn't even dream of taking—he enlisted in the US Army to be an Arabic linguist. Putting the skills he learned at the Hill to good use, he spent two years learning Modern Standard Arabic and Iraqi Dialect. Eventually, he deployed to Iraq—twice—where he spent a year in the southern city of Nasiriyah and then later moved to work in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province. In 2010, Evan separated from the Army and embarked on a 6-week, 9,200-mile cost-to-coast road trip to see the country he'd been fighting for. But there was more to this road trip than just a sense of pride and patriotism—as he puts it himself, "about 600 miles of that total consisted of a shamelessly out-of-the-way detour to go on a date with the woman who became my wife this past August."

Now back in Wisconsin, Evan eagerly awaits his next adventure, where he and his wife Bethany will be traveling to the island of Nevis in the Caribbean this coming January. Since his return from the Middle East, he's been enjoying time off to readjust to civilian life, and is already looking forward to going back to school. In fact, Evan fondly admits that his army buddies nicknamed him "Books" in reference to his "ready store of literary and historical trivia."

"I thought it was a very appropriate moniker for an Ole, and wore it proudly," says Evan. Now studying at the University of Wisconsin, he is pursuing an MBA in Supply Chain Management.

For Evan, being an Ole means being part of a "worldwide community of people with a shared set of values, and a shared respect for the liberal arts as the foundation of our academic, political, and spiritual inquiries." It also means having the shared experience of a particular place and of the community and camaraderie that grows there.

Understanding how difficult the idea of joining the Army might be, Evan says, "I'm willing to provide my perspective to any students or recent alumni who might be considering military service. It's a complex decision, and I know I would have benefited from the perspective of an Ole veteran, so I'd be happy to share." (Evan's contact information can be found in the St. Olaf Alumni Online Directory.)