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Photographs by Greg Helgeson
 Ryan Baugh '06
For my senior seminar, "Transportation Geography," I did a paper on railroads and why they failed and how America might benefit from trying to increase its railroad capacity to be a little more like Europe.
During study abroad in Cape Town [an environmental studies program], I researched this area called Rondebosch Commons, a many-acre green space in the middle of a residential area. It was a British military campground years ago, so it's an historical landmark and protected from development. But in Cape Town there's so much need for housing, how do you strike a balance? When I came back from South Africa, I was more serious. South Africa, the area I was in, was a somewhat dangerous place and it sobered me up in terms of taking care of myself.
 We've really got to have societal change, not just personal change, but personal change will push forward societal change.
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Special experiences: I did Lives of Commitment [a Lilly Foundation-sponsored program] my first year. Every week we took a van to the English Learning Center where we'd pair off with someone in our own group and teach a class. The students were largely Somali. My group was advanced, so we talked about current events. Senior year I was invited to help with a conference in Louisville about how Presbyterian seminaries and Lilly-funded projects could better provide a continuum of support for students trying to discern their vocation, largely in terms of ministry, but also in general. I was on a panel of students and seminarians talking about their path in terms of vocation and how Lilly-funded programs in the colleges could have better helped them along that path.
What he really learned at Mac: I got frostbite once from biking my sophomore year. It was the start of second semester and a beautiful, sunny day, but it happened to be minus-35-degree wind chill. Being from the South, I didn't really understand wind chill, so I was in bandages for two weeks.
Trying to get [the inactive organization] Mac Bike back in shape was a good challenge. Mac Bike offers a bike-sharing program, organizes recreational rides and has a workshop under 30 Mac[alester Street]. We got the keys to that, got some tools, started trying to teach some skills and organizing some recreational rides. The idea isn't to just fix your bike for you, but we'll help you if you're willing to watch and listen and learn, so you're more likely to be able to do it [yourself] next time.
After Macalester: Working for a while will give me time to think and read, a chance for intentional reflection. I want to do something theoretical that also makes a difference. Something that could be done reasonably in the next 50 years, if only a few variables were different, is to build a [better] train system. That would really reduce U.S. reliance on fossil fuel, increase national security through that, put less pressure on us to attack other countries, and make it cheaper for people to travel, to see different regions and mix a little more.
We've really got to have societal change, not just personal change, but personal change will push forward societal change. For example, I'm a vegetarian. Early on I was all "Why aren't you a vegetarian?" about it, but I thankfully lost that ridiculous evangelizing. Now I just try to be conscientious about how I live.
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