Raised in Salt Lake City, 詹德Granath has a passion for athletics and public service. He has been an active leader on- and off-campus, from Admission Office fellow and DEB liaison to Peer Health Exchange leader and Dodgers Foundation intern.
詹德Granath has always been into playing sports, whether soccer, swimming or skiing. He was even captain of his high school swim team. But he wasn’t necessarily set on being a student-athlete at Occidental.
当我走到 (男子游泳队) as a first year I was thinking, ‘maybe one year,’ ” he admits. “我只是保持开放的心态.”
但他最终爱上了他的队友, the team culture and the novelty of swimming outside in the wintertime. His weight training coaches helped him get fit and he developed quickly, 成为长距离自由泳专家. 现在是高年级学生，也是队长, Zander holds two school records as a member of the 800 and 200 free relay.
“It’s really cool to be part of the athletics family, and I’m definitely a better student when I swim. When you’re waking up that early, you have a lot going on so you’re moving all day. I definitely don’t think I’d be as involved at Oxy if I wasn’t an athlete.”
A 社会学 major, Zander still remembers the class he sat in on during his high school visit to Occidental: “男子气概，由教授讲授 理查德·莫拉. The discipline was completely new to him and he was fascinated.
“它对我说话了，”赞德说. “You’re looking at social aspects of economics, 性别, 和政治, 所以在某种程度上，一切都是社会学的一部分.”
When he enrolled in a 社会学 class as a first-year, Professor Mora actually remembered him. It didn’t take long for Zander to declare a major with an emphasis on 性别 studies—with Professor Mora as his adviser.
Zander has evolved a research question he initiated in his sophomore “Sociological Inquiry” class into his 比较高级 项目. Investigating queer and hyper- masculinity in online spaces, he recently interviewed more than 20 queer men in 洛杉矶 to learn about the significance of these spaces for them.
他说:“我对自己的竞争对手感到非常自豪. “I’ve worked on this 项目 for three years and got funding from student government and the Undergraduate Research Center. It was amazing to learn qualitative and interviewing skills, go through the institutional review board process and apply for funding.”