Employment and education:

After graduating early from Jacksonville High School, Ryan began taking classes at LLCC before enrolling at Illinois College in the fall. He also came back to LLCC during a summer to take a few more LLCC classes as transfer credits back to IC. Ryan is now a fundraising and social media specialist for Big Brothers, Big Sisters of West Central Illinois.

What is your greatest accomplishment(s)?

During my senior year at IC, I had the chance to give the commencement address at graduation.  It was such a great moment, and it was a pleasure being able to give one last speech.

Was there a professor, advisor, staff member or fellow student who made an impression on you or helped you when you were here at LLCC?

I had a math teacher during my first semester at LLCC who described to us why he would never gamble (it was a statistics class, so it fit!). He said that if he ever had to choose a series of numbers for a lottery ticket, he’d choose 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. His reason was because his chances of winning the lottery were just about as non-existent as those numbers ever being chosen. I’ve used it to describe the lottery ever since! No offense to all those who’ve won the lottery.

What did you like about LLCC or what is your favorite LLCC memory?

I was able to take some good classes at LLCC, but my favorite was a creative writing class I took during the summer. The professor was great, and it gave me a chance to really experiment with my writing and try techniques I’d never considered before.

Is there anything else that you would like to share?

In 2015, I co-authored “Barbara Farley: A True Blue First Year” with Illinois College history professor Steve Hochstadt, a mentor and friend. The book covered the first year of Illinois College President Barbara Farley, who is the first every woman president in IC’s long history. The book is now used as a marketing piece for the college.