Cody Grindle, Class of 2009
When Cody Grindle first arrived on the Wittenberg campus four years ago as a prospective student, he had a passion for politics and had already picked out his intended major. After sitting in on a Russian politics class taught by Chair of the Department and Professor of Political Science, George Hudson, he made the decision to make Wittenberg his home and Hudson one of his mentors.
"It was the number of professors that have shown a personal interest in my education," Grindle said. "If it wasn't with personal interest, it would be just like high school - just like a machine pumping out paper degrees."
After making that fateful decision, Grindle pushes forward with a full college experience and looks back with no regrets. At the end of his first year at Wittenberg, Grindle traveled with Wittenberg President Mark H. Erickson and Hudson on a class trip to Moscow getting acquainted with Russian life and meeting influential Russian personalities. At just 21 years old, Grindle is set to graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in political science and minors in both economics and German. Even with a wide range of college experiences, his passion for politics hasn't wavered.
"I guess I've always been interested in politics," Grindle said. "I'm a religious New York Times reader. I've been reading the New York Times every day since junior year of high school."
As a result, Grindle is familiar with often obscure political policies. For example, he describes one European Union policy prohibiting the sale of "funny-looking" foods - a term which he says lacks a clear definition in the prescription of the rule.
When he's not studying, Grindle exercises his leadership skills as president of both his fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, and for the university's accomplished Mock Trial team. For his campus employment Grindle continues a high school passion for the German language. He has managed to achieve enough fluency to tutor others at Wittenberg's Foreign Language Learning Center.
In 2008, Grindle took his German skills to task during a semester at the Albert-Ludwig Universitat Freiburg in Freiburg Im Breisgau, Germany. While there, he had the opportunity to sit in the European Parliament and even had the honor of meeting (and impressing) the recently appointed party leader of the Alliance '90/Green Party, Cem Ozdemir, who is touted by the media as being Germany's version of United States President Barack Obama.
"I am a news junkie and was able to draw on my knowledge of Romanian milk production - obscure, I know - in framing a question in regards to whether the integration was threatening cultural tradition," Grindle said. "He was thoroughly caught off-guard by both the example and the question but then enthusiastically gave his opinions and inquired further."
Grindle is hoping to return to Germany at some point in the future. His post-graduation options remain open as Grindle considers applying for law school or a teaching fellowship in Austria or even joining the Teach for America program. Before leaving Wittenberg's campus, however, Grindle has some adventurous advice to offer future students.
"Don't worry about the future," he said. "If it seems interesting, just go out on a limb and give it a try."
- Written by Christi Lue '09
- Photo by Erin Pence