Stephen

Vital Statistics: Steve Hoppe

Birthday: May 8, 1987

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Height: 6'0"

Current age/grade: 20, junior at Shimer College, Chicago, IL

Steve doesn't like me to share much about him. He hates hearing me say things about his bright mind. He prefers to be left alone. I guess I CAN say that he graduated early from high school. He isn't sure what career he wants to go into. So after high school he went to Rock Valley, which is a community college, and got his Associate's Degree from there. He worked a lot of hours, saved a lot of money. He thought about majoring in physics, and last fall started a program in that. But what he found out is that when you major in physics, you have to give up learning about almost everything else. As much as he loves learning about String Theory and thinking about the universe, he ALSO loves French, and literature, and playing his cello, and attending symphonies and operas, and discussing all those things...so he dropped out of the physics program while he tried to decide WHAT to do.
He then found Shimer College, where "students develop their capacity for critical thought and interpersonal communication through careful reading of the Great Books, which go on to sustain a life-long passion for learning." The reading list for just one class (Humanities) for Stephen's coming year includes (and no, I'm not making it up, it's on their website):
  • Plato, Crito, Apology, Phaedo, Symposium
  • The Bible (“Genesis,” “Gospel According to John,” “I Corinthians” )
  • Augustine, Confessions
  • Anselm, Proslogion
  • Teresa of Avila, Life of Saint Teresa by Herself
  • Descartes, Meditations
  • Pascal, Pensees
  • Locke, Essay on Human Understanding
    Just a bit of light reading. Anyway, he should enjoy it. And, he can afford it, since he competed for a scholarship and WON IT!! (YES!!!) The name of this scholarship is the Michel de Montaigne Scholarship. Students were given an original text to read prior to the competition and then were judged on the basis of their writing on and discussion of that text at the competition itself. Result--a full tuition scholarship. Now all he has to do is find a studio apartment somewhere in Chicago.
    Of course, he doesn't want that apartment to be too close to Shimer, which is near what most of us know as Comiskey Park. He'd rather be more on the north side, where there is much more to do. He tells me he can easily commute, which is true, by bus or train. But I know that in truth he will mostly try to *bike* which is his preferred mode of travel. That makes me nervous, even though he has all the safety stuff on his bike, but you know how crazy people drive, and how little respect they give bikers.

    Stephen will be VERY missed by his littlest sister, Claire, who loves him like a second Daddy. We haven't even told her that he'll be moving out. She insists that he "give her walks" (carry her around the house) or just sit by her and watch Blue's Clues with her.

    As far as the mitochondria issue with Steve, except for low body weight, some hypotonia and a leaky aorta, he is very healthy. With proper nutrition and monitoring, his life should be mostly unaffected.

    Stephen would like to take a big trip to this summer, but I don't know where. He's a poor college student. He did visit his brother in Guatemala, and he and Chris made a "road trip" to Mexico this winter. I'm not sure that counted as a vacation for Stephen, however.

    Page update: April 28, 2007

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