On the St. Thomas campus, senior Matt Sullivan is kind of a big deal.

As this year’s Tommie Award recipient, Sullivan has added one more accolade to a list of already impressive accomplishments. Involved in more than six on-campus activities, he said that he’s enjoyed the St. Thomas experience.

“You only have four years to have as much fun and get as involved as you can while on campus here,” Sullivan said. “So I felt: why waste that time? I’ll get involved. Meet some people.”

Meeting people is something that Sullivan has no problem doing. His roommate, senior Neil Mckeown, said that what sets Sullivan apart is that he doesn’t know the definition of an acquaintance.

“We’d walk back from South Campus… and he’d insist on standing on the inside at all times just so that he could say hello to multitudes of people,” McKeown said. “That was the highlight of his day.”

Associate finance professor Mary Daugherty, one of the three people who nominated Sullivan for the Tommie Award, said that Sullivan embodies the meaning behind the Tommie Award.

“I think that its designed to encompass the whole person so not just the ‘smartest’ kid or the kid that’s in every club,” Daugherty said. “It’s for somebody that personifies the whole person, and I really think that my observations of Matt is that he has been. He definitely does that.”

It will come as no surprise then that Sullivan’s favorite part of his St. Thomas experience has been the people.

“You can walk to class and run into whoever you want, and when you see people you can say ‘hey, how’s it going?’ and have a quick little conversation,” Sullivan said. “I really like the community aspect at St. Thomas. Getting to know all the people.”

Katherine Curtis can be reached at curt1354@stthomas.edu