By Jenna Capelle
Feature Editor
The Spitzmueller sisters, Jill and Amy, are great friends who have grown closer since attending Saint Mary’s University together.
Both Jill, a junior, and Amy, a freshman, run distance for the SMU Cross Country team and Track team.
“A majority of the time we spend together is related to cross country and track practice… or with our friends on the teams,” said Jill.
The sisters, being runners, science majors, and even similar looking, caused doubt in Amy’s mind about choosing the same school as Jill. “Part of me worried that coming here would make us the same person, but I think that it’s worked out a lot better than both of us had ever imagined,” said Amy.
Jill has seen her sister grow and gain independence during her first year at SMU.
“It’s nice having someone here who understands my home life, too,” said Amy.
Besides athletics, Amy is involved with Campus Ministry’s Together Encountering Christ (T.E.C.) retreats and the Buddies program. Buddies allow students to spend an hour with disabled adults and includes activities like playing basketball or coloring, said Amy.
In her spare time, Jill is a member of the Serving Other United in Love (S.O.U.L.) Council, which plans volunteer-based mission trips for students at SMU. She also helps raise scholarship money for CTIE in Nairobi, Kenya. The money raised aids students in achieving an education degree so they can teach in their smaller tribes and villages, said Jill.
For the last few summers, Jill and Amy have gone strawberry picking in a field by their house. They’ve made it a tradition to make strawberry jam at their house by cutting and mashing the strawberries and adding sugar.
“It gets really intense” said Amy. “We’ve entered our jam into the Minnesota State Fair and have won a blue ribbon and two pink ribbons.”
However, this summer will be different than ones past for the Spitzmueller sisters. Jill has accepted a 10 week pharmaceutical internship with the University of Kentucky.
“I’ll be working on a research project of developing a better way to administer drugs,” said Jill.
Amy will be working at Metropolitan Mosquito Control near her hometown, New Brighton, Minn. “I’ll be treating water sources to reduce the number of mosquitoes,” said Amy. “I’ll also spread awareness of the possible diseases that people can get from mosquitoes.”
Although their paths will be different this summer, they are looking forward to coming back to SMU in September.
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