Senior makes plans to run across Minnesota after graduation

By Jenna Capelle Cardinal Staff Senior Robby McGuire, a Secondary English Education major, is currently planning a three-week run for about 475 miles after graduation.
McGuire is going to run from Rochester, Minn., to Split Rock Lighthouse north of Duluth, Minn. He es

timates that his “adventure” will take about three weeks, lasting until early June. McGuire said he will pack clothes and a tent in a jogging stroller that he’ll push the entire run.
Although he hasn’t been training for this type of activity, he’s been running on the Saint Mary’s University cross country and track and field teams throughout college.
“This isn’t the type of run you can train for,” said McGuire. “I’m going to run 20ish miles per day, stop somewhere, set up a tent, get up and do it all over again.”
Besides planning a run across the state, McGuire thinks of what he wants to teach his students as an English teacher in middle and high schools. McGuire said he wants students to choose their own books, but he would love to teach Into the Wild by John Krakauer because it will provoke interesting classroom discussions.

“I'm a big proponent of students picking a lot of their own books,” said McGuire. “Reading a book you can't get into really kills the experience.”

When it comes to hunting for a job, McGuire is open to many places. He’s been applying at middle and high schools throughout Minnesota, with a handful of small towns.  He said he’s applied for a job in Colorado and one in Iowa, and is contemplating applying in Alaska.

“The male to female ratio in Alaska is 80 to 20, so I’m not sure if I want to be in that sort of situation,” said McGuire.

After graduation, McGuire said that he will miss running in the bluffs, chatting with professors and spending times with all of his friends. He will mostly miss his favorite breakfast of blocks of scrambled eggs, he said.

When thinking back on the “best four years of his life,” McGuire recommends that underclassmen make a bucket list of things to do before they graduate and then follow through. He also advises students to not eat their vegetables because they are gross, and to wear socks to prevent itchy feet.