Profile :: Tim Krumreig
Interviewer:: Jonah Sidman

I am planning Dr. Seuss day 2009 with Andy Frantz for the America Reads program.  It’s a day that brings the Oberlin college and Oberlin community together to promote literacy.  The children partake in word games, every child gets his own book, they get to sign up for library cards, there’s guest performers and guest readers and it’s generally a huge community event that brings everyone together.

Describe what you do during the day.
I’ve email different performers on campus, I’ve emailed media, I’ve emailed artists to see if they want to do posters, I’m responsible for planning the entire event; activities, publicity, who will be there, who will perform, how it’s gonna look.  I come in and I just work on pieces of that all day.

So you like Dr. Seuss?

Yeah, I really like Dr. Seuss.  My mom’s a first grade teacher, so I’ve been exposed to lots and lots of children’s literature, and Dr. Seuss was her favorite.

Have you been involved in Oberlin schools before?

I went to school here!  I was in the middle school, and I was at the elementary school.

Have you done community service before?

Not necessarily in the school, other than when I was in middle school.  I was part of the Gay Straight Alliance there when I was in high school.

What do you like about your project?  Or dislike?

It’s really fun to think about how to transform the library into what Dr. Seuss Day is going to be, and contacting the performers and calling people who’ve don’t it in the past who are now really excited to do it again.  There’s a lot of waiting cause it’s winter term; people aren’t checking their email as much and stuff, but it’s overall a pretty fun project.

What are your other interests?

I really like Dr. Seuss.  And a big fan of photography.  I like movies.  I enjoy Oberlin.  Community. College.  Working together.

What do you like about Oberlin?  You know, growing up here?

Well growing up here it’s a really good small town atmosphere.  In the summer it died down, but during the year there was always, in high school, there were always things to do. 

College shows?  Or high school shows?

Yeah, college.  I mean there were like high school drama club shows and stuff too, but you know I like college stuff.  And I mean there was a lot of animosity between college and town, but my friends and I always seemed to fit in, and it was no big deal, and it’s a small atmosphere, it’s really comfortable.

Anything you would say to others who might want to do your project in the future?

Well, I’m only half way through it—you know, try to set up appointments with people early so you can get them interested, and, I don’t know, just be creative.