Introduction to a Michigander

Hello everyone! My name is Steve Behm and I am a fifth year senior hear at the wonderful University of Oklahoma. I started out unsure of what major I wanted to do but finally decided on a degree in health and exercise science and I actually just got accepted into physical therapy school at the University of Michigan, which will begin this upcoming fall.


I am originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan but I have been able to move around a bit playing hockey over the years. After high school instead of going to college I played hockey for a junior hockey team in Frisco, Texas. While playing there I was able to visit the University of Oklahoma and was able to realize its beauty and uniqueness. A year later a former teammate of mine and I decided we would apply to come to OU. In retrospect it was somewhat of a hasty choice but it turned out to be such a great decision. I was even able to continue to play hockey here at the university, which taught me a lot of life lessons along with being an awesome competitive outlet for me. My younger brother and sister now both go to OU as well so it has been really fun getting to have the opportunity to go to school together. I am the oldest of my siblings, however, both my sister and I will be graduating at the same time. My brother is a freshmen and he has been playing hockey here too.

Here is me playing at OU.

As far as hobbies and interests go I have a few. I have been snowboarding for a long time and have spent a lot of spring breaks in Colorado and Montana with my family and friends. I like all water sports and always feel at home in the water. I grew up spending a lot of time on lakes in Michigan and especially Lake Michigan. Lately, I would say my favorite water sport has been wake surfing where you surf the wake behind a boat, the bigger the wake the better. I also consider myself a doodler and enjoy drawing as a source of creative expression and stress relief. I enjoy playing most sports, lately I have been trying to get into tennis and racquet ball. If anyone has ever played platform tennis I was able to do that over winter break for the first time and thought it was a lot of fun. I would consider myself somewhat of a bookworm, although it can prove to be difficult to read for pleasure while in school. I am not really a music snob but I would say I don't listen to country music often. My favorite two articles of clothing to wear are socks and sweatshirts. I think its weird when people wear socks to bed.

Since it is my senior year I was hoping it would be a little bit more relaxed academically. However, last semester I would say was my hardest semester thus far in college. I took the GRE and was also applying to physical therapy school so I can relate to all of you that are trying to go to some sort of graduate school. Even though it has been a harder year so far it has still been great and I have gotten to meet a lot of new people that are in a similar boat. It is a lot easier to spend hours in the library when you have some friends doing it with you.


I am involved with Younglife here in Norman and became a leader two years ago. This past summer I was able to work at one of the summer camps in British Columbia, Canada. I was one of the boat drivers so I got to teach high school aged kids how to wakeboard and waterski, and we also got to take them on those banana tube rides. It was one of the best months of my life and I am really grateful to have gotten to spend it in the place I did. The best part about it was getting to volunteer with a whole crew of college aged people and get to know each other while making sure high schoolers had a good time at camp. This is a picture I took after we hiked up here one morning.

This is known as "Inspiration Point" and Malibu Club Camp is below.




                                          
This is one of the inlets we drove the boats in.

If anyone ever gets a chance to visit British Columbia I would highly recommend doing so. It was one of the most beautiful places I have been to. The camp was right on the ocean on the west coast and the mountains and wilderness are breathtaking.

I also have a dog Bo but he lives back at home in Michigan with my parents. He is an awesome guy and actually has quite the personality. He is not a big dog but he thinks he is huge. We have a big backyard at home and he just patrols it most days trying to kill squirrels and woodchucks.

Bo as a young pup.