Zach Waickman: biodiesel whiz
Zach graduated from Loyola in 2008 with a BA in communication. During his senior year, Zach enrolled in a class called Solutions to Environmental Problems (STEP): Biodiesel. The class allowed students to work on enacting real change by solving environmental problems the University was facing. He notes “it was the best class I had ever taken” and as a result he found himself spending extra time in the lab each week. After graduation, he was offered a job as the biodiesel lab manager in the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy, a position which he currently holds while also working on his MBA in the Graduate School of Business.
What is the most enduring lesson you learned at Loyola?
Have fun! Whether I’m hanging out with friends, in class, or at work, I try to make it fun. My barista at Starbucks put it well recently after he slipped and almost fell, “If you can’t laugh at yourself and have a good time, you’re going to live a rather sad life.” I have to constantly remind a certain friend of mine to calm down, smile, and just enjoy the day.
What is your favorite memory of Loyola?
Midnight Football – On Thursday nights at midnight we would go play tackle football out on Halas Field under the lights. Middle of the winter, sliding through mud pits, getting speared by a girl outraged at your 20-yard gain…those are my best memories and they are still my best friends. P.S. I’m dating that girl!
If you could go back to school, what Loyola course would you take? Why?
I am actually in the Graduate School of Business right now. But if I could take an undergrad course it would be a dance class. I took modern dance pass/fail senior year and had a blast.
Where was your favorite place on campus?
For a student film project I got access to the green roof on top of the Quinlan Life Science Building and the roof of Damen Hall. Those two places tie as my favorite.
What is your favorite place in Chicago?
The small garden just south of the entrance to the Art Institute on Michigan Ave. In summer the low trees, stone paths, and fountains make a great location to escape the heat and read a book.
Why did you decide to become a biodiesel lab manager?
I love plumbing and power tools, plain and simple. That and the fact that I get to work with a great group of people at Loyola to create a truly unique biodiesel program that was built and still run by students is just amazing. I love going to work everyday.
What is the most interesting part of your job?
Almost everyday I do something new, different, and strange. To sum up a typical day, I pull a wagon around the neighborhood collecting used cooking oil to turn into biodiesel and then make soap from the byproducts. I am the only professional I know that gets to pull a wagon on a regular basis.
What is the greatest piece of advice you’ve ever received?
“It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy…let’s go exploring”–Bill Watterson Calvin and Hobbes from the final strip of the legendary comic strip.
What book are you reading right now? Would you recommend it to others?
Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. I think this book has everything I could ask for: secret societies, murder, spy agencies, and historical facts built in.
What (or who) inspires you?
My mother inspires me. After my dad died 10 years ago she managed to send four children to Jesuit high schools and universities. She has been our rock and a great friend.
If you could travel to any time and place in history, where would you opt to go?
I would like to go back and witness the invention of something completely useless and then stick around to see the inventor’s face when they made millions, like the guy who invented pogs … it’s cardboard for heaven’s sake.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
90′s music blasting out of my cell phone every other minute after snoozing a minimum of eight times.
What’s your favorite Chicago pizza place?
Lou Malnati’s – There’s no arguing this one, hands-down winner.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Singing awful, truly awful music at the top of my lungs with my sister while we drive around. We have similar musical taste, but for some reason choose some horribly catchy tween hits to rock out.
Which one best describes you in college: athlete, intellectual, artist, young professional, activist, or social butterfly?
I think intellectual would be the best fit, if only because I wasn’t at work when Jeopardy was on and I love the History Channel. School had little to do with it.