Leader Extraordinaire: Erick Friis

It’s 1 a.m. on a Saturday in Wentworth Hall. Senior Erick Friis’ fourth floor room is packed with a group of students ranging from preps to seniors. This isn’t a floor meeting or a disciplinary gathering, but rather a casual hangout of, as Friis calls it, “the Wentworth family”—a product of Friis’ amiability and leadership.

Since Friis arrived to Exeter as a prep, he has demonstrated the qualities that he possesses as a proctor to lead others. Another proctor in Wentworth, senior Andrew Poggione particularly praised Friis’ willingness to help others, as well as his kindness and friendliness, all characteristics that amount to a great leader.

“Erick has been one of my closest friends since prep year, and he’s always been the leader he is right now,” he said. “He has an uncanny ability to help people get things done and to do these things with a smile on his face, too.”

Senior and fellow proctor of Wentworth Hall David Liu shared Poggione’s view on Friis’ leadership abilities. In addition to his willingness to aid others, Liu explained that Friis is unafraid to take an “extra step,” something most others would not consider taking. “As a leader he is great because he is willing to go places where others won't in order to make the extra effort,” Liu said. 

In the dorm, Friis shows this “extra effort,” not only as a proctor, but also as a student listener, student tech and E-proctor. He explained that whenever students come to him to talk about either academic issues, tech issues or environmental issues, he tries his best to help them out. Friis also recalled that when he was an underclassmen, the upperclassmen helped him with whatever issues arose during the school year. Just like the previous student leaders of the dorm, Friis said that he wanted to become a source of advice and help for the rest of the dorm, especially the preps and lowers on his fourth floor.

“[My proctors and leaders] have helped me focus my interests over the past four years, and I like to think that I am helping the underclassmen in a similar fashion,” Friis said.

Friis displays his leadership not only in the dorm, but also on the athletic fields. Under coach Don Mills, Friis has biked on the varsity cycling team for three consecutive years, and this season, he is leading the group as a co-captain.

Assistant coach and English instructor Patricia Burke Hickey attested to Friis’ abilities on and off the race track. She noted that Friis has been a role model for the other cyclists in workouts and in races by displaying sportsmanship and persistence.

“Erick exemplifies sportsmanship—he works hard to achieve his best when he rides (whether it's during a practice or a race), he’s a loyal teammate who encourages less experienced riders and gives them advice, he has a good sense of humor, and he’s humble about his many successes,” she said. “We’ll certainly miss him next year.”

In addition to cycling, Friis participated in varsity boys’ water polo during his upper and senior years and varsity boys’ swimming during his upper year. Although Friis now has an accomplished list of varsity accolades, he explained that he was unsure if he would even make junior varsity sports at Exeter. He attributes much of these accomplishments to Mills, who urged and pushed him on in each of the three sports.

“When I came to Exeter, I questioned whether or not I would participate or even make JV sports, and Exeter changed that about me,” he said. “In particular, Coach Mills motivated me to work hard in the pool and on the road, and now I am looking forward to cycling in college.”

Furthermore, off the athletic fields, Friis participates and leads several organizations on campus. He has worked continuously with the admissions office since prep year, giving tours and becoming a head tour guide in his upper year. Friis describes tour guiding as one of his favorite Exeter experiences.

“My favorite [opportunity at Exeter] has been working with and getting to know the admissions officers,” Friis said. “I became a tour guide after the first email requesting them prep year, and now I am fortunate enough to be working with them for my senior project.”

This past year, Friis designed a website—from scratch—for the tour guides to have an easier time signing up. Rather than using LionLinks to report the times tour guides were available to tour, Friis’ new website allows guides to, in a user-friendly manner, click their free blocks which directly reports the times to the admissions office. Friis thought of the idea in his computer science 315 class, where he proposed the idea to the admissions office who at that time did not think the project could be done. Several issues stood in the way, but eventually Friis was able to collaborate with the admissions staff and complete the project to work for the 2014-15 admissions season.

“A large problem with it was that I wanted to write a standalone program for the desktop in the admissions office, and the data I wanted to pull for assigning tours simply wasn’t there,” he said. “At the end of upper year, I proposed the project again as an interactive website, and Mr. Gary was much more excited. I worked on it all of last summer.”

Dean of Admissions Michael Gary remains to this day impressed about Erick’s great accomplishment. He applauds Erick for helping the admission office adapt to the modern technology. “His technical skills has almost catapulted our operation into the 21st century!” he said. “My staff has thoroughly enjoyed working with him on sophisticated operational projects in our office.”

Friis’ feats and accomplishments, ranging from his varsity cycling captainship, to his Wentworth Hall proctorship to the making of the tour guide website, all impact the campus of Exeter daily, whether in the athletic fields, or the dorms or in the admissions office.

However, despite the praise and accolades, Friis remains humble and credits his acheivments to his classes, teams and finally, his dorm. “Exeter has been a great home for the past four years, and I will miss it greatly,” he said. “While classes and teams have helped me grow on paper, I couldn’t have made it this far without the gentlemen of Wentworth Hall.”