Profile
by Michelle Myers
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New RD Cherishes Old Red Schwinn
![[Cover Photo]](photos/profilea.jpg)
Amanda Allquist and Jon Mathis hang out in the Memorial lounge as new students move in. -Michelle Myers, photo
Cup of Tea Makes New RD Happy
Birthday:
Sept. 6, 1979
Birthplace:
Portland, Ore.
Siblings:
"I have four-two brothers and two sisters."
I would describe myself as:
"Easy to please. Anything makes me happy. You could make me tea, and it would make my day."
The last good movie I saw:
"Harry Potter 6."
The book I've been reading:
"St. Augustine's Confessions by St. Augustine."
People always think I'm:
"Impulsive."
Favorite verse:
"Ps. 63."
Favorite place to relax:
"Cascade Locks."
What I wish I could do that others can:
"Read music."
People would be surprised to know:
"That I was adopted."
What I like most about being an RD:
"Definitely the relationships. Truthfully, I will say it's the deep and real conversations that I get to have with people."
Long chocolate tresses frame the face of Amanda Allquist, 28, the new resident director for the women in Memorial. Her pearly smile is addictive, and her brown eyes are always attentive.
She loves talking to people. Her goal is to know everyone's name by the end of the first week of classes.
But as much as Ms. Allquist enjoys investing in relationships, her big brown eyes really light up when she talks about her bicycles.
"I have three bikes. It's one of my obsessions," she said with a grin. "Three things I can't say 'no' to: books, shampoo and bikes, and it has to be an old Schwinn."
But Ms. Allquist's first bike was a blue 77 Continental. "It's a man's bike. It's actually way too big for me," she said, laughing as she jumped up to show how difficult it is to get on her Continental.
Ms. Allquist's love for biking was born in California, where she worked as a resident assistant director at California Baptist University. Two of her friends loved riding bikes and because she did not have a car, she borrowed a bike from them.
"It's something you can do with other people. I felt like we were 5," Ms. Allquist said. "[We would] hop on our bikes and ride through the orange groves and pick oranges along the way."
She moved to Dayton, Tenn., where she worked as resident director at Bryan College for three years.
"When I got to Tennessee, I found my new bike, which is not new. It's a 1963," she said. "It's a Typhoon, little red classic. It's like a cruiser. You peddle backward to stop. That one I really love."
She later got an old Schwinn - possibly a World War II or pre-World War II bike - that her brother-in-law found.
Students at Bryan knew that the old red Schwinn they rode down the sidewalks to class or to the student center belonged to Ms. Allquist.
"Amanda loved her bikes. She had an old Schwinn that she left outside of the dorm," Hannah Camp, resident at Bryan College, said. "You would frequently see people riding it the short distance from the dorm to the student center."
Her Schwinn that had been perched outside the women's dorm at Bryan is now in the storage shed at Multnomah. The metal spokes are coated with rust, and the red paint is scratched and faded.
![[Cover Photo]](photos/profileb.jpg)
Amanda Allquist's old red Schwinn is a single-speed with coaster brakes. –Michelle Myers, photo
"Portland just kind of freaks me out because it's not the biking I'm used to doing," she said, describing her frustration with stoplights. A trip to the grocery store on her bike ended up being a hassle - with four stoplights on the way - rather than a convenient alternative.
Her free time may not be filled with biking, as was the case in Tennessee and California. But Ms. Allquist is known for her wide range of interests.
"She has so many things she is interested in, like going outdoors, hiking, going on walks and, of course, biking," Hannah Hamrick, friend and former resident of Ms. Allquist, said. "She just loves learning about people, too. She's always interested in knowing about people and different places."
![[Cover Photo]](photos/profilec.jpg)
Amanda Allquist's old Schwinn was a community bike at Bryan College in Tennessee, where she used to work. Her brother-in-law found the bike for Allquist, and students rode it from their dorms to class. –Michelle Myers, photo
Although Ms. Allquist was not aggressively looking for a different resident director position, she had resigned from the resident director position at Bryan in December.
Intending to live in Dayton and to continue relationships with her young women, Ms. Allquist applied to the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. Hoping to be overseas someday, she planned to get her master's in education at the university so she can teach.
But when a friend told Ms. Allquist that the resident director position at Multnomah was open, she applied.
"I'm just trusting that this is where I'm supposed to be," she said. "I'm really excited to be here. It's a transition. But I really believe that this is where the Lord wants me."
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