Matt Wilcoski

• Birthday: July 16
• Where do you hail from? Richmond, IL
• Any family? Lisa, Elias (11), Josiah (7), Isaiah (almost 3)
• Degree? Computer Science / Engineering
• Years on staff? 18... whoa, now that's a dead give away on my age!!!
• Why did you come on staff with I-Life? God told me to.
• Why are you still here? He hasn't told me to leave yet.
• Major staff roles? Pastor I-life, Oversee Home Fellowships and combined Home Fellowship, Coach HF leaders, Manage & Mentor staff & volunteers, Try to keep Wayne in line, Coach our daughter church at ISU (Cornerstone Christian Fellowship).
• Are you available to hang out with students who wanna grab time with you? Sure, but it's "catch me if you can" this Spring!
• Favorite spots on campus? One of my favorite indoor spaces is the Courtyard Cafe in the Union, and Krannert center is very cool. I love the Quad and the Arboretum area off of South Lincoln. As far as restaurants, it would have to be Zorbas or Murphys for the history and atmosphere, but Papa Del's for the best food.
• Ideal activity or event on campus? A good concert or play at Krannert is hard to beat.
• A few hobbies/pastimes? Anything active I can do with my wife and boys (hiking, swimming, making snow forts, tubing, soccer, playing Wii, etc.). My ultimate personal hobby/pastime has to be Mountain Biking. To me, it is the perfect combination of physical challenge, adrenaline, outdoors, adventure, along with a little bit of danger mixed in.
• One thing that you wish every student would graduate with? A passion to always be a part of a local church where they're truly "doing life" with other people.
• What inspires you? People of passion and integrity.
• Current favorite movies, TV, music, books, etc? Wow, I feel really out of it!!! The last movie I saw in the theater was the latest Harry Potter with Elias this past summer. We tend to be DVD people at this point. Lisa and I are a good 7 episodes behind on Heroes, but I guess that would be the favorite TV show. I really like Ben Harper, Wilco (ironically), Over the Rhine and REM, and I've been a big fan of U2 since the mid 80's. If you've never heard them, you should track down a copy of "Boy" or "October." As far as authors, I respect Eugene Petersen a lot, and really resonate with Erwin McManus.
• Cubs or Cards? Neither! I grew up playing baseball for more years than I'd like to admit and, personally, I think it's a plot (maybe put together by the communists) to play on kids insecurities and waste Americans' time, all the while, trying to keep people from getting any real exercise. "The great American pastime" - what a crock!
• 3 places you want to visit before you die? This is an impossible question! A few years ago, I bought Lisa the book "1000 places to visit before you die" and we've been checking them off pretty consistently. My plan right now is to just hang on for dear life to Lisa's ambitious travel plans for our family. Lisa and I are so glad we spent some time in Europe (Ukraine, Switzerland, Germany, Austria & Italy) before having kids. It's a lot tougher to get a family of 5 overseas, but we hope we can make it in the coming years.
• Any other unusual facts about yourself? I really kind-of enjoy cooking, cleaning, and even changing my kids' diapers.