Danny Vogwill, senior in AHS, has lived in University residence halls four years in a row. Their freshman year was spent at Allen Hall, where they then became a resident adviser as a sophomore. 

The next two years, in addition to managing social media passion projects and being a chemistry lab assistant, they were an RA at Illinois Street Residence Hall. 

Vogwill prides themself on using social media as a form of self-expression and as their own personal art gallery. They use it as a platform for modeling and homemade video series such as their own versions of “Survivor” and “Big Brother.”

“I knew really young that social media would play a huge role in my generation, so I put a lot of effort into that,” Vogwill said. “In grammar school, they told me all the time that what you post online is forever and it impacts you. Someone once told me to imagine I had to tattoo everything that I posted on social media, and I took that to heart. So I decided that what I put on the internet is what I want to let people know about me.”

Vogwill’s education growing up included attending a fine arts grammar school and an agricultural high school, which they said was unconventional. 

“In the fine arts school, I did a summer theater camp which allowed me to pick an elective between disco-dancing and Irish dancing,” Vogwill said. “I really was afraid they would make me wear a wig for disco-dancing, so I ended up doing Irish dancing and fell in love with it, started competing competitively and made it all the way to the world championships for that.” 

Vogwill is nonbinary, and they said it’s not a big deal — it’s just who they are.

“It’s just kind of something everyone knows, I just don’t advertise it because I don’t feel the need to. I feel that way because I feel that nobody else has to,” Vogwill said. “It’s just a part of my life and it feels like what I was looking for, and how I felt, and was just able to find the words to describe it as I grew up.” 

In addition to being an RA, Vogwill fills their schedule by working as a chemistry lab assistant and a senior partner at a remote consulting firm.

“I probably only stay organized thanks to my Google calendar, my written to-do lists and my Virgo Rising,” Vogwill said. “Literally those are the three things getting me through my degree. I’m a very type A planner. I like it busy, it keeps me preoccupied.”

Speaking about being type A, Vogwill said they want to start their future as early as possible.

“I literally always look ahead,” Vogwill said. “I asked my advisor if I could take 29 hours in one semester, they said no, and I was like, I think I could do it if I quit both my jobs. They asked me why I would do that, and I told them I just wanted to launch my life.”

As busy as Vogwill is, they said they manage to plan and prepare for their future after graduation, which means moving to New York to work for a consulting firm remotely as a social media manager.

“I’ve been a person who follows the rules all the time, I’ve done everything by the book, so I came to the realization that if I’m not gonna do something fun with my life, what have I been doing all this work for?” Vogwill said. “So, I’m going to take a leap of faith. I’d rather have gone to New York and have it completely fall apart than wish I had gone.”

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Editor’s Note:

A previous version of the article contained a misquote. The story has been updated to include the correct quote. The Daily Illini regrets this error.