0 0 0 0 2B The Statement // Wednesday, April 7, 2010 Wednesday, April 7, 2010 // The Statement 7B the statement Magazine Editor: Trevor Calero Editor in Chief: Jacob Smilovitz Managing Editor: Matt Aaronson Deputy Editor: Allie White Designers: Sara Boboltz Corey DeFever Photo Editor: Jed Moch Copy Editors: Erin Flannery Danqing Tang Cover Illustration: Sarah Squire The Statement is The Michigan Daily's news magazine, distributed every Wednesday during the academic year. To contact The State- met e-mail calero@michigandaily. com TH EJUNKD RAWER random student interview Hey Taryn, this is Trevor Calero from The Michigan Daily. How are you doing? I'm good how are you? Good. Taryn, so what are you doing here at the University. What's your deal? tam planning on majoring in cellular and molecular biology. So, what does that mean? Um ... I'm hoping to someday become a science researcher. What's your dreamjob? To work for a genetics company that would allow me to make dinosaurs real, like in "Jurassic Park." [Laughs] I don't know if that's pos- sible, Taryn. It's not. But it's a dream. Yeah I guess dreams don't have to be real. So are you doing anything this summer in terms of genetic research or anything? I am not. I'm justworking the regular old summer job. Yeah? Where are you working? I work at Pacsun. At Somerset Mall. So you're really hip, right? Oh, I'm so trendy. It's ridiculous. How did you get the job? I walked into the store and I asked if they were accepting applications and the manager told me she'd give me an interview on the spot. And so you got the job right there that day? No. I had to wait, like, a week. But it was the first job I ever tried to get. Taryn, how do you do it? You don't know how many jobs I've applied for and have not even gotten a call back. And you get one on the spot. I know, I know. I couldn't believe it either. But you gotta justbe confident when you walk in, and really friendly. OK. And polite and dress the part. What's the part for Pacsun? For Pacsun? Um ... just, like, cute, trendy. You know, hair done. Oh. And confidence. Smiling. Confident. They like that. I'll keep that in mind next tme Im try to get ajob. [Laughs] Yep. So have you always wanted to work at Pacsun? Well ... retail is sort of just an easy summer job. Not very demanding, not really longhours... And it doesn't take much to learn how to do it. No. Not at all. If you can fold a shirt and press buttons on a computer you're good to go. Do you get free clothes and stuff? Not free, but we geta pretty good dis- count. Can you get me a really good dis- count on Pacsun wear? [Laughs] I could, but I would get fired for that. [Laughs] You don't have to tell. Don't you get, like, a friends and family discount? No. Not even family? No. Just personal? I mean, if I'm buying it for someone. Oh. Like a present. Yeah. Well my birthday is a long ways away. [Laughs] That's too bad. I'm sorry. Is your closet just decked in, what is it, what do they sell there, like, Quicksilver and... Fox. And Roxy? [Laughs] I do have a lot of stuff from there just because clothes are expen- sive and when you're paying for them yourself on a Pacsun wage ... you can't really afford ..' I would never work at aretailstore if I didn't want to wear the clothes. Yeah. So, if you could work anywhere in Somerset, where would itbe? Any- where: north side, south side? Oh gosh. If I could work anywhere .". There is a right answer to this you know. I would work at Tiffany's because you get to look at fancy jewelry all day, and it's not busy. There's no cleanup at the end of the night. You just get to close and go home right away. - Taryn is an LSA freshman. Don't evenbother asking for a discount. TS RARE TO find Zoltan Mesko with- out a smile on his face these days. Ask anyone who knows him - his family, teammates, current and former coaches or any of his classmates in the Ross School of Busi- ness. They'll all agree. But for Mesko - Michigan's all-time leader in total punts and punt-yardage - life hasn't always been something to smile about. Mesko was born in Timisoara, Romania, a town of about 300,000 on the westernmost tip of the country, during a time of great turmoil. The country had been under communist con- trol for more than 40 years, and anger against the regime had sparked an outright rebellion. Mesko even recalls having to dodge bullets with his parents. "For the kids, life was very tough," said Michael, Mesko's father. "The food was very limited. The gasoline was also limited. To play a game, a ball game, you have the streets and one ball for many families." Despite the hardships, Michael and Eliza- beth - Mesko's mother - tried their best to provide for their son, sacrificing much for him. "For growth for Zoltan, milk (was) very important," Michael said. "I needed to go very early in the morning (to wait in) line when the store was opening because maybe other people got the milk. If you (were) last in the line or too late, you (were) going home with no milk." Mesko recalls his mother waiting in line for three hours to purchase eggs for a birthday cake for her son. On the way home, she tripped on a curb and dropped the eggs she had worked so hard to obtain. "She cried for another three hours," Mesko said. "It was always a fight," Michael said. "To have some things, you need to sacrifice. We just (ate) to survive one day to another day." When mesko was 11, his parents entered the green card lottery and were some of the 55,000 chosen to receive a green card out of the - 200,000 that applied. Luckily for the Meskos, they had friends who had won the lottery the year before to help the family settle down in Twinsburg, Ohio. Having learned English in school in Roma- nia, 11-year-old Mesko found the transition much easier than his parents. In Romania, Michael had been a mechanical engineer and Elizabeth a civil engineer. When his family first came to the United States, Mesko's mother cleaned houses and his father assembled door locks to earn minimum wage. Since then, things have gotten much better - Michael is currently a quality control engi- neer and Elizabeth is a geotechnical engineer with a client list that has included NASA and the Cleveland Browns. Though they've been busy, Mesko's parents haven't missed a single Michigan football home game in the last four years. And their son has not disappointed in his five years at Michigan, working hard both on the field and in the classroom. He graduated from the Ross School of Business lastcyear with a 3.65 GPA, breaking nearly every Michigan punting record along the way. "You talk about the American dream - he is (it)," former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr said of Mesko, whom he recruited out of high school. "He's not just a football player. He's a guy that's making the very most of all of his opportunities here." But no matter how busy things got, Mesko always worked to keep a smile on his face and on the faces of those around him. "He always had this sense of humor," Michael said. "The whole population in Roma- nia has this spirit, this humor spirit. We are joking, we are laughing. Because this is how you need to take life, seriously, but you need to smile." IN TWO WEEKS, Mesko will probably have one more reason to smile. On April 22, the 2010 NFL Draft will commence and Mesko is widely believed to be one of the top punters available. It's a rare feat for a punter to be selected, and many project Mesko will be one of the only punters in this year's draft. Despite the excitement surrounding the upcoming weeks, Mesko admits he didn't always want to be a football player. Growing up in Romania, he mostly played soccer with his friends, and Michael remembers a stadium across the street from their apartment where Mesko and his friends would sneak in to play. They would climb the 10-foot high cement fence to enter, careful not to cut their hands on the shards of glass at the top. Sometimes guards with dogs would chase them out, but they always went back. The change to football came one fateful day during gym class in Ohio. Mesko was in the eighth grade and the class was playing kickball. When it was his turn, he kicked the ball so hard it knocked out a light on the gym ceiling. Mesko's gym teacher, Mr. Springer, who was also the high school football coach, decided to give the big leg an ultimatum - pay for the light or play football next year. The scrawny eighth grader grew up during high school - growing three inches and gain- ing 80 pounds - and by the time Mesko got to Michigan, many believed he had the potential to do incredible things both as a Wolverine and beyond. "When we practiced the punt, everybody watched because they knew that he was going to unleash some unbelievable punts that (looked like they) were shot from a rocket," Carr said. "The first time he did it in a game, you could hear an 'ohhh' in the stands." It wasn't just his punts that got the fans' attention, though. In 2006, Mesko's redshirt freshman year, the students started a tradition that lasted his entire career at the University. Whenever Mesko would punt, the student sec- tion would form a "Z" with their hands. For Mesko, it was an honor unseen. "I kept hearing about it," Mesko said. "And I was, like, 'What's the big deal?' So I went to check it out and it was right before a snap. I looked up and the snap was about to hit me in my facemask. And I was like, 'Oh crap, get rid of it, go go go.' I never really got to see it a lot but I knew it was out there." IT WASN'T UNTIL his redshirt sopho- more season that Mesko truly began to hone his skills when Filip Filipovic, a former NFL punter with the Dallas Cowboys, offered to help Mesko with his technique. At the time, Mesko was strugglingto improve and looking for guidance. Over the years, the relationship has grown. This year, when Mesko's last season at Michi- gan ended, Filipovic traveled from Chicago every week leading up to the NFL Scouting Combine to help Mesko prepare. The mentorship has proved beneficial as Todd McShay, director of college football scout- ing for ESPN Scouts Inc., said Mesko is prob- ably one of the top punters in this year's draft class with potential to develop into a starting punter at the next level. Filipovic agrees. "Zoltan (is) the kind of guy that can punt in cold weather, he can punt directionally inside the 20 (yard line), ore-step punts out of the back of theend zone, he can do that," Filipovic said. "He really has become one of those punt- ers who has all of the attributes. He has good hands. He's quick with his get off time. There's really no reason for a coachto getnervous about sending him out onto the field at any level." MESKO IS A self-proclaimed goofball. His best friend on the football team, fifth- year senior Tim North, said Mesko is always trying to get his teammates to laugh, especially during morning workouts. He may have met his match though when the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons start- ed asking a tough question at last month's NFL Scouting Combine. "They sat me down and said, 'Just tell us a joke,'" Mesko said. "'Uhhh, I wasn't prepared for this.' And I told this joke that was so bad. I stopped them and I was, like, 'I have to apolo- gize for that bad joke.' And they were just look- ing at each other and they were, like 'OK, let's move on.' " But despite missing his chance to show potential future employers his humor, Mesko has had his fair share of shenanigans with teammates and a famous former Wolverine, too. After former Michigan defensive end LaMarr Woodley's first season with the Pitts- burgh Steelers, he came back to Ann Arbor to workout in the Michigan weight room and train with the strength and conditioning coaches. One day, Mesko was fooling around in the training room with a crutch he managed to get his hands on and he hit Woodley in the shin. The 6-foot-2 inch 250 pound-plus Woodley wasn't happy, but Mesko was able to get away. For the next few months, whenever Woodley would see Mesko he would vow to get him back. Then, one day Woodley was driving his new Mercedes Benz in the athletic campus parking lot and saw Mesko on his cell phone. Woodley got out of his car and started chasing Mesko, who didn't see it coming. But Woodley had for- got to put his car in park and it almost smashed into Yost Ice Arena. He had to sprint back to his car to get it to stop just in time. "There's one thing about Zoltan, he doesn't care who you are, he's going to try and make you laugh," North said. "He's not intimidated by someone. That's just the way he is." THOUGH MESKO PLANS to play foot- ball at the professional level, he has always entertained the idea of entering the business world as well. He graduated with "high dis- tinction" from the Ross School of Business last year, and this May he will complete his Masters in Sport Management. From an early age, Mesko's mother worked See MESKO, Page 8B SEND IN YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR THE BUCKET LIST ISSUE SEND AN E-MAIL TO CALERO@MICHIGANDAILY.COM Today's Career Tip: Meet with professionals today to create your personal pitch. 9-noon at the Alumni Center. Text "UMStudents" to 41411 to win great prizes and get daily career tips. 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