**Annie Piasecki**
_Tutor and puppy pal_
Junior strategic communication major Annie Piasecki is a tutor at the Writing Center, located in the Student Success Center. Piasecki was initially drawn to the idea of becoming a tutor because she likes helping others.
“(I’ve) always loved to teach people,” Piasecki says.
After taking the center’s required Tutoring University Students: Theory & Practice course, the St. Louis native became a tutor last spring.
Piasecki also works with Puppies with Purpose, an organization that allows MU students to raise and train puppies to become service dogs in cooperation with the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Vandalia.
“(Students should) find out what they like and find an organization that fits,” Piasecki says. “The best way to make the campus smaller is to get involved.”
**Jullian Burger & Spencer Hill**
_Slackliners and best friends_
In Peace Park, Jullian Burger and Spencer Hill, best friends since the 10th grade, practice slacklining.
Slacklining, a sport popular in many mountain-climbing regions, is similar to walking a tightrope. However, the rope is only a foot to a foot-and-a-half above the ground.
Hill’s interest in slacklining first piqued two winters ago, when his friend had a line set up in his living room.
“We didn’t have much else to do during the winter,” Hill says. “I got addicted and have been practicing ever since.”
Burger, on the other hand, is a newbie.
“It gets pretty wobbly,” Burger says. “(Hill) makes it look easy.”
It seems Hill was destined to be a slackliner.
“I always knew I had a good sense of balance,” says Hill, who works as a gymnastics instructor.
Burger works on imported cars. Originally from Alaska, his ultimate dream is to snowboard in Sweden, while Hill hopes to go back to school and perhaps open his own gymnastics studio.
For now though, both will continue finding their balance.