LEADERS IN ACTION
BRENDAN BLADES, ’21
Building What Lasts Brendan Blades, ’21 Major: Civil Engineering Current Town: Seattle Why Und? Online class quality and flexibility
Photo by Mike Hess
The pyramids in Egypt. Stonehenge in Britain. Roman bridges. The Great Wall of China.
a chance to meld that passion with something more practical.”
These everlasting wonders of architectural and engineering mastery fascinate Brendan Blades. It is a fitting allure for him, one that marries his past endeavors and current pursuits, one that hints at his aspirations.
Blades’ undergraduate education took him from his native Seattle to Arizona and later to northern Mongolia with the Peace Corps.
Blades holds a bachelor’s degree in history, which was supposed to lead to a career in education. Today, however, it kindles his passion for civil engineering, which he is studying online at the University of North Dakota. “I enjoy reading about how different cultures practiced engineering in the past, practiced architecture,” Blades said. “Civil engineering is
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UND Alumni Magazine | Year in Review 2019
In a village with no running water and intermittent electricity, where temperatures dropped to 40 below zero Fahrenheit in winter, he taught English for two years. It was a time of little physical comfort but tremendous intellectual and emotional reward. It was a time of simple living and communal bonding. “There is a saying that Peace Corps volunteers have,” Blades said. “They say that you get a lot more from the culture you serve than you can ever give them.”
