The Daily Orange

Media Credit: Stephen Dockery

As a child, Ian Semple scrambled up a tree every time he felt upset, confused or contemplative. He retreated to the branches all the time, like when he cut off his finger using a log-splitter at the age of 5, when he fought with his older brother Harton ("an indoors-y kid who doesn't get me at all"), when he became a young geologist, reflecting on his fieldwork in Sardinia, Belize, Mongolia and more.

He'd stay for hours, nights even, knowing that if he wasn't home in three days his mother Judy Semple, who called him "E-o," would start to worry. No matter how late he was, Ian dawdled near his home in Sewickley, Penn., splashing in creeks, climbing hills and even eating a bug or two.

Ian's love for the outdoors changed him from an adventurous child to an experienced world traveler. The senior geology major has traveled to dozens of countries to conduct fieldwork in his study concentration - sediment tectonics.

Ian's room in his house on Euclid Avenue, which he shares with six roommates, is filled with objects from the past that have defined his present: the colorful map he refers to with relish ("The eastern side of Brazil used to be connected to Africa!"), the "Outfloat, Outswim, Outlast" Survivor-style shirt from Marietta College (he transferred after the Ohio school flooded during his first semester) and the Mongolian drinking bowl from his last trip ("They chase their liquor with pickles").

Ian erupts in spontaneous, childlike laughter when he recounts that trip to Mongolia. His blue eyes laugh with him, below the kind of floppy mohawk that doesn't make a big deal of itself. He speaks candidly, using the same tone when discussing his trips, his adventures ("my friend had a punctured lung on this mountain, but we handled it") and his pet peeves (messiness, disregard for others).

"Ian's a big common-courtesy person," senior Ryan Kelly, his roommate, said. "He can get irritated. But he doesn't stress about a lot, especially the future. He's the go-to guy when people need to feel balanced."

Ian said he feels most stable when he is relaxing in nature, especially the woods.

"I love being able to appreciate the outdoors," he said. "It's really valuable to understand the earth. It's fun to be able to explain why it's there."

"Fun" is a word most people would find strange for that trip to Mongolia, with its blazing 116 degree heat, dust storms that create sand dunes even in sealed vans and poisonous spiders that spin webs thick as dental floss.

Continued...

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