Senior Mark Keller spent the first part of the summer of 2012 hitchhiking his way from Hillsdale, Mich. to Hillsboro, Wisc. — an adventure that included a free tattoo from one of his rides.
The eighth and last person Keller thumbed a ride from on that trip, a tattoo artist from Gelena, Ill., offered him a place to spend the night and a free tattoo. Keller chose the V.F.D. Eye image from Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events” novels to put on his ankle.
“He is one of the more entertaining people I have ever encountered,” said Andrew Kuiper ’12, a former housemate of Keller’s. “He has a flair for bringing the life out of a situation.”
Keller, a theatre major with minors in English and music, has a knack for the bizarre and extraordinary. From learning how to play the bassoon — in two years — well enough to earn a place in Hillsdale College’s orchestra to writing a 360-page fantasy novel in high school, the list of his accomplishments are enough to make most people his age feel inadequate. But outside of what Keller does, his character leaves a lasting impression on everyone who meets him.
“One of my best impressions of Mark is that he has a ubiquitous character,” said Luke Sanders ’12, Keller’s former housemate. “He can be friends, and is friends, with all types of people.”
Keller came to Hillsdale College as a prospective student his senior year of high school after his best friend from high school convinced him to check the school out. Both boys only applied to Hillsdale and no other colleges. Keller said the admissions counselors were concerned and asked both boys if they were sure about their decision.
“[My friend] was like, ‘Yes, because I know this is where I want to go,’ and I was like, ‘Yes, because I don’t know where else I would go,’” Keller said. “He didn’t get in. I came to Hillsdale, and now he’s in Florida. I guess he had the last laugh.”
Keller quickly auditioned for the Tower Player’s first fall play, a production of “Our Town,” and got a speaking role. Theater became his collegiate calling and is now preparing for his thirteenth role: Creon in “Medea.” He is also painting all of the revolving panels for the show.
“This is my first time ever painting anything,” Keller said. “But I have been drawing forever, since I was a kid.”
Keller grew up in Wisconsin as the oldest of five children and was homeschooled by his mother and father, “an entrepreneur do everything sort of guy,” who currently repairs violins and sells them on eBay. His family used to raise Hungarian komondors and had as many as 23 in their backyard at one time.
Keller was heavily involved in speech and debate in high school and went to the national tournament for duo acting his senior year. Keller also made a film while in high school that won second place in the multimedia category at the University of White Water Wisconsin’s Creative Writing Festival.
The film, titled “Moonshine,” is what Keller describes as a “hillbilly western comedy” about prohibition. He wrote the score and script, acted in, directed, and edited the film. He laughed as he recalled winning second place at the competition.
“The reason I didn’t get first place was because there was this girl who made a documentary about her boyfriend who was going to Iraq. You can’t put hillbillies above that,” Keller said.
In high school, Keller also explored his talents as a writer. He wrote and illustrated 20 pages of a graphic novel, and then wrote a 360-page fantasy novel.
“You know, like everyone does right after they finish reading the ‘Lord of the Rings’ books,” Keller said. “This is why I hate Christopher Paolini: he sucks. He’s basically trying to do what I did except worse, and he’s making more money at it.”
Keller continued to flex his Renaissance man muscles at Hillsdale College. As a freshman, he illustrated a published children’s book — titled “Mashed Potatoes” — written by Graham Koens, produced a 20 minute film adaptation of “The Thing,” and picked up playing the bassoon.
“I went to the orchestra concert my freshman year, and thought ‘This is pretty cool. I want to do this.’ I noticed there was only one student bassoonist, and she was a senior,” he said.
So Keller took bassoon lessons for two years at the college and played in last spring’s orchestra concert.
“He gets an idea into his mind, and he makes it happen,” Sanders said.
Like this past summer when Keller audited Professor of English Daniel Sundahl’s course on T.S. Elliot. Sundahl was discussing author James Joyce and mentioned the events of the novel “Ulysses” take place within a period of 24 hours, and that, of course, no one could read it that quickly.
Challenge accepted.
“Immediately I pulled out my phone and pulled up my calculator, adding some stuff up,” Keller said. “Then I thought, ‘Yeah, you can.’”
So that following Saturday, he did. Keller woke up at 10 a.m. and read until the following morning. It took him 21 hours and some change to finish the novel.
For his future, Keller hopes to leave Hillsdale, explore the world, and get his masters in film — his “true love.” He will leave behind memories of being that eccentric friend: the one who spends the first day of spring wearing red pants and a tie-dye shirt while reading Ovid’s “Amores” in Latin and playing his Peruvian flute.
He’s the friend that spews gems of inspiration cut with wit, which always leave you with a smile on your face.
“I’m not as much of a slacker as I look like,” he said. “I’m also not as creepy as you thought I was freshman year.”