While some students come to school just to swing, one student came to school to swing a golf club.

Geir Askvik, senior marketing major, came from Dodge City Community College to Missouri Southern after being sought out by the head golf coach.

Askvik said he liked the prospects and campus at Southern.

“He needed some JuCo players, and he asked for me,” Askvik said.

Askvik said other colleges had been seeking players, but he felt Southern made him feel needed.

“I had the choice between being a small fish in a big pond, or a bigger fish in a smaller pond,” he said.

Kevin Greim, head golf coach, said he met Askvik when Greim took over as coach of the golf team two years ago.

“He was a wonderful addition to the team,” Greim said.

Askvik lost his eligibility to play because he had been on the team for the full of an eight-semester duration.

“Aside from golf, he was a great just to have around our guys,” Greim said.

He said Askvik brought a different point of view to the team and a new cultural experience.

Askvik said things are different in the United States than what they would be like if he had stayed in Norway to study.

“Here, you get the spirit up through home games,” he said. “The way the universities and the schools in the United States and the athletes come together, it’s like a community.”

Askvik said the support he feels on campus is important.

“I feel privileged to be here,” he said.

Askvik said without the golf program or Southern, he would not have been able to travel around the United States as he has.

He said he learned to play golf after caddying for his father. One day his father’s friends asked him to try hitting once.

“I absolutely just nailed it on my first swing,” Askvik said.

His father’s friends encouraged him to continue practicing, and soon his father had bought him a set of clubs.

“His attention to detail on the course was methodical,” Greim said. “He is very patient and very focused.”

Askvik will graduate in December. He is currently working on an internship as the assistant manager of The Buckle at the Northpark Mall.

After graduation, Askvik plans on finishing his work at The Buckle and then decide what to do from there.

“I think he has a bright future in whatever he wants to do,” Greim said.

Rahila Kahn, senior physics major, said she has known Askvik well since he first came to Southern.

“He is one of my really good friends,” she said. “I think he is a wonderful guy.”

Kahn said she first met Askvik during an international student celebration when Askvik was giving a stand-up comedy act. She said she wanted to get to know him and hopes others would do the same.

“He’s a very fun-loving, easy-going guy,” she said.

Kahn said Askvik is a renaissance man and does a lot around campus.

Askvik said he is glad Southern has an international mission. He said it allowed him to meet others with different views of the world, but also allowed him to see his experience at Dodge City in a different light.

“It’s been a very rich experience,” he said. “It’s been four and a half years, and I’ve grown a lot. I’ve met so many great people.”

Kahn said she believes Askvik will go far with his job and will work hard in the future.

“He’s really well-rounded,” she said. “He’s the quintessential European.”