Where are they now?: Alumni Spotlight.

But where are the Joshua trees?

After a long break, we're resuming our much loved, sometimes interesting, but always worth a read, spotlight on Sted's Alumni. Today, I was able to catch up with Nick "Kovach" Kovachevich '09, Stedsman and now Southern Californian, who happened to be on campus for the Michigan game weekend. Besides sharing his thoughts on ND football, here's what Kovach had to say to my questions...

St. Ed: So What are you up to these days?

Kovachevich: Whenever I get some time off from working for "The Man" or on my master degree, I've been exploring the West Coast. Cruising around the Hawaiian Islands, a bit of international travel, backpacking in Joshua Tree National Park (pictured above), not to mention getting through the TSA checkpoint in Terminal 1 of LAX which is a wild adventure in and of itself.

St.Ed: Living in Los Angeles? I bet you see movie stars all the time. How's Californian living?

Kovachevich: I live on a beach that's not in Malibu and work in a building with no windows... so I haven't had as many celebrity sightings as you might expect. I did see Gerard Butler once, but it was right after I had to sit through all 120 minutes of Olympus Has Fallen. As you can imagine, there just wasn't anything to say. Still, L.A. is fantastic, provided you can get over all the USC fans.

St. Ed: I remember you studying Aerospace Engineering. Are you working for Raytheon? So, you're probably helping Amazon make "drone deliveries?"

Kovachevich: Raytheon should be so lucky! If I were working on drone deliveries for Raytheon, Amazon wouldn't be my primary customer because all my packages would be delivered to Eastern Syria/Iraq with the recipients who would be absolutely blown away by the level of service. No, I work for Boeing's Satellite Development Center. Unfortunately, delivering "the goods" from space is still probably still a few years away, but don't tell Jeff Bezos. Maybe I can get a head start on this one...

St Ed: What are your thoughts about building "Spaceport USA," America's first space port, in a desert in New Mexico? I am thinking, "Great. I just returned safely from SPACE but now I am NEW MEXICO." What were people thinking?

Kovachevich: "Spaceport", ahem, "America" (cue me pushing my aerospace engiNERDing glasses up the bridge of my nose) is all-around underwhelming in my estimation. Even worse than taking off from and landing in the middle of nowhere New Mexico is Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. The Virgin is suborbital, meaning it's really just a plane that can fly higher than normal and not something you could use to launch a satellite or visit the International Space Station. If I had $200k to burn for a ride on Virgin's high flying plane, then I'd rather put it towards building something on campus. Maybe a new gym for Steds? Kovachevich Hall has a nice ring, but maybe it should be O'Kovachevich Hall.

St. Ed: What advice do you have for your fellow Stedsmen?

Kovachevich: Keep the traditions alive, and above all else, be true to your friends and to yourself. That hallowed ground you walk everyday is only special because of the people with whom you share it.

Kovach, good luck! It was great talking with you, but I hope the next time I see you, I am in sunny L.A. It's going to be a bad winter!!!