After five years of working at Hamline, Assistant Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development (SALD) Lacey Squier is leaving the university for a new adventure. Squier announced her departure in October of this year due to her husband, Eric, getting a new job in Ely, Minnesota.

Squier’s husband applied for a job with Piragis Northwoods Company and is now their new Retail Store Manager. The decision for Eric to take the position and uproot their city lives for a new life in Ely was a mutual one. Squier’s husband had been looking for a new job for a while, he felt it was time for a change, but neither of them expected the change to be so dramatic.

“The job became available, and we were not looking or planning to move,” Squier said. “The timing is not perfect [for me], but I’m just kind of following the path of life as it lays out before us.”

Squier will not only be saying goodbye to her position here at Hamline, but she will be saying farewell to students, fellow staff, family and close friends.

The bulk of Squier’s involvement on campus revolves around Hamline Undergraduate Student Congress (HUSC), the Leadership Interns, the Homecoming Planners and the Involvement Center desk staff.

“I am conflicted because I love Lacey and I want her to stay,” said sophomore HUSC representative Andrew Weston. “But I want her to be happy. I think that her moving to Ely with Eric and starting a whole new adventure, that’ll make her happy.”

For the past year, Coordinator of Student Activities and Leadership Development Beth Decker has worked alongside Squier in the SALD office.

“She’s such a welcoming, friendly and gregarious person,” Decker said. “I feel like whenever Lacey walks into the room, people are always just so excited to see her and I think she makes the involvement center a really welcoming and comfortable place for people to be.”

Lacey has touched the lives of many students, faculty and staff on campus, including Hamline’s Assistant Director of New Student Programs Becky Kaarbo; who is, according to Squier, her “dearest and closest Hamline friend.”

“The minute she’s in Ely, everyone will fall in love with her the same way they do everywhere she goes,” Kaarbo said. “She has a boldness, that I don’t, that I think leads her very triumphantly.”

Lacey intends to stay in touch and plans to travel to the Twin Cities frequently in order to keep her relationships here alive and well.

“I have strong intentions to build roots there, but to me, four hours is not a long drive,” Squier said. “Maybe it’s not a day trip, but it’s not a long drive.”

Jan. 11 will be Squier’s last day working at Hamline. She has not found a job up north yet, but is keeping an open mind as she prepares to move.

“The people here, students and colleagues, it just feels like we’re friends. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye,” Squier said. “I will make wherever I am home, I will befriend whoever is near me.”