Student Spotlights

This archived article was written by: Vivika Corona

A 19-year-old, representing Cardston, Alberta, Canada, is Tate Sommerfeldt.
He was scouted to come to Utah State University Eastern by theatre associate professor, Brent department.
Innes is also from Cardston so they have a lot in common.
Sommerfeldt said he was excited to go somewhere where no one knew him.
“Growing up in a small town of 3,000 people, everyone, knew exactly who I was, they knew my parents, and knew my grandparents”. Sommerfeldt is happy with the refreshing change of atmosphere and being known only as Tate and not as “Dalan’s kid”.
Transitioning from a small town in Canada, to a small town in the United States, has been weird to the native-born Canadian.
“The metric system is far superior to the imperial system,” Sommerfeldt said. He said that the change has thrown him off, and wasn’t sure if he was speeding or not going fast enough due to his car having kilometers in his odometer.
Majoring in theater, Sommerfeldt’s dream job is to be on broadway although he has been a part of all the plays at USUE.
Growing up, he would watch movies and at the end always wanted to be what the movie was centered around. “I watched “Remember the Titans” and wanted to play football when I was older or wanted to be a doctor after watching doctor movies.”
He soon realized that he didn’t want to actually be anything the character was doing he wanted to be the person playing the character. “The actors inspired me so I wanted to be the guy that inspired other people.” His first play was when he was six years-old.
Being an actor can be embarrassing at times. Sommerfeldt was Lumiere the talking candle holder from a production of Beauty and the Beast and encountered quite the issue. “I was doing the big performance for “Be Our Guest” and there is a bit where I picked Belle up and put her over my shoulder and walked around.
When I squatted down to get her, my pants ripped from the front of the crotch beside the zipper to the beltline in the back. It was like I was wearing two different leg pieces and was on stage until the end of the act. The embarrassing part was that it happened again two nights later,” he said.
His favorite memory at USUE is hanging out with the fellow actors and theater program students, after closing nights of the play. “We stay up late and play games in the CIB (Central Instructional Building) until past midnight. They are cool kids.” he said.
His wildest memory is being stuck in a hailstorm at the top of a mountain. He and a friend had to hide in a cave for about a half hour until the hail stopped.
Sommerfeldt enjoys hiking quite a bit in Cardston, and lives at the base of the Rocky Mountains. He has yet to go hiking in Utah, and sees the mountains in Utah as big hills compared to the mountains he sees in Canada.
He has the ability to wiggle his ears and recalls of his childhood, “As a small child I spent a lot of my time staring at my own face in the mirror making faces at myself.
“I went from really excited, to not so excited, and realized my ears move when I did it. I found that muscle and isolated it and learned how to wiggle my ears.”
He can also contort his shoulders and claims he can break out of handcuffs if needed.