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This past August, many students and professors lost a close friend and someone who impacted their lives tremendously: Archie Eekhoff. He was a tremendously bright light around campus during a dark and stressful year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Archie would routinely go around and talk to all of his professors and friends to check in on them and learn more about them, which led to him meeting new people and impacting many lives.

In 2004, Archie became a quadriplegic. This prevented him from going to college until just a few years ago. He started his college career at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) before transferring to Grand View University last year to major in Spanish. He mainly wanted to get this degree to not only learn something unique and new but also to help translate for people in both business and the health care fields in his future. During his time at GV, he worked closely with all three Spanish professors.

Sarah Miller Boelts, associate professor of Spanish, said, “Archie was very curious and inquisitive. He wasn’t afraid to ask questions, and all he wanted to do was learn. There were so many things that he wanted to learn.”

The other professors agreed that it was something that truly set him apart from many other students in the program. He would go above and beyond to learn more about the language and culture, such as talk in length with professors after class and meet with fellow student Raffy Polanco multiple times during the week.

Archie also had an impact on many others on campus. Assistant Professor of Social Work Kimberlee Gregory was also largely impacted by him. They met due to Archie needing to interview a professor of color for his World Perspectives course.

“Yes it was an interview but it really just felt like a conversation,” Gregory said.

Archie ended up observing one of her classes to not only learn more about her for his assignment but also because he was genuinely curious about the subject that she was teaching. Gregory noted that he kept asking really good and inquisitive questions even though he was not enrolled in the class. The two also had a mini book club together, where they would read historical books and come together to talk about them every week. Gregory had already bought the book that they were going to read first this semester. She plans on still reading it but said that she is going to miss Archie’s perspective on every topic because he would get you thinking and talking in many different ways about something and will “broaden your view of things about nearly any topic.”

Amy Schumann, assistant professor of Spanish, noted that he was a huge inspiration to her because of how she saw him face adversity every day, and yet he never complained and used education as an outlet for the hard parts of his life.

Emeritus professor Coralie Turner said, “Even with his physical imparities he was so positive, he was a conqueror and determined to overcome. He reaffirmed to me the importance of not letting a wheelchair stop you from talking to them as if they are not a person, because they are a person and they still want to have those normal and impactful conversations with everyone.”

Archie truly showed everyone that it is possible to have an impact on anyone that you come into contact with. His impact on GV was larger than life, and his warm and passionate personality will truly be unforgettable.