Hometown: Port-au-Prince, Haiti

A Lucky Break
As a high school senior, Michael Brun was returning to school in the United States after winter break in his native Haiti when the 2010 earthquake struck. He soon had word his dad had been seen alive, but it would be two weeks before they would speak. "We were very, very lucky. We lost some friends. We were blessed."

Music, Music, Music
A deejay from age 16, in Haiti and in U.S. military school, Brun's mad musical skills have been in high demand at Davidson. He's performed as emcee and deejay at the Davidson International Association festival and at parties on Patterson Court. One of his remixes went to No. 2 on Internet voting aggregator site The Hype Machine. He sings and plays guitar at open mic nights and holds a "day job" at the music library in the Sloan Music Center.

Wild, Wild Academic Frontier
Brun misses Culver Military Academy in Indiana, but loves the academic rigor and freedom of Davidson. "As a liberal arts school, Davidson encourages you to try other things, especially at the beginning, and not stay too focused on just one thing." First-year classes included public speaking, biology, economic statistics, writing, chemistry, art history, English literature and religion. "I love my New Testament class with Dr. Snyder. Well, I love all my classes!"

Davidson: Needs No Introduction
At first a few of his friends said, "Davidson? Huh?" But most said, "Davidson! Ah!" "Some people don't know about it, but those who do know it really well." Brun counts his first year a success socially as well as academically. "You come here and you figure everyone is really intelligent. But you also find out that everyone has something that differentiates them. And people are really outgoing, friendly, extroverted. It's really easy to make new friends."

Summertime
Summers, he keeps working toward the long-term goal of being a pediatrician, taking pre-med science classes and working at St. Damien Nos Petits Frères in Tabarre, Haiti, the country's only pediatric hospital. And he's scouting study abroad territory through the Dean Rusk International Studies Program. "I'm looking at Australia, Costa Rica, France, Sweden...."