Wade Vellky is a sophomore economics and political science student at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. Wade previously attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a club ice hockey player for the Men’s ACHA D2 ice hockey team.
Wade spent his childhood in Columbus, Ohio, where he developed a deep passion for hockey, a sport he would go on to play for 16 years. Though Wade was known for his abilities on the ice, he quickly became known for his abilities in the kitchen. Wade frequently observed his uncle’s cooking abilities at family gatherings and was drawn to his uncle’s phenomenal Italian cuisine and sought to replicate his uncle's cooking. Wade would soon get to repeat his uncle’s cuisine, attempting to cook spaghetti bolognese. Early on, Wade had mixed success, occasionally making fantastic food and sometimes ending up in the emergency room due to some freak accident. These accidents did not faze Wade and continues his attempts to replicate his uncle’s Italian cuisine, even if he knows it will never be as good as his uncle’s.
Portrait of Wade taken during his freshman year of college, March 29 2023, by Monica Brisson