La Salle Oddity—Sean Hand

By Jen Colletta
Collegian Editor
April 12, 2006

Although many college students can barely remember their high school teachers’ names, freshman Sean Hand recalls one very important lesson from his elementary school years. Hand can recite all 50 states in alphabetical order—and he can do it in less than 15 seconds.

“I first discovered I had this talent back in grade school when I had to memorize all of [the states] for extra credit or something,” Hand said.

Since grade school, Hand has been practicing this quirky talent, trying to perfect his delivery and speed.

“People always used to make me recite them, and I’ve just been able to recite them faster and faster ever since.”

So how do people react when Hand starts rattling off all of the states in one breath?

“‘Impressed” would be a great word to describe it,” he said. “But the immediate impressions I usually get from people is ,‘Why the hell do you know that?’”

Although Hand has never really traveled out of the tri-state area, he said that his favorite state would probably be New Jersey—but only the Wildwood area.

collettaj1@lasalle.edu