By MAX PRINZ
SPORTS EDITOR

There are two ways to get to know Andrew Maitner. The first is to look at his Instagram account. Seriously, go do it now. He’s @ajmaitner.

Andrew sets the standard for picturesque shots of Keating Hall. As much as I love the shots he has captured around campus, my favorite is still the one of him in the chair lift at his grandma’s house. The second way to learn about Andrew is to look at the wall in his room. His room is covered in posters, photographs and even slips of paper that he says hold a special importance to him.

“I try to build my wall up,” Maitner said. “Freshman year my wall was like two posters and I added more and more until finally senior year everything that means a lot to me is on my wall. As the memories build, I try to put them up on my wall.”

Drawings from freshman year programs are in one corner. A poster featuring the characters from “The Office,” the first one he obtained, is given a prime position near his pillow.

“[My friend] James wrote that ‘kick me’ sign,” Maitner said as he surveys his handiwork. “That’s from a bake sale. [My friend] Blanche went to London this semester and I like really miss her so I put it up.”

The wall is captivating. It is in a constant state of evolution, chronicling Andrew’s adventures in college, reminding him of past successes and growing up right alongside him.

“It’s expanded over the years,” Maitner said. “People just gave me stuff and I put it up.”

I first met Andrew during New Student Orientation before my sophomore year. He served as the official photographer for NSO that year, an experience he said he thoroughly enjoyed.

“I liked getting to capture moments,” Maitner said. “I remember I took a picture of someone who just won one of those NSO Olympic things and he jumped in the air and no one else was able to take that picture but me, so I felt honored that I was able to capture that moment.”

Andrew’s love of photography goes back a long time, and, as his Instagram account clearly shows, he’s quite good at it.

“I’ve always been interested in photography; it was something I started in high school,” said Maitner. “When I came to Fordham I really wanted to do something creative with my major and that was something I really enjoyed.”

Andrew, a double major in visual arts and economics, will graduate in May.

He says he hopes to use his combination of creativity and statistical analysis in the advertising industry.

“I feel like it’s a good industry that combines both,” said Maitner. “You have to communicate messages in a creative way, but also you have to have the facts behind it, the statistics and analysis behind it to be able to do that.”

A love of Fordham also shines through when Andrew talks about his time acting as the public relations officer for Circle K.

“It’s a great way to get involved outside of campus,” Maitner said. “I feel like sometimes we’re stuck in here.”

His love of giving back is inspired by one of his idols, Charles Schulz, whose drawings of the famed Peanuts cartoons have a prominent spot on his wall.

“His Peanuts characters and his stories have brought so much joy to the world and have taught me life lessons in simple but beautiful ways,” Maitner said.

“It’s something that defined my childhood and followed me here; [the Peanuts] are all over my wall. In such simple ways they just bring happiness to others. That’s something I strive to do every day.”