Legacy Stories: Pryce Hadley, '12

Pryce Hadley, '12, had a distinguished college career at Albion. He won a Udall Environmental Scholarship his junior year and helped to start Albion's student farm.

Now he's helping launch an iOS app with his uncle Tom Bender, '85.

Pryce moved to Boulder, Colorado last fall to help kick start History Spots Inc., Tom's mobile tech start-up. Their first project is an education entertainment mobile web app called The Story of Where.

"The Story of Where pulls from a variety of publicly available historical databases, such as the National Register of Historical Places, to fuel a user-friendly, place-based educational tool," Pryce says.

Filling a Need

The idea, says his uncle Tom, came from his own cross-country travels with his family.

"My kids were in the back seat on their iPod Touches killing zombies, flinging Angry Birds and playing Doodle Jump and I thought, 'Hey, there needs to be an app that tells kids all about their surroundings on a road trip,'" Tom says.

Unhappy with the travel apps available, Tom decided to launch his own -- with Pryce joining him in September 2012.

Making The Choice

During his own college search, Pryce valued the guidance of his uncle.

"I wouldn't have heard of Albion without his advice," Pryce says. "As I was raised in the Upper Peninsula, Albion was not exactly on my radar. My uncle's stories about going to college and the funky places he discovered in the surrounding community caught my attention."

Ultimately, Pryce's interest in the environment drew him to Albion.

"It was Albion's Center for Sustainability & the Environment that sealed the deal," Pryce says. "Dr. Tim Lincoln and the other professors involved with environmental causes on campus are truly a great, open-minded bunch. They convinced me it was worth giving Albion a shot."

The Albion Family Connection

Tom had a family connection to Albion as well. His uncle, Bill Pincoe, '61, was captain of Albion's baseball team. Tom remembers playing with his uncle's baseball gear while visiting his grandparents in Battle Creek, Mich.

Although his mother and father each attended different colleges, Tom says he always had a "draw for the purple and the gold."

"I look back on the Albion College experience and have some wonderful memories," he says. "I remain very close with many, many friends from Albion and continue to see many of them once or twice a year in Colorado and Michigan."

Download The Story of Where on the Apple App Store