Hello! I’m Mandi, and I am from Portage, Michigan; I graduated from Portage Central High School in 2010. In high school I participated in basketball, tennis, school orchestra, Junior Symphony, National Honor Society, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and my church youth group. I guess you could say that I like my life to be pretty busy! In general, I love interacting with other people. This is my first year here at Western, and I feel like I am off to a great start!

For a very long time, Western was the LAST university I wanted to attend! It seemed way too close to home and too familiar, plus both of my parents went here. However, after exploring campus for the first time and actually having an opportunity to visit a class, I decided that WMU was the school for me! All of the professors I met went out of their way to welcome me and show that they cared, and the students were really friendly as well. One of the main reasons I chose Western was because of their excellent Spanish program, since I knew that would be my major. I plan to major in Spanish and minor in math in order to become a teacher someday. I know my time here at WMU will prepare me well for a successful future!

Living on campus is an awesome way to start your college career! Since I am from Portage, I had the option of living at home while attending college, but I chose to live in the residence halls on campus, and I do not regret it at all. I love having so many friends to hang out with who all live in the same building! I would not have met nearly as many people if I had decided to live at home. Also, I am very thankful to be involved in a student group here called Campus Crusade (a.k.a. CRU), where I have met some of my best friends. While life and classes keep me busy, in my free time I like to go to our rec center to work out or plan fun, inexpensive activities with my friends.