If you are a junior or senior in high school in or around Minnesota and you’re starting to look at colleges or are making your final decision on where you’re attending, listen to me. I hail from three-point-five hours away in Wisconsin, and I had never heard of Winona until my dad mentioned it. Because it was my dad wanting me to attend here, I was stubborn and originally had refused to come tour this campus. However, after having my heart set on a different school, I was like, “Sure I’ll go, I want to be sure I’m making the right choice.” I toured Winona State on a gloomy, rainy day the May before my senior year of high school. Well let me tell you: after being here for an hour, I was impressed. Another hour passed and I knew I’d have a hard choice to make. But at the end of the tour I looked at my dad and he saw from the look on my face that I had been sold to Winona State University.
There were many reasons why I chose Winona over my second-choice school, one of the biggest reasons being how beautiful campus and the City of Winona are. Not only was Winona named the most beautiful city in Minnesota, but WSU has been on lists of most beautiful college campuses in the country. Winona is nestled in the Mississippi River Valley and is deemed the Island City. Rising on the other side of Highway 61 are the bluffs, and across the river in Wisconsin are more bluffs. I love when it rains and steam rises off of them because it looks like you could be next to a rainforest. The buildings on campus are all so different, from ivy-covered Somsen and Phelps, to modern-looking Daryl Krueger Library and Science Lab Center. I fell in love with the Gazebo, the campus atmosphere, and the many amenities of WSU. The Technology Program drew me in; as petty as it is, I was excited to get a Macbook. While there are extra Tech Support fees, it’s completely worth it. I’ve had a few minor issues with my laptop and I don’t have to pay anything to go into Tech Support to get the bugs fixed. The students workers there take care of it all.
I knew I wanted to live in on-campus housing my freshman year (and I believe all freshmen should); when I toured the residence halls here I really liked them. They were nicer than the halls at other campuses I toured, and I fell in love with the community they created. I lived in the Quad my freshman year, and I had so much fun. I became best friends with my roommate and the two girls directly across the hall, and we are still best friends now. So incoming freshmen, do not dread living on-campus because I promise if you become friends with the people you live with, it will be some of the most fun you’ll have.
Winona has many different academic departments, all with many great opportunities to take advantage of. There are so many clubs to choose from ranging from academic to fun ones like Her Campus, and joining a club is one of the best ways to get involved. I am now almost done with my junior year at Winona, and I often think about how happy I am that I decided to tour last minute and how different my life would be if I had chosen another school. While this is just my personal story, I hope that if you choose Winona State, you will have just as great of an experience as I’ve had.
Follow Winona State on all of their social media accounts at @WinonaStateU.
Photo credit