Story by Jackie Perrin, Guest Writer
After my graduation from Climax-Scotts High School in 2022, I attended my first year of college at Saginaw Valley State University – SVSU. As seen in the photo to the right, I was pictured in some of SVSU’s media during this first year of college. After this first year Saginaw Valley State University, 2022 though, I decided to transfer to a college closer to my family. While SVSU was a wonderful experience, I was eager to be apart of something new and more close-knit.
When I began visiting different universities near my hometown, Aquinas College really stood out to me. From the vines across the academic building to the numbered, beautiful trees covering the campus, Aquinas was unlike any other campus I had visited. More importantly though, the people at Aquinas were easily accessible, friendly, and exceptionally caring. The students, professors, and everyone in between have been the warmest people during my welcoming into Aquinas. With no intention of comparing universities, I have simply enjoyed my experience at Aquinas College more than at SVSU. However, the colleges differ in many ways. From the meal selections to the available courses, SVSU has a broader list of options while Aquinas is more curated and hand-picked for the students. In my experience, I also found the religious teachings at Aquinas to be beneficial in the kindness of the students my peers. While each individual has different preferences to teachings and religion, I appreciated the way Aquinas didn’t force beliefs on students, but rather opened their minds to the ideas of belief. The conversations had in and out of classes were open-minded and never resulted in arguments. While arguments are natural in human nature, I felt easily understood in Aquinas’s environment, as did many of my classmates.
During my first semester at Aquinas, I had a class with two young men from the U.K. I major in Foreign Language but had never met someone from the U.K. in my college experience, a sophomore now. Though this may seem common, I found it admirable that the college looked for students further than just the U.S.
In the following weeks, I found myself taking photos of the campus, the wildlife, and the plantlife I hadn’t seen before. I truly believe that Aquinas College opened my eyes to new paths, academically and religiously. I also found an interest in flowers, mushrooms, and the history of the college seen all across campus.
I plan to complete my college education at Aquinas College because I continue to learn about nature, religion, academics, and myself every day I attend class at this college. Though I am still fairly new to the campus, I never felt out of place.
For more information on Aquinas College, you can visit https://www.aquinas.edu/index.html
The Saint 