MU | F e a t u r e s
W
hen Jim Sainsbury ’17 was
considering where to attend college,
he knew he wanted a place that was
comfortable and friendly where he could
get a great education, too.
He didn’t need to look far.
Vivien Carter ’16 enjoys
riding her bicycle through
North Manchester for
the beautiful trees and
Victorian-era homes.
This past summer, Vivien
also rode her bike to an
internship at the North
Manchester Chamber of
Commerce.
Photo by Michele Marie
Photography
14 |
The North Manchester native enrolled at Manchester
University to study exercise science and fitness because it
had everything he wanted, and then some. “It’s laid back,”
Jim says of the community where he grew up. “There are
not a lot of uptight people here.”
Emily Haecker ’18, Jim’s friend from their Manchester
High School days, agrees. MU is a good fit for her, too,
because the culture of community in her hometown is
also reflected on campus. “I like the sense that you know
you’re going to see people you’ll say ‘hi’ to each day,” says
Emily, an elementary education major.
Though North Manchester doesn’t have a mall or movie
theater, the MU students say that entertainment comes
easily for people with a little imagination. “You can create
your own fun,” says Jim, “and when you do that it makes
you grow more as a person.” When students do need to
go elsewhere, North Manchester is an easy drive to larger
towns such as Warsaw, Huntington and Wabash, and to
Fort Wayne, Indiana’s second-largest city.
Pickup football and soccer games with friends take on a
whole new dimension when played in fresh snow, says Jim.
On Saturdays year-round, Emily and her sister often head
to the Strauss-Peabody Aquatic and Fitness Center. The
modern facility offers townspeople and University students
alike the affordable use of two indoor swimming pools, an
indoor water slide, whirlpool, steam room, sauna and fully
equipped fitness center.
All that activity can work up an appetite. MU students
report the town’s “mom and pop” businesses serve up
stellar renditions of the culinary fare popular with college
students everywhere – pizza, burgers, burritos and tacos,
smoothies, candy, cookies and a range of coffee-infused
beverages that would do Starbucks proud.