For Michael (Mike) Desch, the finish line sometimes felt far away. Throughout his college career, which began in 2013, Desch struggled with his mental health, which didn’t make the college experience easy. At times he failed classes and once took a...
As a high school senior, the idea of college seemed farfetched to first generation student Diana Tapia Alvarado. Tapia Alvarado’s mom was a hard-working single parent working low-income jobs who dedicated every waking moment to paying bills and being a good mother....
Only a semester into college, Megan Otten’s talent in geoscience became strikingly obvious. “She was nearly perfect in all of her exams and quizzes,” Geoscience Associate Professor Dylan Blumentritt said. “A student doesn’t typically earn the scores she was earning...
Jose “Junior” Valtierra-Rangel’s parents immigrated from Mexico to St. Charles, Minnesota in hopes of one day giving their children the opportunity to live a better life. They succeeded. Valtierra-Rangel, who was born and raised in St. Charles, had a childhood of...
For most new college students, Move-In Day is full of excitement, exhilaration and the promise of new fulfilling adventures. For 2021 Winona State University graduate Kaylee Bayer, that was not the case. Leading up to the big day, Bayer’s excitement at...
There’s one last thing Zijie Liu needs to do before her final day at Winona State University: The only thing I want to do before I graduate is to go to the cafeteria and have one last omelet! But there were a lot of people at WSU giving Liu a hand and...
