While WSU students are a big part of Winona, we’re not the only ones who live in this town.
Sometimes it seems like Winona State is its own mini-city. We’re all part of WSU in some way, whether we just go to class, visit the gym regularly or are super involved in campus organizations. It’s quite the little community we’ve got growing between Mark and Wabasha streets. But as busy students, we often forget that we’re also part of a larger community—the Winona community. And guess what? That community is pretty frickin’ cool.
Even though most of us are here for a few years at most while we finish our degrees, I think it’s important to make Winona your home away from home. Here are few ways you can start getting more involved in the Winona community outside of WSU.
When you need to study, give your boyfriend (a.k.a. the Darrell Krueger Library) a little space for a bit. Don’t worry, he’ll understand. Hey, maybe the space will even strengthen your relationship.
There are plenty of other places to study that are both college-student friendly and involve members of the community outside of Winona State. The Acoustic Café, the Blue Heron and Blooming Grounds are all great places to study. If you’re the type that needs somewhere really quiet to study, you can always use the Winona Public Library. Plus the public library is actually a beautiful, historic building, so if you haven’t been there I recommend you check it out.
Another way to be more involved in the Winona community is to volunteer. I volunteer at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum once a month and the last time I was there, one of the docents (that is, people who give tours of the art) remarked to me that it was so nice to see a younger face volunteering at the museum. To me, this says that Winona residents are excited about students from WSU being more involved in the community. Especially since campus is smack dab in the middle of town, I think we should really work to foster a stronger relationship between the students and the Winona community.
You could also search for jobs outside of campus. I have two jobs, one on-campus and one off-campus. I am the editor of the Wellzine with a shared office in the IWC, and I also write for the Winona Post. While jobs on campus are really convenient and flexible, I’ve met a lot of cool people of the Winona community through my job with the Winona Post. For instance, I was at the last Live at the Levee music night and saw one of the artists I’d interviewed this summer. He remembered me and we ended up having a nice conversation about his art.
Just because most of us are in Winona temporarily for school doesn’t mean that we can’t make it as much of a home as the towns we grew up in. By getting outside of our little campus community, we have greater opportunities to meet new people and make connections. Even if it’s just someone you share a passing wave with, becoming more connected in this beautiful community we live in is really fulfilling.
