Rebecca Ullom-Minnich, Junior Bio-Chem and Spanish Major from Moundridge, Kansas

“What did you decide to come to Manchester?”
“I’m Church of the Brethren, so I had been presented to about it many times growing up. I knew I wanted to go out of state somewhere, so I started looking at different colleges out here, and I decided to come visit and I really liked the science program that they had, and I talked to some of the professors, and I kind of got a little bit of the feel for the community.”

“Why did you decide to major in bio-chem and Spanish?”
“Well I’ve always wanted to be a veterinarian; I knew that since kindergarten. In high school I had a really good Spanish teacher who was really passionate about it, and she got me interested in how Spanish language affects the culture of a people and how the language influences the way people think. So I started really getting interested in Spanish and I learned more about it and then we had an exchange student from Ecuador come and live with us for a year. That kind of pushed me over the edge and I figured, I want to study abroad while I’m in college, and if I study abroad I can do it in Ecuador or Spain or somewhere and that gets me a Spanish major pretty easily. I’m working on my application to study abroad in Ecuador right now, hopefully next spring and fall.”

“Do you know what you want to do after graduation?”
“I’m still thinking veterinarian, I’m kind of starting to focus on wildlife rehabilitation, so I’ve been in contact with a couple rehab centers, trying to figure out if I could maybe go get some experience there. That’s still my plan.”

“What’s been your favorite class at Manchester so far?”
“My Jan Term this year, because we went to France with my social psychology class and that was really cool, just kind of immersing ourselves in the culture, learning a little bit of a new language, and kind of how social psychology influences people all around the world in different cultures. My favorite memory from that trip would be in the evenings we’d all go out to dinner together most of the time, and kind of the sense of community that we developed was really cool, all the laughing and bonding that happened.”

“Are there any classes you’re looking forward to taking?”
“I’m really looking forward to being able to take classes outside my major when I’m abroad, I was really into art in high school and I haven’t had time to take art classes while I’ve been getting my bio-chem requirements done before I go to Ecuador. I’m kind of looking forward to taking art classes or something like that.”

“What are you involved in on campus?”
“I play trombone in the Symphonic Band and Jazz Band. I did some volunteering with 85 Hope, which is a low cost clinic for uninsured people and we did some educational presentations on diabetes and how to cope with that. I am captain of the Frisbee Club, and some other random clubs. I got really involved with Frisbee my freshman year. It kind of depends who shows up, on nice days we’ll have maybe teams of 7 or more playing, but when it gets cold and it’s snowy, we might have teams of 3 or something. We just hang out, we might do practice drills or something, if we have people interested in that. We go to tournaments sometimes, so usually there will be 3 or 4 tournaments per semester, and we’ll take whoever wants to go. We’ll put our own team out there or combine with other Universities. Grace is one that we play with a lot and they’re a really cool group of people. It’s just a really fun way to interact with different people. It’s a special type of people that play Frisbee, they’re very quirky and I enjoy that.”

“What’s your favorite memory from your time at Manchester?”
“I remember a time freshman year, me and a bunch of friends decided to go play sardines in the Science Center at 1 am. We all just went over there and had a meeting place, set some boundaries and we all just dispersed and we played for probably 4 hours. Hiding in little cabinets, and hiding in the elevator and taking it down to the basement. It was a good time.”

“What’s something most people don’t know about you?”
“I have two adopted sisters from Ethiopia, and we’ve gone to Ethiopia a couple times to visit with the family members they have left, like aunts and uncles and such. Experiencing the huge difference in lifestyles between the United States and Ethiopia has kind of impacted the way that I see what I have here. So, I guess that’s been a big mold into how I see the world.”