My Manchester Story

Sandra Granda, Senior Accounting Major from Warsaw, Indiana

“What brought you to Manchester?”
“I wasn’t going to come here in the beginning. I came with my high school first and visited and didn’t like it. I thought it was too small. In the process of actually applying for schools, I decided ‘why not just go ahead and apply?’ My story’s a bit more different than most people, because I wasn’t eligible for FAFSA at the time, so I had to find either a place with low cost or a place with high aid. Manchester offered me their financial aid package and I thought it was a pretty good deal, and I came back again. One of the tour guides, Sara, I talked to her one-to-one on the day that I came to visit and she was just very pleasant, so Sara and I basically became friends on that day. She just recently graduated, so since then she’s been my role model. I’ve been looking up to how she’s been doing, and she also graduated with accountancy. It was eye-opening, and I haven’t regretted my decision so far. I love it here.”

“Why did you decide to study accounting?”
“I actually hated math when I was in elementary school. I hated numbers. Then, thanks to two of my fifth and sixth grade teachers, they pushed me and told me I could do it. I remember just crying, I hated it. I couldn’t do my homework, it was awful. Then something just clicked. When I went to middle school, I took algebra one and my teacher there just knew I had a bright future—that’s what she told me. She challenged me more and more, and from then on I started taking honors courses in math. By the time I got to high school I met a business teacher, and she taught ‘Intro to Accounting’ and I took it my junior year. I loved it. It wasn’t just math; it was application, it was numbers, it was analyzing, and I liked it. There’s no wrong answer. You have to come up with an actual thing, it’s so structured. Since then I’ve just said ‘accountancy’ and I’ve been sticking with it. I don’t think I’m going to change my major any time soon.”

“What has been your favorite class you’ve taken so far?”
“It’s not that it’s my favorite, but I just feel so proud of being able to make it through ‘Intermediate Accounting,’ just knowing how difficult it was. My biggest fear of being an accountant was having to make it to college and take ‘Intermediate Accounting.’ But just knowing I made it through already is great.”

“Outside of school, what are your hobbies and interests?”
“Actually, this year I’ve been freer than I have in the first two years. My freshman and sophomore years I was working two part-time jobs while coming to school, so that was rough. This year I’ve just been working at Teachers’ Credit Union, just a part-time job there, so it allows a lot more free time. When I can, I love spending time with my family. Besides that, my biggest hobby is soccer. I love playing soccer whenever I have a chance. I like to go out with my brothers and friends.”

“What is something that most people don’t know about you?”
“It’s big right now, I know it can be politically a huge topic, but I was an undocumented immigrant. A lot of people don’t know that, but I usually don’t let it bring me down. As of May this year, I became a permanent resident, so it’s great. Another thing that’s not political –I don’t know how to swim. I just recently learned how to tread water, but it still freaks me out. I think I’m going to sink to the bottom of the pool. The only thing I can do is float and swim backwards.”

“What has been your favorite memory so far at Manchester?”
“My best memories were when DaiJah Asumang and Sara Cruz were still here and we got to take trips with the Intercultural Center, the OMA office. We went laser tagging once –those kinds of trips were the best. One of my friends that used to be here, too, Rod, it was the best time when the four of us got to hang out and we got to go do crazy things. The Intercultural Center is amazing here. The opportunities that they provided us at the time were amazing.”

“Do you have any advice for students?”
“I would say never give up. If you have the desire to come to college don’t let anything stop you from coming. Financial aid is just numbers. Just choose a good career and it’ll take care of itself. I will say, too, if there’s any undocumented students out there who think there’s no way, talk to someone. You’ll find a way. It’s there.”