Her Campus had the opportunity to sit down with Sara Bender-Bier this week. An ambitious freshman, Sara dedicates her time to her many philanthropic extracurricular activities, all which focus on helping the local community.
Name: Sara Bender-Bier
Class Standing: Freshman
Hometown: Potomac, Maryland
Prospective Major: MCDB, Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology and Biomedical Engineering, which is a 5 year program through LSA-not the engineering school. I hope to go into research rather than developing medical equipment.
Quote to live by: “Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and they coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back…play for her”—Mia Hamm.
Her Campus: What brought you to Michigan?
Sara Bender-Bier: I applied to mostly small schools, actually. Michigan was my backup in case I changed my mind, but I really thought I would end up at a small school playing D3 soccer. I got recruited at a bunch of small schools, but those schools weren’t great academic fits for me. I was choosing between Lehigh, Emory and Michigan. My twin sister actually goes to Emory. I ultimately chose Michigan because it has the most to offer in terms of extra curricular activities and academics. No small school has five different options for biology majors.
HC: What are you involved in at Michigan?
SBB: Challah for Hunger, 3 intramural sports (two soccer teams and broomball), Jewish Penicillin Hotline (so I might have brought you soup if you were feeling sick last semester.) I’m also in a sorority [Delta Phi Epsilon], I’m on the Hillel FYSH leadership committee, and I am involved in Dance Marathon.
HC: What do you do in for Challah for Hunger?
SBB: I am the Marketing Manager for Challah for Hunger, which means I advertise and try to get people to come. I run the Instagram account (@umichchallah), and I will run the Twitter when we re-launch it.
HC: What is your favorite part about Challah for Hunger?
SBB: I like a lot of things, but the people on board are really friendly, and they were just really welcoming to me. It’s a very chill activity and a good way to take a break from the hectic-ness of school. I also like the responsibilities that come with being a board member. It’s fun to braid challah and then sell it at Mason Hall. We sell it every other Thursday from 10-2, and all the profits go to Mazon and Food Gathers, two great organizations that raise awareness about hunger in the community.
HC: What’s your favorite Challah flavor?
SBB: Oh my god. Hamentashen! We put jelly into the challah. It’s so great.
HC: So you have really diverse interests. Hillel, sports and biomedical engineering! How do they all tie together?
SBB: That’s a great question. I guess it’s all related to helping people. The reason I want to do Biomedical Engineering is because I do not want to go to medical school, but I want to be helpful in the medical field. I want to make a difference by creating and testing biomedical technology. If you look at Jewish Penicillin Hotlin, which really sucked in the winter when it was negative degrees, I’m doing that because I want to help people. Same with Challah for Hunger, but that’s for my own enjoyment. It’s really relaxing for me. It’s a way I can reach out the community and make people aware about significant issues, like hunger, in our world.
HC: What are you looking forward to next year?
SBB: I can’t wait to do Dance Marathon again. I really want to be a dance captain. I had a really meaningful experience at Dance Marathon, and although I was really tired at the end, it was really inspiring to see the kids we were supporting perform and speak. I actually started bawling at one point. I’m also excited to continue being involved in Challah for Hunger, and I want to become more involved in Hillel and my sorority. I’m also excited to have my own apartment and decorate my refrigerator.
If you want to become involved in Challah For Hunger, please feel free to email Sara at sdbender@umich.edu.