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:Â 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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HC: What’s your favorite Challah flavor?
SBB: Oh my god. Hamentashen! We put jelly into the challah. It’s so great.
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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.
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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.
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If you want to become involved in Challah For Hunger, please feel free to email Sara at sdbender@umich.edu.Â