When someone from my home state of Minnesota asks me where I currently attend college, I respond with “University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.” Most of the time, I receive a smile, but once in a while, I receive a somewhat concerned comment such as, “why on earth would you choose to go to school in Milwaukee? Isn’t that a super dangerous city?” or “so, why did you choose UW-Milwaukee, I’ve never even heard of that school before.” You see, not many people from outside of the state of Wisconsin have heard of my college before. Out of my graduating high school class of 635 students, I was 1 out of 2 students who chose to attend UW-Milwaukee directly after high school. Most of my high school classmates interested in Wisconsin schools chose UW-Madison or Marquette, the big and well-known universities of the state. When someone from UW-Milwaukee asks why I chose this school, half of the time, they add in “why would you want to come to Wisconsin?” I laugh because believe it or not, Minnesota and Wisconsin are more similar then you think. They’re not that different! Brutal winters, Scandanavian roots, every season of weather in one week, almost everything is similar except football. That’s very different. Yet, when I receive the question of ‘”why Wisconsin?” from a college whose student body consists of roughly 80% Wisconsin residents, they always want to know why exactly I chose to come to their farm-filled, cheese-loving, beer-drinking state and didn’t choose to go anywhere else.
So why did I choose UW-Milwaukee? Why did I choose the city of Milwaukee? Was it because of the Minnesota-Wisconsin reciprocity? Was it because of the distance from home? Was it because of the small city size? Was it because UWM is a small campus with a big campus feel? Was it because of the beautiful scenery of Lake Michigan? Was it because of the hundreds of festivals, restaurants, bars, and things to do around the city year-round? Yes, it was all of the above. When someone asks me why I chose UW-Milwaukee, I smile and say it’s because I was ready for a brand new chapter. Don’t get me wrong, I love my home state of Minnesota and miss it dearly, but when I graduated from high school 3 years ago, I wanted to run as far as I possibly could to start my own adventure. I chose Milwaukee because no one in my family had ever lived there before. None of my friends had ever been there before. No one in my life knew anything about the city. I wanted to start my own story.
Today, I am so thankful I chose the city of Milwaukee and UW-Milwaukee as a setting for my college experience. From working at Colectivo Coffee, a Milwaukee favorite to many, to spending warm, sunny days at Bradford beach, to even those long treacherous walks across campus through the many strong wind tunnels, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Milwaukee has become my city. Whenever I go home, I have endless stories, restaurant recommendations and information for anyone who wants to visit. It makes me sad to realize next year could be my last year in Milwaukee as graduation begins to be on my horizon. Who knows, as my love for Milwaukee keeps growing, I may just have to stay a little bit longer.