College is exhausting, emotionally draining, and to put it simply, hard. But having roommates you can spend the day with just chilling and watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians to taking day trips to Rochester or Lax for good coffee and shopping, it keeps you sane. We’ve all had our fair share of tear-soaked nights to hysterical laughter to all day chilling. College is hard, but good roomies make it okay.
Tayler Stegath was my freshman year roommate—yes, somehow we survived our freshman year shoebox dorm and are still friends and living together again!
I also met Alyssa Younker freshman year and even after seeing mine and Tayler’s freshman year dorm, she still wanted to live with us this year!
I did speed interviews with both Tayler and Alyssa and compiled them here.
KB: Why did you choose WSU?
Tayler Stegath (TS): I chose Winona State because it was important to me when looking for a school to further my education to find a place I would feel comfortable at. I knew that WSU had the class sizes I was looking for and professors who worked with their students to make sure they succeed. It was the perfect size school, and I loved how pretty the campus looked in the fall.
KB: Why did you choose WSU?
Alyssa Younker (AY): I chose WSU because it is so beautiful in the fall with all the bluffs and leaves changing! I also am the youngest of my 4 siblings, and this was the only school from my options that none of them had gone to. I also chose WSU because of its education program because becoming a teacher has been a dream of mine since I can remember.
KB: What is your major?
TS: I am a Legal Studies major with a minor in Psychology.
KB: What grade do you want to teach?
AY: I would love to teach first grade because they are still so innocent and love to learn at that age because school is so new to them. I would love to be one of their first teachers to make a great impact on them from a young age.
Kellen: What do you want to do with your major once you graduate?
TS: After I graduate, I plan to further my education by going to Law School.
KB: Why do you want to be a teacher?
AY: I want to be a teacher for the obvious reason that I want to teach the next generation to be the best that they can be. But a more personal reason is that I want to create a safe and welcoming space for students who may not have a safe or welcoming home life. I want to be a supportive and welcoming face for students so they feel free to come to me in need without having to express it.
KB: What’s your favorite part about your major?
TS: My favorite part of my major are the classes I take and my professors. All of my professors work very hard to make sure I am getting real-world experience of what my future will look like when it comes to the assignments and projects I work on. Everything is very interactive, and I am rarely just reading out of a textbook.
KB: What is the biggest thing aside from the regular curriculum that you want to teach your students?
AY: Aside from regular curriculum, I would love to teach my students critical social skills, such as being respectful and kind toward others regardless of their differences. We should all embrace our differences and use them to learn and expand ourselves.
KB: What is your favorite part about WSU?
TS: My favorite part of WSU is the size of the campus and the professors I’ve had. It makes a large difference knowing that it is important to my professors that I succeed and that they help me to do that.
KB: Who was your biggest inspiration to become a teacher?
AY: My biggest inspiration to become a teacher was my second-grade teacher. She was more of a friend and support to all her students, and I have never forgotten some of the things that we did in that class. She was the first teacher that I could connect with more than on a teacher-student level, and I will never forget her or what she taught me.
KB: What is your favorite thing to do outside of school?
TS: My favorite thing to do outside of school is to spend time with friends and family. I spend a lot of time watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians with my roommates and watching Packer games with my family.
KB: What are some fun facts about you?
AY: I love mashed potatoes! I am a Sagittarius. My favorite music genre is country and throwbacks. My favorite thing to do on a rainy day is take a bath and paint. My favorite place to be is on a boat with my friends on a beautiful day.
The best of luck to soon-to-be Ms. Younker as she student teaches this spring and will soon be shaping the minds of her very own students. (Sorry Tayler–you’re still stuck with me for another year.)
Love you guys, thanks for being the best roomies ever!
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