Enrollment statistics might categorize the freshmen into a seemingly indistinguishable group, but each represents a unique story.

Adjusting from Africa

Wendy Emali is from Nairobi, Kenya, where cars drive on the left side of the road, drive-through ATMs don’t exist and life moves at a slower pace.

The finance freshman, who was raised by a single mother, said they have been putting money aside for her education throughout her entire life.

“I was fortunate that I was the only child,” Emali said. “It’s something that we knew was going to come sometime.”

She said she chose to attend school at MSU because some of her teachers were from Michigan.

“I knew almost nothing about the U.S.,” Emali said. “Everything I’ve seen and known was on TV.”

Although Kenya is a developed country, Emali said she has experienced complete culture shock in every aspect of American life, from the size of the Brody Square cafeteria to the convenience of taking the bus.

“In my country, we’re a bit chill and laid-back,” she said. “We don’t do things real quickly if it’s not convenient.”

Emali attended a mostly white Christian school, which housed kindergarten through 12th grade with about 500 students all together. Emali said her MSU math class has more people than the total number of her high school classmates.

“It’s overwhelming,” she said. “It’s too much for me sometimes.”

Compared to the lifestyle she is used to in Kenya, the whirlwind of people going in every direction is strange.

“Everyone is going to class, everyone is going to catch the bus, someone is running, someone is cycling,” Emali said. “People have their own lives, their own mindsets. It’s not that they don’t care about you — it’s just they have things to do.”

The opportunity to get an education in the U.S. is what Emali considers a “blessing,” and she feels compelled to return to Kenya after completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees. She said she wants to share her knowledge with the thousands of other women who have remained in Nairobi, for a variety of reasons, such as having children at age 16 or getting a visa request denied.

“In my culture in Africa, educating girls is not easy because the men are put first and then the women — if there’s money, they might be educated,” she said. “One female is educating pretty much the whole environment just by me going to school.”

During her first month at school, Emali said she has observed many freshmen whose open personalities naturally invite new acquaintances, but she considers herself to be more passive and has yet to make an abundance of friendships.

“If I say that I expected to make more friends, I’d be lying,” she said. “I’m just taking things slow.”

Rushing close to home

Anna Rittenhouse has spent the majority of the last couple of weeks sitting on the lawns of MSU’s greek houses, talking to endless rotations of people and, most of all, just waiting.
However, the communication freshman said the intense process was worth it after she received and accepted a bid from the Chi Omega sorority.

“I’ve met more friends in that week I was going through recruitment than the whole time I had been on campus,” Rittenhouse said.

Both of Rittenhouse’s older sisters have been Chi Omega members, but she went into recruitment with an open mind, determined to have her own experience.

“My friends always made fun of me because it’s really not their thing,” Rittenhouse said. “I kind of knew when I got here that I wanted to do (recruitment).”

Rittenhouse grew up in East Lansing and, because she has been familiar with MSU for her entire life, was nervous that college would be regrettably similar to high school.

However, she said everything from wandering campus to find her classes to going out at night has felt nothing like home.

“Campus life is completely different — not what I expected — but in a good way,” Rittenhouse said. “If I wanted to stay away from home for the rest of the year, I could.”

Although Rittenhouse said she is a hometown girl and loved her high school friends, she only has spent one night at home so far.

“I did get lost on the way to my classes,” she said. “It doesn’t feel at all like home, which is great.”

One thing Rittenhouse was not expecting about college is the unstructured class schedule. Her first reaction to classes was she must be doing something wrong, since the homework assignments seemed too easy.

Now that the fifth week of school has gone by, the reality of classes is beginning to register.

“I have three exams this week and a five-page paper,” she said. “(Classes will) get hard, but it’s just a lot of reading (and) a lot of studying. It’s a different kind of challenge than high school.”

Marching as a Spartan

For Evan Wegener, academics at college have felt similar to high school, with the exception of his biggest time commitment: the Spartan Marching Band.

The chemical engineering and economics freshman, who plays the trombone, was planning to attend Michigan Technological University up until the fall of his senior year.

Originally from Haslett, Mich., Wegener said his family always has had MSU season football tickets. Last fall, something clicked as he observed the talent and ability of the band, then realized he wanted to be a part of it.

The 15 freshmen players make up the majority of the 35-student trombone section and were able to move into the dorms a week early for preseason marching band practice, Wegener said.

“I hang out with the trombone players a lot,” Wegener said. “That’s where I made my friends.”

However, he said he spends very little time in his dorm room in South Neighborhood since the band practices for varying hours at a time during every afternoon until evening.
“I wake up, then I go to class, come back and eat lunch and do some homework and go to band,” he said. “I’m not (at home) a whole lot.”

Wegener said he was not expecting it to be so difficult to wake up for his 8 a.m. classes on Wednesdays and Fridays, but the actual coursework has been manageable.

“It’s like high school classes — I sit through, I listen and take notes, and sometimes do homework,” he said.

College life has given Wegener far more freedom than high school, but he said he has found his passion in the marching band.

“The week goes by fast,” he said. “Maybe because I just want game day to get here, so we can march.”