Patrick Myers of Lake Linden felt like he was missing out on the fulfilling college experience his friends were having at Northern Michigan University. After high school graduation, they enrolled at NMU and started telling him about the amazing campus environment and the incredible opportunities it offered. Myers was going to college elsewhere, but decided to transfer so he could also be part of Northern.
“Transferring to NMU was one of the best decisions I have ever made,” said Myers. “I can confidently say this place has made me who I am. The culture of NMU and the Upper Peninsula, as a whole, has influenced me into becoming a leader within the campus community. In my time here, I am extremely grateful to say NMU has provided me with all the opportunities necessary to grow as a student, leader and human being. There is nowhere on earth I would have rather been for the last four years.”
Myers fell in love with the campus and Marquette for their strong sense of community. He noted Northern's friendliness and wanted to be part of it. As he spent more time exploring NMU, he didn't want to go anywhere else, and it felt like home.
What also drew in Myers was NMU's mobile and web app development program in the School of Art and Design. He said that the classes greatly emphasized teamwork and working with peers, which helped him gain real-world experience as a student developer. He was interested in developing a strong theoretical computer science base, but he also wanted to take classes that offered hands-on coding experience.
A “truly unique” experience Myers had in NMU's computer science program was being in a team called “Four Super Dire Computers.” The team worked together a few times a week to work on their semester-long software project. They had the chance to demonstrate their project to the class and professor at the end of the semester. The experience was beneficial since it's similar to the type of work Myers would like to pursue after graduating.
Myers recently interviewed NMU President Brock Tessman for Third Degree, an NMU show where the interviewer and interviewee eat spicy cheese curds while answering questions. He's also the resident adviser of Atlantis House in Birch Hall, part of The Woods complex. He has contributed new traditions for future students who enter the hall.
“As a house, we have been able to contribute to the campus community that NMU is so famous for, and doing so has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my college career,” Myers said. “NMU is an incredible place, and it has allowed me to have the most rewarding and unique college experiences I could have ever imagined.
“I think ‘being Northern' is all about embracing the outdoors. Living in Marquette and being so close to nature affords students with a lifestyle of spontaneous adventures. Only at Northern could I watch a sunrise at the beach, hike up a mountain and go get coffee, all before my classes have even started for the day. It's an incredible experience that I truly believe students can only find at NMU.”
Read his full NMU blog here.
