People of Central: Ryliegh Vander Berg and Madalynn Pearsall

Story by: Beth Nocerini

Welcoming, community and family are words that freshmen’s Ryliegh Vander Berg and Madalynn Pearsall use to describe CMUs campus. “Very outgoing people and very welcoming people that I wasn’t really expecting,” Vander Berg said.  

Pearsall and Vander Berg are suitemates who live in the dorms and had met through Instagram. When asked how the two of them and their suitemates are getting along, Pearsall said, “We all have different personalities, and they click so good.”  

“It honestly went so good,” said Vander Berg when talking about move in. Pearsall followed this quickly with, “Besides me and my dad had to carry this really big couch up the stairs, that was terrible.”  

Each of the girls forgot something in their own capacity. Vander Berg forgot storage, “I had a bunch of stuff but nowhere to put it,” she said.  

Pearsall then listed off with a grin, “oh yeah, I forgot pillows, I forgot towels, I forgot a backpack, notebooks” and “I should’ve brought more toilet paper,” she said. With a couple amazon packages on the way, Pearsall is not worried about the things she forgot.

It is now two weeks into the semester, and Vander Berg and Pearsall have no complaints about their schedules or classes. “I love my schedule,” said Pearsall.

Vander Berg is majoring in child development with the hope of being able to go into social work in the future. “I had a lot of health issues growing up and want to be able to help kids,” said Vander Berg.

First earning her undergrad degree and then planning to continue in dentistry, Pearsall is studying to become a dental hygienist. “It’s always something I’ve been interested in since I’ve been tiny,” said Pearsall.  

Vander Berg talked about a professor who struggled the first day of class, “A bunch of kids got up and left in the middle of class, that made me feel really bad.” Vander Berg refused to leave, unlike her classmates, and is enjoying the class and the professor.  

One class that makes Vander Berg a little nervous is her meaning of life class, she said, “it’s definietly going to make me step out of my comfort zone.”  

“I was really nervous about, since in movies or whatever professors are so mean and you don’t get to ask questions, but they’ve all been great,” said Pearsall.

Something both Vander Berg and Pearsall are nervous about is taking their first college exams and not knowing what to expect. Both are also not excited for winter and walking to class in the cold.  

On the contrary, they are both excited for autumn while on campus. “It’s already so pretty, I’m just so excited for all the trees being red, orange, and yellow,” said Pearsall.  

Neither Vander Berg nor Pearsall have felt homesick the past two weeks. Vander Berg described a weird feeling and a rush of emotions after the initial excitement of moving to college. Vander Berg said, “this is my home now, this is where I’m actually staying.”