October 6, 2020Campus, Community, Lifestyle, Student Lifestyle, Students CMU Is Fired Up For Hispanic Heritage Month More
April 28, 2020Academics, Campus, CMU Alumni, College Life, College Living, Student Lifestyle, Students To The 2020 Seniors
April 20, 2020College Living, Student Lifestyle, Students What The Editorial Staff Is Doing In Quarantine
January 11, 2021Men's Style, Student Styles, Style, Style & Beauty, Trend and Beauty, Uncategorized, Women's Style Winter Fashion Trends More
November 25, 2020Campus Fashion, Men's Style, Student Styles, Style, Style & Beauty, Women's Style Zoom Thanksgiving Outfits
November 25, 2020Campus Fashion, Men's Style, Style, Style & Beauty, Women's Style CMU Bookstore Holiday Gift Guide
October 19, 2020Student Styles, Style, Style & Beauty, Trend and Beauty Halloween Costumes: Pet Edition
September 9, 2020Arts & Entertainment, Arts & Entertainment Art Reach is keeping creativity alive through COVID-19 More
January 26, 2021People of Central CMU Softball Player Opens Up About COVID-19, Coping With Uncertainty
November 9, 2018Archives, Arts & Entertainment, Community, Food & Beverage, Seasonal Issues, Style, Style & Beauty Check out the Spring Issue 2018
April 19, 2011 Students 300 Words, One Life: Dance, Dance, Revelation It started as a simple game her older brother played at the local arcade. No one expected her to become an expert at it. She would watch him play the game and yearn to be as good he was. His passion for it soon became hers. His skill level became the envy of his family and friends. On what seemed to be a usual Christmas morning, Jessi VanToll opened a present that would become a major part of her life for the next few years, the PlayStation game Dance Dance Revolution. She and her brother would spend hours in their basement playing the game often to the dismay of their parents. “We just kind of went wild with it. We’d go for like three or four hours at a time,” VanToll said. Hours turned into days, and days turned into months, all the while her skills became increasingly better and soon she was able to keep pace with her brother. The thought of competing never crossed her mind. “I never thought I was good enough until one day a friend suggested entering a competition,” VanToll said. She nervously decided to enter her first competition where she became hooked, and found she wanted to compete again and again. Soon, VanToll became the top female dancer in Michigan, followed by a top three ranking in the Midwest. She would spend hours in front of people dancing at arcades in malls all over Michigan and the Midwest. The biggest moment for her was placing tenth in a national competition in Texas. Jessi VanToll defied the odds as an eighth grader competing in Dance Dance Revolution. No one expected her to competitively participate in tournaments. No one expected she would win money. No one expected she would become the top female player in Michigan. And certainly no one expected her to be the tenth best dancer in the nation. But she was.