Senior Brooke Manz who has a passion for studying, understanding, and expanding her knowledge on the human mind, will attend West Chester University to major in psychology.

Manz chose West Chester for its psychology program, but also was attracted to the student community and area around the campus. She was able to explore the campus with her mom, and a friend who attends the college, allowing her to see some of the hidden gems on campus.

“West Chester appealed to me because of the community the students have, and the beautiful campus is close to home and has a cute college town. I had the chance to see this cute salad place while I was visiting…it had the best salad ever,”Manz said.

Growing up, Manz’s mother was one of her biggest influences into pursing psychology because she too studied psychology in college. Often, Manz’s mom would point out different mannerisms or tendencies she had and then explain how a psychologist would interpret it. This intrigued Manz and is the main reason why she this field of study.

“I love to learn about how the mind works and cannot wait to see what I learn in the future at college,” Manz said.

In order to expand her knowledge of the brain, how it functions, and how the body reacts, Manz took AP Psychology, Biology, Sociology, and Human Anatomy.

“All these classes helped expand my knowledge of the human brain, emotions, and functions, that will be vital in the field I am going into,” Manz said.

Often, Manz used the skills she learned from her mother and classes to help her friends out when they were struggling.

“Sometimes I didn’t even realize I was ‘off’ until Brooke pointed it out. She always had a funny way of knowing something was wrong with me before I did,” friend Madison Toth said.

Manz created a safe place for anyone to come and talk to her. This gave her a glimpse into some of the circumstances she will have to deal with in her future profession.

To acquire interpersonal skills, which Manz will need to have in her future profession, she participated in Student Government. This club worked heavily with other students and used communication in order to complete tasks.

“Brooke was definitely the person you didn’t know you needed there until you did. With the stress of hanging lights in the hallways and changing out the seasonal decorations, Brooke never failed to lighten the stressful mood with her jokes,” SGA President Liliana Priestaf said.

Throughout the process of planning for her future, Manz heavily relied upon her friend group and parents to overcome the obstacles that appeared in her way.

“Since freshman year, I have always known what I wanted to do when it came to college and felt so prepared. When it came time to apply and choose, though, I had no idea what I wanted to do. The college process was so stressful and difficult…” Manz said.

Once Manz finished applying for college a lot of the stress she had been carrying around was relieved and she was able to have more of a positive perspective on what college held for her.

“After I submitted my application to West Chester, I just felt this huge weight lift off of me. It was nice to feel somewhat normal again,” Manz said.

Manz is now confident and ready to tackle the future and live up to her aspirations.

“In 10 years, I hope to be a clinical psychologist making loads of money because I want to be rich. I also do want kids and a husband and the whole fam, but I don’t NEED them because I am independent,” Manz said.