College students seem to be a breed of their own, living and breathing the life of the university. Fighting day in and day out to pay bills, keep up grades and still manage a social life, college-goers nationwide stand out in their own category.

This is what unites us.

Yet what is it about the students at Millikin University that set us apart from those at other institutions?

First of all, the school itself tends to cater towards a different type of people. We’re a Fine Arts institution and thus most of the students tend to be some sort of Fine Arts major. Thus, we’re a rowdy, outgoing, extroverted bunch. We overwhelm people at times by busting into song or getting overly excited at the mention of Doctor Who, super heroes, any musical or any Disney character.

Or we throw people off with our silence, since most people here are not quiet. But this also makes us ridiculously friendly and easy-going, while typically still understanding of others needing solitude. At times, our extroversion can be quite overbearing, but friendly.

This friendliness also leads to a massive amount of school spirit. Whether we consistently win games or meets is irrelevant; we will be there to support the teams even if there is no chance of prevailing. As we saw with the recent attacks on Fox News for their video about Dr. St. James, threaten the validity of our school or its students and we will fight back. The spirit and pride the students of Millikin have for our alma mater is astounding.

This is, in part, also due to the type of institution as well. We may be a liberal arts college, but we’re more often taught to be free-thinkers who just happen to live in a progressively global environment. This has taught us to question everything and has allowed us to be far more open-minded, reasonable and thoughtful than we otherwise may have been.

Furthermore, our style of dress seems, well, unique. We have such a wide range, but not many variations. Boots, leggings, sweaters and scarves. Sneakers, jeans and baja hoodies. Heels, dresses and cardigans. Flats, skinny jeans and band/greek life tees/tanks. Tennis shoes, shorts and hoodies. This alone can set us up to stand apart from the rest.

Millikin University: a land of (sometimes overly) spirited, open-minded, uniquely-dressing students. And I’m perfectly okay with this.