While cruising down the highway, it’s
likely at some point you’ll pass a billboard with a sunset or waterfall plastered across it, sporting an NMU logo
and some catchy line about learning
outdoors. To those who aren’t Northern
students, it may seem like the marketing department is trying to commercialize Marquette’s natural beauty.

Fair enough.

However, what only Northern students understand is that these billboards can’t begin to capture the
beauty of life in Marquette. Not just the
beauty of sunsets and waterfalls, but of
the immersive experience that this city
allows students to capture.

It’s stamping and jeering at Michigan
Tech at hockey games, swaying in a
hammock along the beach on a sunny
afternoon and carving through the snow
with your board at Marquette Mountain.

It’s being suddenly thrust into a community that loves and appreciates the
natural treasures Earth has offered us,
and feeling that appreciation develop
in yourself, cultivated by other people
who just want to see that love spread.

What it means to be a Northern student can’t be printed in an ad, or sold to
high schoolers as a marketing ploy. It’s

a deep, enriching experience that surprisingly finds its way to even the most

reluctant newcomers.

Fortunately, the university has found
numerous ways to take advantage of
Marquette’s unique environment and

incorporate it into the classroom. Geology classes aren’t spent simply staring

at pages in a textbook, but traversing
the rocky cliffs along the shoreline and

learning about how science has created the very place we live. Biology is

no longer mind-numbingly memorizing
the parts of a cell, but seeking out rare
wildlife in the lush forests of the Upper
Peninsula.

It’s no surprise that the university

has expanded its effort to create one-
of-a-kind educational opportunities

for eager newcomers, whether that be
studying medicinal plant chemistry or
learning at Northern’s new body farm.
Consequently, enrollment continues to
increase as new faces appear in the
new dorms.

To Northern’s marketing team, we

say keep advertising Marquette’s beauty. We don’t mind. Our experiences are

invaluable, but we don’t mind sharing.