The new year has started off pretty great for Slamstox student-athlete Fleur van der Linden. After 3 Dutch National titles for pole vault (!), she was ready for her next challenge in 2022! On January 2nd she flew to America to join the Track & field team of Eastern Michigan University (EMU).
We fully understand Fleur’s choice for EMU! At the EMU Track & field team, she can bring her athletic performance to the next level, as well as her academics. Below, you can find what she has to say about it!
These are already really good reasons to go to Eastern Michigan University. Besides that, the top notch facilities are really awesome as well. Fleur just arrived in America, so she has not had the time to discover all these amazing facilities yet. This article should help her out!
Do you wanna get to know Fleur’s university as well? Keep reading!
Campus
Eastern Michigan University is located in the southwest of the state Michigan. It is about a 45 minute drive to big city Detroit. A name that may not ring a bell immediately is Ypsilanti. This is the city where you can find the EMU campus. There are some nice off-campus spots where you can enjoy your time off. Below you can find a picture of Depot town, the centre of Ypsilanti.
You will spend the majority of your time on campus though, so we should mainly focus on that. The EMU campus has 122 buildings, who mainly consist of academic buildings, dining halls, student housing and sport facilities. As a student-athlete you are probably most interested in the last one. EMU has made an awesome video to show you their super professional football facilities, the student-athlete performance centre and the gym. Check it out!
Do you want a tour of the other facilities on campus? Click on this link for the video!
EMU is also a university of traditions. Fajita Fest is one of them! During orientation week, all student organizations and services come together at the university park on campus. This, while enjoying some… tasty Fajita’s! Another tradition is the Ford Lake Frozen Leap. To raise money for charity, the football team and coaches jump into the freezing cold lake. Luckily, American athletes are quite used to a nice ice bath!
Sports
Eastern Michigan University would not be in the University Spotlight if they do not have sports teams. The men’s compete in 6 different sports: baseball, basketball, football, cross country, golf en track & field. The women’s compete in: basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, swimming & diving, track & field, tennis & volleyball. They compete in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) in Division I.
Of course, the student-athletes have a nickname: the Eagles! This name comes from the university mascot. In the green & white university colors, he cheers on the student-athletes of EMU. Meet Swoop the Eagle!
Fleur joined the track & field team as a pole vault jumper. A great choice, because their men’s and women’s teams have won the most MAC championships of all EMU sports teams. Fleur just started, but we are convinced she will contribute to many more titles! Let’s go Fleur!
Beside the teams we mentioned already, EMU has club sports teams. Eastern Michigan University has ultimate frisbee and quidditch for example. Yeah, you heard it right, quidditch! It’s the sport they play in the Harry Potter movies. Unfortunately, the players can not fly on a broomstick.. how cool would that be! For the people who are not die hard Harry Potter fans: this video will give you an introduction of how this looks.
Academics
Eastern Michigan has more than 16.000 students. All professors put in all their effort to bring out the best in their students and this is highly appreciated by the students. 75% of all students think their teachers put in a lot of effort in their classes and students.
EMU has five main colleges:
- College of Arts and Sciences
- College of Business
- College of Education
- College of Health and Human Service
- College of Engineering & Technology
You can take more than 200 majors and minors, so you have more than enough topics to choose from! The most popular ones are Nursing, Psychology and Social Work & Youth services. Curious about all academic programs? Check out this site!
Hopefully you know a little more about Eastern Michigan University. Are you thinking: “I want to be a student-athlete in America, just like Fleur!”? Let’s meet and talk about it!
