Comforts of Home
“My first thoughts were honestly home. It felt so comfortable to me being here.”
– Yuan Bank ’22
Hometown: Littleton, Colorado
Majors: Elementary Education (endorsements in K-8 English/Language Arts)
Scholarships: Presidential, Trustee and Community Service Award
Campus Activities: Track and Field, Dutch Brigade and Student Ambassador
Career: Teacher, Anchorage School District, Anchorage, Alaska
Yuan Bank ’22 expected the reactions from her friends from home when she decided to attend college in the middle of Iowa.
“That is the strangest place you could have picked,” she remembers them saying. “There’s only corn.”
Bank found so much more at Central College.
In leaving her home of Littleton, Colorado, Bank found a home on the track and field team. She found a home in the education department. And she found that feeling she belonged here.
“My first thoughts were honestly home,” she says. “It felt so comfortable to me being here. I came from a high school that was larger than Central. Coming here felt like the same environment but a bigger campus. It’s been amazing.”
Bank and her mother made the drive from Colorado to Central for their visit. It was Bank’s first visit to the Midwest.
“My mom thought Central was a great place. Immediately, first step on campus, she was the one who said, “Yuan, this is a great environment,’” Bank says. “Then when we were on the tour, she said, ‘This is a beautiful campus. Even if you don’t go here, I will come back and visit here.”
Bank had looked at college back home in Colorado and at others across the country. The idea of competing in track and field (she competes in jumps) was a draw. So too was the education department.
Bank’s mother was a secondary English teacher, and Bank always wanted to be a teacher, too. Her goal is to become a middle school language arts teacher.
“I really wanted a college with a good education program,” Bank said. “I took a leap of faith coming to Central. The reputation of the education department has exceeded my expectations. They’ll give you whatever you need in order to become the greatest teacher you can possibly be.”
Bank has become involved with a lot of things at Central, including a leadership role with the Dutch Brigade and a spot in admissions as a student ambassador. She’s found becoming involved forms connections she will have for a lifetime.
“I didn’t realize how many connections I would have — through friends, professors, in the classroom, math department or wherever. They touch every single place here at Central.”