Branching Out

Always independent, Andrea Ertz felt the need to try something new after graduating from her Iowa-based high school. So, she packed her bags and headed east for NC State, where she has truly found a home away from home.

"My cousin, who graduated from State in 2007, was able to show me around the campus my junior year of high school," Ertz said. "I grew up in a small city at a very small private school and I had felt the need to branch out and go somewhere completely different from what I was used to."

After choosing NC State from a group of five North Carolina-based schools, Ertz spent her first year on campus in the university's First Year College program, where she became interested in Biological Sciences and joined NC State's marching band the Power Sound of the South. And as a freshman transplanted 950 miles from home, the breadth of NC State's on-campus service and social activities gave Ertz a chance to begin to build deep friendships with fellow students who share her same passions and goals.

"I met some the best friends I've made before classes even started," Ertz said of her bandmates. "NC State has such a wonderful atmosphere everyone I've met was so friendly and helpful from my first day here."

From the challenging, yet creativity-fueled vibe of NC State's academic halls to the electric rush that fills the air while she performs in front of 60,000 screaming fans at Wolfpack football games, it's easy to see that NC State is a perfect fit for Andrea Ertz.

"Coming to NC State has most definitely been the best decision I could have possibly made," she said. "I can't picture myself anywhere else."

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