An athletic training major at Manchester, Samantha “Sam” Burrows ’17 is passionate about sports and helping others. “Throughout high school, I always thought I wanted to be a psychologist,” Sam says. “Then I was continually getting injured in whatever sport I was in and that made me want to help athletes.” 

Sam chose Manchester because she felt a strong sense of community from her first visit to campus as a high school senior. “I wanted to be part of that,” she says. Being engaged in the MU community has included building strong relationships with faculty who guide and mentor her. “They want you to succeed,” says Sam of the faculty, which includes Jeff Beer, the associate professor who directs the undergraduate athletic training program. Whether through advising or small class sizes, “You get that individual time that you need with them.” From her first visit, she says, “I knew I was going to get a lot of hands-on experience, and that’s how I learn best.” 

In addition to her course work, Sam is active in the Manchester University Athletic Training Club.

South Bend, Ind., is Sam’s hometown and she’s a longtime fan of University of Notre Dame athletic teams. Last summer, she had an internship at Notre Dame as a student athletic trainer, working with a different youth sports camp each week. “If a camper went down, I helped evaluate the severity of their injury and bring them to the sideline to further evaluate,” says Sam, who worked alongside a certified athletic trainer at all times. The certified trainer then would tell Sam if her evaluation was accurate and, she says, “tell me what I needed to do to care for the camper.” 

Sam credits her education at Manchester for helping her succeed in the internship. “Being able to work on what I learned in the classroom definitely helped me feel more confident,” she says. “Manchester prepared me for the experience.”

After graduation, Sam hopes to earn her master’s degree. She believes in her future because the people at MU believe in her.

Emily Barrand ’16