Meet Gabby Anglin

When Gabby Anglin’s family in Columbia City, Ind., wanted to know about her first day of a January 2016 travel course, her answer must have surprised them:  “Go to ABC News and you can see what I’m doing today.”

Sure enough, there she was on television, standing behind presidential candidate Bernie Sanders with other members of Professor Leonard Williams’ Iowa caucus tour. For the political science major, it was one of many opportunities Gabby has had at Manchester to experience an exceptional education.

Even before Gabby saw Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and several other presidential contenders in Iowa, she knew her Manchester experience was special. It started her senior year in high school when the Admissions Office wrote to her in purple ink – her favorite color.

 “At Purdue, I was applicant 47692,” recalls Gabby of the college search. “At Manchester, I was Gabby Anglin.”

As her First Year Seminar, she chose Williams’ “When Worlds Collide,” a course that explored why people are liberal and conservative. “I knew that I couldn’t pull away from that passion I had,” she said.

Gabby is a double major in political science and public relations and plans a career in government or politics.

Outside of class, Gabby has been active in Student Senate and Students Today Alumni Tomorrow – the student arm of MU’s Alumni Relations office. She also has been a resident assistant and will be an apartment coordinator in East Street Apartments during her senior year. The housing jobs have provided her a discount and scholarships have helped pay her tuition.

“I cannot thank donors enough,” Gabby says. “One of the things (alumni) have taught me is that the thankfulness I feel for Manchester right now is something that’s going to stay with me even when I’m older. Manchester is helping me get my education right now and I know that I’m going to continue to thank them for having made me the person I become later.”

As Gabby enters her senior year, she’s grappling with college coming to an end.

“I’ve met people that I don’t know how I ever lived a day without them,” she says. Choosing Manchester “ended up being one of the best things that could have ever happened to me.”

But graduate she will, and with skills she hopes a presidential contender will need for the 2020 campaign.
“I’m thinking about heading off to New Hampshire,” adds Gabby, her sights set on the nation’s first primary.

By Melinda Lantz ’81