Sara Swanton

Graduate Profile: Sara Swanton

Check her pulse, swab her tongue, or test her reflexes. Sara Swanton ’09 graduated from Alma College diagnosed for success.

Sara Swanton

“I got unique experiences through the performance lab and the anatomy lab that I could not have gotten elsewhere,” she says. “Alma prepared me so well for the program I’m in now. A lot of the classes I’m required to take, I’ve already taken at Alma.“

Swanton is now working toward her master’s in public health with an emphasis in physical activity and public health at the University of South Carolina. She also is applying to medical schools, making her dream of becoming a doctor only a heartbeat away.

“I want to go into medicine because I think it provides me with the challenge I need to feel a sense of accomplishment,” says Swanton, who studied integrative physiology and health science. “I want to give back to my community, which is something I learned at Alma. I want a career that really benefits other people.”

Support is something Swanton learned to value while at Alma, which is why she says given the chance to do her college experience over again, she wouldn’t change a thing.

“The faculty at Alma are exceptional,” she says. “It’s as if they exist to help you succeed. The support and encouragement from them, and the other students in the program, is amazing. ”

 

Alma College’s first-year students can choose to “go green” through the Get Out Bike Program, designed to reduce their carbon impact. By signing a pledge not to bring a car to campus, participants in the program receive a bike to keep at a discounted rate. Downtown businesses are easily accessible to student cyclists. Campus also is bordered by the 41-mile Fred Meijer Heartland Trail.

 

Faculty Profile

Dr. Robyn Anderson

Dr. Robyn Anderson
Departments: Integrative Physiology & Health Science

Robyn Anderson grew up surrounded by athletics. Her father was a physical education teacher and owned a gymnastics club.

“Teaching and coaching was part of my life from the beginning as the entire family became involved with the business in one capacity or another,” the professor of exercise and health science says. “I love to teach, coach and learn, so these areas became my passion.”