His resume includes men’s basketball captain, President’s Ball king, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship leader. Starting in May, he will add director of student activities and the Grewcock Student Union.
After graduating, senior Anthony Manno will replace Amanda Bigney, who is moving to Kalamazoo to marry and pursue a career in business or design. Manno had originally planned on moving to Spain after graduation, but rethought his plan when Dean of Women Diane Philipp approached him for the role.
“I realized that moving to Spain is something that will still be there, whereas if I were to turn down this position, it is something I probably couldn’t come back to,” Manno said. “I’m a big believer in taking opportunities big or small, and this one was one I thought was pretty substantial.”
Manno will take charge of many aspects of student life, including campus health and wellness, the Student Activities Board, and Student Federation.
“Anthony will find his strengths will serve as an advantage for him to be able to work with all those moving parts,” Bigney said.
The financial management and Spanish double major was selected for the position after an application process that included one day of six interviews, Manno said.
“We took applications for approximately one week and received 12 applications both internally and externally. We had a committee review the applications and then began the interview process over spring break,” Philipp said.
Manno will benefit from working alongside Bigney for the last month or so of the school year. He will attend meetings, SAB events, and assist in hiring and training of students for next year. Bigney was trained for two weeks in the summer of 2012, when students had left campus, before she took over for Kevin Boyle.
Manno has had the advantage of attending Hillsdale under three different directors: Bigney, Boyle, and Assistant Dean of Women Rebekah Dell.
“It helps that I’ve known all of them, and I see that there’s been very different personalities in the office, and yet, they’ve all done well for the school, improving student life,” he said. “That’s reassuring to know that they welcome new ideas and different approaches, because I will definitely have different approaches just because I’ve been involved in athletics, and in being a S.A.M., and different leadership roles.”
Philipp is especially excited about Manno’s commitment to health and wellness on campus. In addition to being a varsity athlete, Manno is active in CrossFit, is an avid healthy eater, and is leading the workouts for some of the women’s teams this spring.
“As the sports complex is fully-renovated, I will have more ideas,” Manno said. “For health and wellness, why don’t we teach kids how to cook? We would host a seminar once a week, bring a chef on campus or off campus, and teach students how to cook with what they have, whether that be with a microwave or one burner. It’s an opportunity to learn a new skill, a valuable skill, that can be used the rest of their lives.”
