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Winona State University is a public university located in Winona, Minnesota that offers a "quality education that is affordable." Students praise WSU for "preparing students for the workplace" by helping them to develop career relevant skills "while still encouraging them to be innovative." "Winona State University is a community of learners working together to improve our world." Prominent "nursing and education" programs underscore what some students describe as WSU's educational prerogative: "to help students gain the necessary skills to help us go out and make an impact upon the world." WSU faculty can really shine in the classroom because small class sizes "allow professors to get to know their students on a more personal level." Students value this kind of attention because, as one student puts it, "the more my professors interact and connect with me, the better my academic experience and success." Most "professors work hard to be available" outside of class time. "They honestly do care about their students," one student explains, "and they are always there to connect [students] with what they need" from class material to "finding jobs and internships." "We may be a small school, but we do great things."

Winona State's predominantly white, Midwestern student body "is mixed with many Middle Eastern and Asian international students," and many students say they prize and seek out diverse perspectives and experiences. Students are "very friendly and passionate about their education and ambitions," and "most students are willing to help each other." While cliques may emerge, "students are truly involved in a wide variety of areas of study. Computer science students are involved in creative writing clubs, English students run the video game club, and more than half of the students in the symphonic wind ensemble are not music majors." While some students admit that there is a gap between "the studiers and partiers," students agree that "everybody is pretty friendly and nice." Despite what some see as a tendency among students to silo themselves "by departments around campus," "all seem to be like a family here at Winona and can come together as our own little community."

Winona is small and embraces the outdoors, and students can conveniently find "three disc golf courses in the city, two golf courses," as well as fishing on the Mississippi river, hiking through the local bluffs, and "two lakes with paved paths" where people run and bike. In the winter the bluffs make great "cross country ski trails" and "the lake is cleared off to ice skate." The small town of Winona "allows for bicycle as a great means of transportation," and most WSU students enjoy the outdoors. Students enjoy "WSU's very nice/fairly new wellness center," the Integrated Wellness Complex, "which features an indoor running track, weight lifting equipment, and other exercise equipment." Many students also say that volunteering through clubs or weekly volunteer opportunities on campus is popular among some students. "For such a small student body compared to many other universities," one student explains, "Winona State has a large social impact on the surrounding area and many of the clubs and organizations are extremely good at what they do." Because the town is small, "the bar scene is not huge but is popular when there isn't much else to do."