Junior theater major, Hilary Mankin, knew making it big in the acting world could take years of hardship and if things didn’t go as planned, her advice was to “suck it up” and try again.

Since she was 8 years old, it was Hilary’s dream to be an actress and she wasn’t going to let anything change that, said Mitzi Mankin, Hilary’s mom.

“I would always ask her what plan B was and she couldn’t come up with one,” Mitzi said. “She wanted to do anything in that business.”

Hilary, 20, a Vermilion, Ohio native, died May 16, after becoming ill.

Although Hilary is gone, her ideals and character are remembered by those she knew.

“I can still hear her voice saying ‘suck it up,’ get over it and deal with it,” said senior Ryan Albrecht, who was a fellow Kreischer RA and theater major with Hilary. “You can’t let bad experiences get you down; you have to move on and things will be alright.”

Albrecht said Hilary’s helpful tough love attitude pushed him to improve himself in acting and getting homework done in a class they had together.

Mitzi said she had given Hilary that advice at a young age.

“It was me and her against the world, and I didn’t sugarcoat things,” she said. “The best advice was to suck it up and take it like a man.”

Hilary had taken her mother’s advice and spread it to other people.

At the funeral, Mitzi said the mother of a high school friend came to thank her for Hilary giving her daughter the strength and courage to come out of her shell.

“Hilary just liked to give advice and help people,” Mitzi said.

On stage, Hilary was just as helpful.

“She was very easy to work with,” said senior Michelle Morris, a theater major who had known Hilary since high school. “She was very talented and had a very good range; she knew how to get into a character.”

Hilary’s mother also recalled her daughter’s talent.

“She was such a ham,” Mitzi said. “She really put you in the story and made you believe it.”

Albrecht remembers Hilary’s comedic acting skills.

“It was always fun acting with her,” Albrecht said. “She was very talented and good at comedy; she really knew how to deliver a punch line.”

Hilary’s humor is remembered beyond acting, specifically her sarcasm.

Clayton Stewart, a recent graduate, met Hilary through RA training, where they worked together in Kreischer.

“She was a genuine person and I loved her humor,” he said.

Hilary was an RA in Kreischer Compton residence hall.

“To be a sarcastic individual and not offend people, you have to be really good with words and she was just that; it was her way of communicating,” Stewart said.

She was very committed to her job and always found something new to do and made it comical, he said.

On top of acting and being an RA, Hilary was also a 4.0 student and had time for a social life, Morris said.

“Hilary was a go-getter and she did what she wanted,” Morris said.

Hilary was also on the Quidditch team her freshman year, but had to stop in order to be an RA, but that didn’t stop her from recruiting, Mitzi said.

“She was one of the biggest Harry Potter fans I knew,” said senior Alexis Moody, former captain and founder of the BG Quidditch team.

Even though she didn’t have time for Quidditch, Moody said Hilary promoted the team to her residents, which got a few people to attend practice.

“It just shows how passionate she was about the sport,” Moody said.

Hilary’s passion, warm personality and unique character has influenced the people she knew in a big way, even influencing Stewart to get a scholarship started in her name.

The scholarship will be for people who are like Hilary and resemble her spirit and character, Stewart said.