Month: November 2018

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5 Tips to Running a Campus Event

Organizing a campus event can be TOUGH. There is a lot of planning, time, and communication that goes into getting any campus event off of its feet and running. You have to contact certain people, make sure your group knows what they need to do, get support for the event, and raise awareness of the event to get people to attend. So far in my college career, I have put on quite a few campus events including Dancing with the Profs, Orientation Board Off Broadway (a musical Cabaret performance), All Campus Cookout, So You Think GCC Can Dance?, and the Spring Dance Company Performance for the past two years. I have had my fair share of success, pains, and plans that have not gone the way I have wanted them to.

 

Dancing With The Profs Winner: Education Professor Connie Nichols

I am not the only student who has put on a campus event, and I am certainly not the last… So, if there is any knowledge that I can pass down I believe it can be summed up in five tips.

  1. Plan early and plan well
    • Planning should be done early. Ideally a few months before the event because you have to contact tons of people. To plan well, write every little detail out. It will make things easier down the road.
  2. Make a list and stick to it
    • Once you have planned out all of the details, figure out how to get those things done and make a “To Do” list for you to follow. Make sure you are following this list carefully and even setting dates for you to get things done by.
  3. Do not be afraid to ask for help
    • Chances are for most events, there are people who have done them before or who have put on similar events. Find those people and ask for more tips or tricks on your event to make things easier or to speed up certain processes. It is also helpful to have people give you assistance to lighten to load of stress that often comes with these events. Also, Student Government will contribute monetary funds to events to help contribute to the campus community.
  4. Advertise sooner than later
    • If you are holding an event, you want people to come to it, right?? Coming up with creative or strong ways to advertise will get people just as excited as you are to put on the event.
  5. Do not stress the little things
    • Things will go wrong, no matter what event it is. But it is so important to not stress the small things or you could lose sight of the big picture! If you forgot something or something falls apart, take a second to breathe and move forward. The way you handle the hard stuff is a testament to your character and will prepare you for the next time that may happen.

 

Spring Dance Company Photo 2016

These five tips will not make for a perfect event, but it will help make your event planning and organizing go by so much faster and will be more enjoyable for you. Organizing a campus event can be a great way to contribute back to the vibrant community Grove City College has, and it is a rewarding experience that could help in the future with fine tuning various skills.

 

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Career Networking Mixer

Grove City College Career Fair, 9/26/18

After the Grove City College Career Fair on Sept. 26, the Business Department offered a career networking mixer and panel discussion. This event offered an insider’s perspective into the business world and insight on how to gain a competitive advantage in interviews. Students had an opportunity to mingle with business professionals over hors d’oeuvres before hearing from speakers at the panel session.

David Durfee ’13, returned to the Career Fair as a sales executive with Armstrong World Industries. His degree in Marketing prepared him for this career, but he said that the services offered to current students has improved since his college years. Durfee explained that the annual career fair – a school-wide event – attracts more marketing and management firms now, which provides more networking opportunities to business students. In addition, he has seen improved professor interaction during the fair; students can now find guidance from their professors on which firms to approach, how to start a career conversation, and how to increase self-marketability.

Grossman Yanak & Ford (GY&F), a Pittsburgh accounting firm, regularly sends representatives to recruit Grove City College students. Colleen Febbraro, HR Director at GY&F, says that the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firm seeks Grovers because they have found that Grove City graduates are well-rounded compared to their peers. In addition, the graduates have been prepared by their education to work well on their own and in groups. She mentioned that GY&F has found Grovers to have “superb” communication skills and advanced technical training – attributes that are evidence of thorough preparation by trained faculty. Though GY&F has a familiarity with the quality of a Grove City College education, Febbraro said that Grove City’s exceptional Accounting program – which graduates students with a CPA passing rate at nearly 30% higher than the national average – is making a name for itself as ninth in the nation for CPA success rates.

Emily Miller, who graduated from Grove City College in 2015, now works with Grossman Yanak & Ford and returned to the Career Fair to help with recruitment. She says that Grove City College left her prepared to excel in the CPA exam and her future career. Though she was not expecting the volume of writing that her job demands, she says that the Grove City humanities core adequately prepared her to handle this challenge.

The business mixer representatives offer not only career placements, but also higher education opportunities. Alexander Lowry represented Gordon College as the executive director of its Financial Analytics program, explaining that this program would be ideal for Grove City students studying a variety of disciplines. For students interested in a career involving finance, statistics, or data analysis, the Boston school offers a Master of Science in Financial Analysis. Entering a fast-paced career after college can be intimidating to undergraduate students, but Gordon College offers insight into the Boston financial scene. Lowry, who has experience in executive management at JP Morgan, explains that students can expect networking and internship opportunities during the 12-class program – Gordon has long-standing ties with financial powerhouses like Liberty Mutual, Fidelity Investments, and Putnam Investments.

The question and answer panel, which featured several Grover alumni, consisted of several businessmen giving advice and feedback to the students about launching a career. After the event, there was a tangible atmosphere of excitement and anticipation about preparing for the future, with many students discussing what they liked about the panel. One student noted that it was encouraging to see Grove City College alumni in such high positions at their firms – evidence that a Grove City degree is highly marketable. Another observation was an appreciation that the speakers went very in-depth in giving advice on how to prepare for a full-time interview. Interviewing for a part-time job in high school, the student said, is very different from the process for a “real” career, and so he enjoyed the tips for interview preparation. Overall, the Business Mixer was a huge success, providing not only opportunities for students to network with prospective employers and fellow members of the Business department, but also opportunities for students to hear relevant advice for career preparation during the panel.

 

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Inside Married Life: Nate Sprunk’s Perspective

Nate Sprunk, an Exercise Science major and Psychology minor, is a quarter of the way through his senior year at Grove City College. He began his freshman year busy with his involvement on the lacrosse team and continued up until this year. His decision was primarily to focus more on school, along with his new wife, Priya.

Nate and Priya have known each other for about 10 years, meeting at middle school youth group at their church back in the day. Although, they did not start dating until the summer before Nate’s senior year of high school. They had always been great friends, but that summer they spent much more time together and grew extremely close.

“Going to school together gave us time to grow closer and build a stronger relational foundation to get married. Being at GCC was positive because it gave us a Christian environment to grow in,” Nate said. They started the conversation during Nate’s sophomore year of college, Priya’s junior year. With Priya being a year older, the decision to be married was difficult in terms of their current academic standings, but, with an abundance of advice and prayer, the couple decided to be married this previous summer.

This fall semester, with Priya as a Grove City College graduate, Nate has noticed changes in his life since the wedding. He feels that he has become more responsible and independent in his current college career and post-college plans. In living off-campus with his wife, he sees friends significantly less, which can cause strains in his relationships, but it just means working harder to maintain the ones that are truly important.

“It’s great to live together and have our own place. It’s also great to be able to support each other. However, it does make things weird with your relationships with other people because of change. My advice for people would be to make sure you’re truly ready for everything that comes with the commitment. We did marriage counseling prior to our wedding. I think that it helped us be more prepared for the transition and for what to expect,” Nate said.

Although only 21, Nate’s maturity and dedication to Priya has made their marriage fulfilled and exciting. His future plans include attending school for physical therapy to further his knowledge of subjects surrounding his college education.

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IM Leagues

Intramural Sports (IM Sports) are pretty huge at Grove City College…like, “one of the best programs” kind of huge. Most of the student body participates in some IM sport each year, and there are IM leagues for just about anything you could think of. Everything from IM Basketball to IM Settlers of Catan exist. All of them occur each year on campus.

Registering and signing up for IM sports in the past was a pretty cumbersome process. For sports, you had to fill out a release of liability form for each sport. When a student plays in several sports each year, this got pretty tiring. Plus, if your team had a conflict with one of your scheduled game times and wanted to request a time change, you primarily had to communicate via email with the other team’s captain, which took up too much time to accomplish a fairly easy task.

This year, Grove City College switched over to IM Leagues, an app that handles all aspects of IM sports, and things have been so much easier. Inside the app, a student can register for a sport, join a team, and sign off on their waiver form all digitally. Once part of a team, the schedules are then uploaded to the app, which provides alerts for when one has an upcoming game. There are tons of features that seem like they come right from fantasy football, like the ability to trade players and pick up “free agents” (those who do not have a team).

So far, the transition to the app has gone pretty smoothly, which has eliminated a lot of the common headaches that students have to deal with. It also has helped keep more teams accountable with showing up to games, which has allowed everyone to actually play instead of facing a last minute cancellation due to a communication error beforehand.

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Injured and Schooling

Me with my six-week friend – my hefty sling.

The sling life.

For six weeks, my right arm sat idle on the foam piece around my waist secured by a sling. The Velcro attached stress ball stuck out from the foam bed. I named the ball Frank. Frank kept my fingers moving, even though my arm lie motionless.

For nearly a year, my shoulder suffered from a torn labrum due to multiple dislocations. On the last day of February in 2018, I finally underwent arthroscopic surgery. The surgery happened in the middle of my spring break from my junior year of college.

Optimistically, I hoped to go back to school by the end of spring break, but four days did not prove nearly long enough to move back to school. I stayed home for another week, and that is when I realized how great Grove City really is.

Professors sent notes for class, checked in on how I was doing, and gave me grace for deadlines. When I finally did get back to school, Mrs. Habbyshaw in the Disability Services Office scribed tests and papers for me to turn into my professors.

Coming back to school with only one functioning, non-dominant arm daunted me, but with the aid of friends, roommates, professors and people in my church, I finished out the weeks in the sling. I began physical therapy and slowly gained back everyday movement.

I missed working out and playing sports on campus. I missed simply doing my own laundry. I hated being so reliable on other people, but through that trial in my life, I saw, as the hymn says, “I am weak, but He is strong.” And yes, Jesus loves me. He showed me not only through the Bible, but through the generosity of teachers and care of my friends.

The sling on my arm started many conversations I would not have had otherwise. A worker in the Physical Learning Center asked what had happened to me and shared that he had a similar surgery. Students often asked how I was doing throughout the four weeks of being on campus in a sling. Though I was tired of the sling, I knew my body needed it to heal. When I started physical therapy, it amazed me to see what my body can do. God truly is the Master Creator. And He is indeed a loving Savior.

If you are expecting a surgery or experiencing and injury, know that at Grove City, you will be cared for. School is still possible. The semester of my injury was one of the highest GPAs I got while in school. Strange how that works.

Ten hours from home, I felt the love of other Christians on the campus of Grove City. Without it, I would not be healed as I am today.

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Confessions of an Orientation Board Member

Orientation Board (OB), the group of overly excited upperclassmen clad in crusty white T-shirts. Whether it was a question brought to the info booth, the screaming madness of move-in day, or the connection group “parent,” every student has encountered the infamous OB member. It seems that the reactions to OB can be very polarized, some feeling energized themselves by these people while others do everything in their power to avoid this group.

So, what is this group and what is its mission? This is a group of around 100 students who apply to be a part of Orientation Week at Grove City College. This diverse group forms in the spring, where the members prepare and pray for the new students even before they commit to Grove City College. The mission statement of the group is as follows:

Our mission is to show Christ’s love to new students on campus through relationship, service, and prayer.

The mission of OB is simple and has Christ at the focus, which drew me to want to apply along with how fun loving and outgoing this group was. The first year I applied, I was so excited and nervous to find out if I would be accepted and which of the five committees I would be placed on. I was lucky enough to be selected, which was surprising to me because it was a selective group due to the numerous applications OB receives every year. I was placed on the Religious committee, which I was not expecting, but has turned out to be one of my biggest blessings.

Being a part of Orientation Board for the past three years was a huge part of my experience at Grove City College, but I will not pretend that it was always easy. As energetic and crazy as the OB members may be in the first two weeks, the down time we have is cherished greatly. Many members of Orientation Board are extroverted, but many are more introverted in their personalities. Either way, it is impossible for anyone to be on the top of their game when so much is asked of the OB members over the first two weeks of school. From planning, setting up, executing, and cleaning up each of the events, things can get hectic pretty easily. The amount of running around and planning that happens behind the scenes is typically underappreciated. As a member of Orientation Board, I can testify to the fact that this is a hard job, but it is also so rewarding.

As much as OB works to serve the incoming students, the way this group works, also, has been able to pour into the other members of OB. Within the five committees of the organization, there are many opportunities to meet and invest in the lives of people you may not have met before. It provides a way to work with people towards a common goal. You meet people who care about you and your well-being, and that is seen from the time the committees form through the rest of your time at Grove City College. While some of the work is tiresome, I would apply to be a part of this every year I would be able to. Orientation Board has been a valuable and integral part to many students at Grove City College, and that is my confession.

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Fully Known, Fully Loved: Relational Ministry through Young Life

Grove City College is host to a variety of different ministries and service opportunities. Being a Christian campus, there is an emphasis on looking past your own circumstances to help others in any way that you are equipped to do so. Young Life is one of many ministries that has found its way to campus, with 54 leaders currently involved, it is only looking to grow.

Young Life is based on relational ministry, the premise is that leaders go out into high school or middle school communities and build relationships with kids. By being a part of their lives and gaining genuine friendships, leaders earn the right to share the gospel with kids.

Young Life is based on the “five C’s” which are Contact Work, Campaigners, Club, Camp, and Committee. Each has an integral role in the ministry and work together to create positive experiences for kids. Contact work is what takes up the bulk of the leaders’ time, it could be something as simple as attending football games every Friday night to doing intentional discipleship with a high schooler. Ultimately, this is how relationships are built, by showing up and being present in high schoolers’ lives. Campaigners is a bible study for boys and girls who have a desire to campaign on behalf of Jesus in their schools. They do a lot of the ground work in getting people to Club, which is “controlled chaos.” It is an environment where kids can let their guards down and have fun, the program breaks down walls and prepares them to hear a gospel message each week. At the end of the year the hope is that kids will go to Young Life camp and experience Jesus even more potently during the best week of their lives. All of these endeavors are supported by Committee Members, adults in the community who have a heart for high schoolers and are willing to give in various ways to make sure the ministry thrives.

At Grove City, Young Life is a community in and of itself, leaders meet each week to share about their struggles and triumphs, joys and challenges. It is an amazing opportunity to put into practice the Christian values that are instilled in us each day. Senior Kristen Bishop, a leader at Hickory High School, has been a part of Young Life in the area since she was a student at Grove City High School. Her favorite aspects of leading are the “lifelong friendships made between kids and leaders, the way being a leader pushes you in your faith, and how much fun it is, so much laughter and good memories.” Being able to do ministry alongside your peers in a relational way is a unique opportunity afforded to Young Life leaders. There are currently five high school ministries up and running with many more on the way.

 

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Going to College With a Sibling

Sophomore Gretchen Basham and her brother Sam Basham ’18 (Photo courtesy of Gretchen Basham)

There is something unique you may notice within the student population at Grove City College. Almost every student here at Grove City has some family connection to the College. Whether it is that their great grandpa went here, or that their mom went here, or even that their sibling attends Grove City College with them, and that they get to share in the experience.

At other schools this might not be a normal occurrence, but here at Grove City, legacy seems to matter, because many generations seem to admire Grove City College so much. I know many students on this campus who have had several family members attend Grove City College in the past, and many students that attend college and do life side-by-side their siblings.

Sophomore Gretchen Basham had an older brother, Sam, attend Grove City at the same time as her last year. When Gretchen was just coming to Grove City as a freshman, she had her brother on campus as a senior. When talking to Gretchen about what college was like when she went here with her brother this is what she had to say, “Going to college with my brother Sam was a good experience for me. He made coming to a school where I didn’t know anyone more comfortable. He was always across the way if I needed anything, and he was instrumental in introducing me to his friends, which added to the familiar faces on campus and led to new friendships.”

According the Gretchen, having a sibling at Grove City made the College more attractive because she was hesitant to go somewhere so far from home, where she did not know anyone. She was able to hear from him about his experience at Grove City College. Sam loved being at Grove City College, which was very helpful to Gretchen.

Gretchen told me, “Now that Sam has graduated I have realized how much I enjoyed him being here. His steady presence allowed me to be able to get advice and insight from his experience. We grew closer during the year we were at school together and now that he has graduated that has become more obvious.”

Gretchen said she had an expectation of going to college with a sibling and that it was as if she would feel like they were keeping tabs on her or that she would be annoyed by seeing her sibling everywhere. She told me that she was pleasantly surprised by the way she grew closer with her brother at college and the freedom she was still able to maintain while at Grove City.

Gretchen has a younger sister, Meredith, who is a senior in high school. Gretchen encouraged Meredith to apply to Grove City, and hopes they will form a stronger relationship, and have the joy of knowing she has a sibling around campus to always talk to once Meredith arrives here.

Personally, I have a younger brother, Lukas Blizzard, who is a senior in high school and applying early decision to Grove City. I encouraged him to apply and was able to share different perspectives and campus experiences with him that made him excited about the College. I look forward to experiencing college life alongside him and helping to guide him along the way.

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September: The Month of Cold Weather, Rain, and Careers

September. This is the month in the year where people like me begin to get sad that warm weather and sunny days are on their way out and the cold and rainy days are on their way in. This is also the month that people like my friend Ben look forward to, as it acts as his glimpse into the upcoming cold months. Weather (hehe, puns) you are like Ben or like myself, September also acts as an active time in pursuing jobs and careers.

The month of September for the average Grover is a time where school is beginning to really kick into gear and a time in which the College’s Career Services Office makes their biggest push of the year to help students find jobs. During this month there are loads of events going on and loads of opportunity for students of all ages at the College. From the kick-off party to the College’s large Career Fair, this month is packed full of opportunity and promise.

My personal account of my experience with Career Services and the various events and opportunities they supply, sadly, due to my own neglect, did not take place until my junior year at the College. It was September of last year that I entered the Career Services Office for the first time. At this point in my college career, and life, I had come to the realization that, firstly, I need to get a job at some point and, secondly, that since I am going to college I should probably get a job in my field. With this realization, I then set the goal of obtaining an internship for my junior year summer, which are highly common for Grove City College students. The only problem at this point, though, was that I had no idea where to start. Aimlessly lost, I decided to approach the Career Services Office on campus and in our first meeting they assisted me in setting up an account on the colleges new, at that point, job website and set up another meeting with me where we could go over my resume and get it ready for an on-campus mock interview they encouraged me to sign up for. So, just like that, I went from lost to found and was on track to my end goal. A few days after the initial meeting I went into the Career Services Office to look over my resume, which was accomplished by the end of the meeting. After leaving this meeting I had some work to do to my resume but was on track and ready for my on-campus mock interview. About a week later the mock interview arrived and I showed up with my new and improved resume and dressed to impress. After a 30-minute interview with the head of Human Resources at one of the companies I was planning on applying at, I was able to receive some constructive criticism. It was this mock interview that prepared me for the slew of interviews I was about to undertake.

As I applied for as many interviews as possible via the College’s job website, the response began flooding in. Instantly I was signed up for multiple first-round interviews with various types of companies. This feat alone was a huge accomplishment from where I was a short month ago. I found as I went through my first round of interviews that as I progressed I seemed to get better and more comfortable. Thus, allowing my second round of interviews to progress and become better than the first. After first, second, and even third rounds of interviews with some companies I had finally done it… I had received that elusive internship offer.

Needless to say, if you find yourself in a similar scenario as I did, do not fret. The Career Services Office is there to help. Your career needs are never too far gone!

 

 

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Wolverines on the Run

At any home football game, a common phrase attendees hear is “Schools on the Run.” This is, of course, in reference to junior running back Wesley Schools, who recently became the second running back in school history to reach 3,000 yards. The Wolverines have faced their fair share of challenges the past few seasons but are looking at a bright future for the program. Schools has had a huge impact on rebuilding in the past few years and offers unique perspective on the team’s vision, challenges, and goals moving forward. In their game against Carnegie Mellon, Schools said they shifted their game plan to run the ball more and then throw to one-on-one matchups to wide receivers. Adjustments to the Wolverines’ game plans come in light of a quarterback change. Former quarterback Randall Labrie is out for the season, this is not a new challenge for the team as they lost their starting quarterback early in the season last year as well. In the face of this challenge Schools noted that Labrie is “very much still a leader on the team, he’s sent out emails and is still actively involved as a captain.”

The vision for the team is not dependent on its personnel, the culture that Coach Andrew DiDonato has created is one in which every member plays a role supporting the team’s vision, whether they are on the field, the bench, or as in Labrie’s case, off the field for the season. Schools said that he has not ever seen the likes of DiDonato in terms of individual player development. Schools stated that “DiDonato cares more about the person than the player, he practices what he preaches, and teaches the team ownership, vision, and work ethic no matter what obstacles we face.” The rest of the season will be an uphill battle and yet Schools is optimistic that the Wolverines can still finish at their projected 7-3 record and even move past the regular season. The team is looking fresh and put together moving into the latter half of their season and Schools is ready to keep on running.