Month: December 2018

Posted on by — Leave a comment

BEST Robotics Competition 2018

On Friday, Oct. 26, Grove City College hosted the BEST Robotics competition. Dr. Bright, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, began Wolverine BEST at Grove City College several years ago. This competition provides middle through high school students in the Western Pennsylvania area exposure to engineering, science, and technology. The Wolverine BEST challenge is one of only two BEST Hubs in the Commonwealth of PA. The event serves as an opportunity for Grove City College to showcase its nationally ranked engineering program.

This year, I participated as a Marketing Judge for the competition. Twenty-three schools participated in this year’s competition and I was to judge four of them on marketing presentations for their robots. The volunteer judges met before the competition to go over the rules and rating system we would be using that evening. The marketing presentations took place in different rooms in the Hall of Arts and Letters. There were four judges per room. The students, either middle or high schoolers, would have roughly 20 minutes to present their robot to the panel of judges. The last 10 minutes were set aside for any questions the judges may have. In my room, I was the only judge that was a student at Grove City College. The rest of the judges were faculty members at the College or local businessmen or women. It felt very much like I was on an episode of Shark Tank. After the students exited the room, the judges would converse about our thoughts on the presentation. Of the four groups of students, there was quite a wide range from students who were beyond prepared to those who were very nervous.

To me, I was very impressed with all of the presentations I had the chance to witness. These students clearly had ambition and drive, and at such a young age. I was thankful to have had this opportunity to meet new faculty members and the determined middle school and high school students.

A question one of the judges in my panel asked every group that presented was, “What would you like to do in the future?”

The answers varied from “I would like to be a mechanical engineer,” to “I want to graduate high school.”

My favorite answer was actually said by five of the students that went through our room that evening, and that was, “I am hoping to get accepted to Grove City College.”

Hearing this from such impressive and inspiring young men and women reminded me of how appreciative and thankful I am to attend an institution like Grove City College.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Hopeman School Project with Professor Buxton – Exercise Science

Professor Jeffrey Buxton, Exercise Science

Professor Jeff Buxton, a professor of exercise science at Grove City College, is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in Exercise Science from the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions. He currently holds an M.S. in Exercise Science from California University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Kinesiology from Penn State University.

Professor Buxton has a wife, Mandie, and three children, Cayden (8), Elliya (6), and Amya (2). On campus, professor Buxton is a faculty advisor for Exercise Science Club, a faculty advisor for IRON, a member of the Wellness Committee, and he teaches multiple classes on campus, including: Introduction to Exercise Program Design, Personal Training, Exercise Prescription, Research Methods, Biomechanics, Research Practicum, Certified Exercise Physiologist. He has been a professor at Grove City College for six years.

Currently, Professor Buxton is completing his dissertation with the project: “The Effects of a Novel Ground-based Movement Training Program on Functional Movement, Range of Motion, and Muscular Strength and Endurance.” A dissertation is the primary project that is completed as part of a doctoral degree. In general, it is a research project of some kind that is carried out by the doctoral student under the guidance of their faculty and a dissertation committee, which is chosen by the student. This project is a necessary requirement to complete for the doctoral degree Buxton is pursuing.

When asked to “define” the project that he is working on, professor Buxton said, “My project will be looking at the effects of ground-based movement training on select fitness characteristics, including functional movement abilities, dynamic motor control, joint range of motion and muscular strength and endurance. Ground-based movement training (GBMT) is a style of training that explores and utilizes dynamic human movements. The quadrupedal position (all fours) is the base for most GB movements and often these movements mimic those of the animal kingdom! GBMT generally involves crawling patterns, rolling, specific poses or postures and transitions between these poses.”

The project will be a simple pre-test/post-test design. After pre-testing subjects will be randomly assigned to either eight weeks of GBMT (60min sessions 2x/week) or a control group (simply maintain current physical activity). After the eight-week intervention professor Buxton and his research group will perform a post-test and analyze the results.

When asked what data collection is involved with this dissertation, Buxton said,  “We plan to collect body composition changes (fat mass, fat free mass, etc.), joint range of motion scores for the shoulders, hips and ankles, Functional Movement Screen scores (functional movement quality), Y-Balance test scores (dynamic motor control for upper and lower extremities), hand grip strength and pushup test scores (upper body muscular endurance).”

As far as procedure goes when completing this dissertation, there were many different components.  First, his project had to meet the approval of his doctoral degree concentration track director. It then had to be approved by the universities head of research. From there the project proposal had to be approved by his dissertation committee members. He said, “At this point I am now awaiting approval from both Grove City College and Rocky Mountain University’s IRBs (Institutional Review Board). Once I have both IRB approvals, I can begin recruiting subjects and eventually collecting data.”

While waiting, he is pilot testing his methods with the help of student research assistants. According to Buxton, there is no concrete completion date for the dissertation, other than the seven years provided for most doctoral students. He said, “My hope is to begin and finish data collection this upcoming spring and then to defend my project at the end of the summer.”

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Students visit Cameron Energy Co. on Site

Grove City students were visited this week by representatives of Cameron Energy Company. Cameron Energy is an company that is unique for the industry that they find themselves in. They operate as a small scale fracking company with a strong commitment to improving the environment.

The representatives that visited Grove City spoke to Dr. Stephen Jenkins’ Environmental Science class to give his students a basic understanding of the fracking process. However, they also talked about some of the precautions they take to ensure that they leave the environments of the sites they frack minimally influenced.

Later in the week, Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Kriley escorted several of their students to a live Cameron Energy fracking site. Twenty-four Grove City students, accompanied by their professors made the trip to the woods of Allegheny National Forrest to observe the fracking site. This unique opportunity allowed students to get a first hand look at the fracking process, and allowed them to become better informed in regards to the effects that fracking has on the environment.

Dr. Jenkins said, “I was blown away by the response that we got. I expected only two or three students would be able to find the time in their schedule for this sort of thing, but I am very pleased with the turnout we got.” Despite this field trip being completely optional, many students made the effort to be able to attend.

Fracking is a very hot button topic not only in Pennsylvania, but in the national discussion of our dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels. By simply hearing from the Cameron Energy representatives in class, our students were becoming better versed in a highly debatable issue, which is very beneficial. However, presented with an opportunity to see firsthand what goes into this process is a testament to students taking a real interest in their studies, and expanding their learning opportunities to outside of the classroom.

         

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Internship Opportunity with Highmark Health

Kiley Hajek is a senior Marketing Management major from Butler, Pa. The summer after her junior year, Kiley had an internship with Highmark Health in Pittsburgh. Being a Marketing Management major myself, I was curious to hear what Kiley did with Highmark this past summer.

When I asked Kiley about her role with the company and what she accomplished that summer she replied, “I was interning in their Community Affairs Department. I was in charge of coordinating two separate volunteer days for the other 120 interns working in the Downtown Pittsburgh office for the summer. I also helped with employee PTO volunteer days. I worked on internal communications for Community Affairs and worked on several fundraising projects. I also researched applicants to the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community.”

I followed with, “Did you enjoy your experience?” Which she quickly answered, “I really enjoyed my experience. I didn’t know that Community Affairs existed in large corporations before this summer, and I learned a lot about the department and its function in the company. I also loved working in downtown Pittsburgh. I parked my car about 20 minutes from my building and rode a bike from the bike sharing company, Healthy Rides, every day, which was quite the experience. I definitely saw the city in a whole new light this summer. After working there this summer, I realized that I think I will thrive in a smaller non-profit environment, where I can feel that my work is helping people, and where I feel challenged in the variation of my day to day tasks. I learned a lot this summer about myself and what I want to do after graduation, so I am very thankful for the experience!”

Kiley acquired this internship through the help of her advisors in the Business and Marketing Department. Her opportunity at Highmark is just another example of the connections and possibilities available for Grove City College students.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Inside Married Life: Priya Sprunk’s Perspective

Priya Sprunk was a Psychology major with a concentration in Exercise Science during her time at Grove City College. As a member of the 2017 graduating class, Priya still feels very connected with the students. She was a member of the Sigma Theta Chi sorority, and still holds close relationships with the current girls, along with alumni. About a month after graduation, Priya was married to her best friend, Nate Sprunk, who changed her formerly the last name of Graczyk. Since Nate is a current senior at The Grove, Priya was able to shed some light on their relationship while in different stages of their lives.

When asked what it is like with Nate still in school, Priya responded with:

“It is different for sure. It is a somewhat challenging dynamic when one person in a relationship works full time and one is a student full time. I sometimes wish I didn’t have to live in my college town because it makes me feel like I haven’t fully moved on from college. However, my job helps me feel like I’m making a difference, which helps. I work as an instructor for adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities who have graduated from high school, but still, need to develop independent living and employment skills before living on their own. I really enjoy it!”

Priya stressed how it has been hard to make time for other friends after working full time and then coming home to spend time with Nate.  However, she feels that marriage has helped both become more independent and hard-working, along with giving them the happiness of living together.

“We met about 10 years ago when I was in 7th grade and Nate was in 6th grade. We were part of the same youth group and were always close friends. I had a huge crush on him, but we didn’t start dating until the summer of 2014 before my freshman year at Grove City College. The college time together helped us grow together; I don’t even recognize the young and immature teenage couple we were four years ago. Living in a Christian environment helped me grow spiritually and make Christian friends who hold me accountable while encouraging me. Later we began to think about marriage as we started thinking about our future careers and what we wanted for our lives.  By the fall of my junior year after many discussions by ourselves, with both sets of parents, and with friends, we had decided we were ready to commit our lives to each other. We were engaged the following March,” Priya said.

Priya and Nate continue to enjoy each other’s company, build upon their relationship, and focus on God. By attending church, reading their Bibles, and praying together, their commitment to growing spiritually has shown in their actions toward others and each other. They lift one another up while practicing patience and empathy in the hard moments. Priya looks forward to their awesome future.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

A Major League Intern

Nate Curry, a 2019 senior, may seem like your average student athlete, but last summer he had a major experience with Major League Soccer (MLS) at its National Sales Center. Located in Blaine, Minn., Nate spent the summer as an intern supporting the current crop of post-graduates who were going through the sales training program themselves.

An internship at Grove City can be used for class credit if it meets the criteria set forth by each academic department. A few of these requirements may include regular contact with your faculty advisor, logging your hours worked, and a paper to reflect on your time as an intern. Depending on the number of hours of work an intern does, they can receive an upwards of six hours of class credit. A student’s faculty advisor for their internship will be a professor who has had firsthand experience in that type of work. This has proven to benefit our students because they can go into their internships knowing what they can expect, as well as being aware of what challenges they may be faced with.

I sat down with Nate and his faculty advisor, Dr. Scott Powell, to discuss what Nate’s experience at the National Sales Center was like. Dr. Powell also gave us some insight on the advantages of doing an internship for academic credit, as well as why Grove City encourages all of their students to take advantage of those benefits.

Dr. Powell and Nate went more in depth on Nate’s internship, the importance of an academically verified internship, and what it looks like to be a Christian in a secular work environment. If you are interested in learning more about these topics, you can view our full interview here: https://youtu.be/_RBSy-zZfAo

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Favorite Aspects of Grove City College – The Atmosphere

When looking at other colleges my senior year of high school, I thought I really liked the bigger city campuses like Pitt or Duquesne, but the more I considered walking to classes every day and the feeling of overall safety, I decided that those campuses were not for me. As much as I wanted to rebel against every aspect of Grove City College, it felt more like home with each visit, especially since a large portion of my family are alumni.

Over the past four years, I have loved the small campus. Yes, there are times that I wished I had an abundance of restaurant options or more places to visit, like Penn State, but it has challenged me to find excitement even when it seems lacking. With my love for photography, the open, quiet town and outskirts of Grove City have made for interesting subjects of my camera. Walking around the train tracks, down Pinchalong road, through the peaceful neighborhoods, over the beautiful campus, and in the quaint downtown have been a few of my favorite parts of attending this college.

With the small campus comes more personal relationships among the student body, professors, coaches, and administrative staff. In talking with students who attend larger colleges, they are always amazed that I go and sit with my advisor regularly to catch up on each other’s home life. I appreciate my relationships with everyone on this campus and how influential they will be even post-college. It is crazy to think that my freshman year roommates will be there for monumental moments in my future, as I will be with them. My faith has genuinely grown during my time here, from friends, teachers, the incorporation in classes, and the overall Christian values of the College.  Although graduation will be bittersweet, I know that the lessons and morals I have strengthened at Grove City College will always be with me.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Rob Kunst – Balancing Football & School

Rob Kunst, a senior Finance major and Analytics minor, has played football all four years during his time at Grove City College. He began playing his junior year of high school, sparking his passion for the sport. Rob’s decision to play college football was inspired by his two uncles, alumni football players from Grove City. His dad also played football during his time at California University of Pennsylvania. “I knew playing football in college wasn’t going to be easy, and as crazy as it sounds, I think that’s why I did it. I wanted to be pushed, tested, and have an opportunity to learn lessons that can’t be taught in a classroom,” Rob explained. He specifically chose to come to Grove City College for the academic reputation, religious atmosphere, friendly culture, and strong alumni network.

Coach Chris Smith, the College’s head coach on the previous staff, recruited Rob four years ago, along with coaching his two uncles way back when. In high school, Rob played tight end and inside linebacker. He came to college as a tight end but has evolved into a tight end and wide receiver hybrid.

Rob discussed his football season schedule, as it is a year-round commitment. For pre-season, players receive an optional summer training book with detailed regimen regarding lifting, running, conditioning, and nutrition. With three years of past summer internships, Rob was challenged with fitting training into a structured 40-hour work week. He worked hard to start his days at 5:30 in the morning for training before work, a process that eventually came naturally in his day to day life.

After a rigorous routine of “eat-sleep-football” during August football camp, the season begins … but so does school. Football is six days per week, including games on Saturdays, until about mid-November. Balancing football and school is not easy, but Rob found a way to stay organized and use prioritization skills daily.

The post/off season begins with lifting after Thanksgiving, leading into the spring semester of school. After months of daily training, April brings Spring Ball, a time where the NCAA permits team practices on the field three days per week for five weeks. In addition to the training and practicing in the spring, there are also team meetings one night per week that include senior leadership training.

Head coach Andrew DiDonato has been a huge blessing for Rob; he has a positive mindset no matter the situation, takes responsibility for all of his actions, strives for a successful life, finds joy in helping others, and works effectively even with challenges. “One of the biggest lessons in faith has been that true, overflowing, and everlasting joy comes from a meaningful relationship with God. If that’s what fuels my fulfillment and happiness, then there’s nothing in this world that can take my joy away. Living this out has changed my life and strengthened my walk with Christ,” Rob said. Although Rob will not develop his football career after college, he plans to support coach DiDonato and the Grove City College football program in any way he can.

“I have already began to apply lessons to academics, my career, and relationships. I would say that the most significant impact has been on my early career. To provide some context, I came into Grove City’s football program in the pit of its 33-game losing streak. There’s nothing fun about being part of a losing streak, but the experience of working towards ending one is priceless. Living out this challenge was the closest simulation I had to turning around a failing company in the business world. With that in mind, the lessons preached by successful entrepreneurs and business influencers about building a prosperous business align closely with the lessons that we had to implement as a team to improve our success. Therefore, these skills have been highly applicable to a business setting and have already helped me to succeed in several different business/finance internships and secure a full-time position with an exceptional company in August of 2018 – before even stepping foot on Grove City’s campus as a senior. These lessons aren’t a secret, and they’re not ‘life hacks.’ They just require necessary discipline to live out and follow every day,” Rob said.

After graduation, Rob will be based in New York City and can help large companies solve complex business issues as a consultant at Protiviti, a global management consulting firm that helps its clients solve problems in areas like business process, analytics, internal audit, and technology. Rob’s goal to become a consultant stems from being a part of the transformation that is taking place within Grove City College’s football program. He wants to help companies, managers, and executives become better at what they do, along with reaching their goals. Rob is excited to have the opportunity to help and grow with Protiviti. He thanks his influential professors, coaches, internship colleagues, members of the Career Services Office, and quality friends for the constant support and compassion.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Audit Internship Tips III: Three tips to Help You Succeed!

“An auditor’s job is to perform tests of a company’s financial statements and perform other various assurance acts to provide their clients and their client’s stakeholder’s confidence in the preparation of financial statements and confidence in the processes in place at a client’s location. ”

In having performed an audit internship, I would like to believe that I worded this brief description of an auditor’s duties in a way that not everyone would understand, and if you are one of those who does not understand, there is no need to fret. It will come to you. The vocabulary I used, which is hopefully what made my description harder to understand (if it was the way I write what do you expect? I am an accounting major, not an English major), leads to my first audit tip. When you arrive on the first day of your internship, take notes on the vocabulary and acronyms commonly used at the firm. In taking notes, it will provide you more confidence and make you more comfortable in day to day conversations with fellow employees of the firm and their clients. Also, by making it a point to learn this vocabulary and lingo, it will better prepare you to be successful in your internship and in your career as an auditor. One final note in applying this strategy of close observation and use of audit vocabulary is do not be afraid to ask what something means. Most firms love when incoming staff and interns ask questions, so stand out of the crowd and ask!

My second, and equally crucial tip is to refresh your Microsoft Excel, Word, and PDF skills. This is crucial because most firms’ software simply uses these applications for documentation for their work papers. So, by keeping up to date with your knowledge of these applications and by continuously learning new formulas and ways to do tasks in these types of applications, your efficiency on the job will be increased and will surely impress your employer. Even if you refresh your skills and it turns out your firms’ software does not use these applications, these are applications that you will commonly use for tasks outside of the audit, so comprehending how to perform tasks quickly via these applications will make you more efficient and more effective in work and in life.

My third tip for a soon to be (or not soon to be) audit intern would be to not fall into the common college student mindset and think that what you learned in your first two to four years of college was a waste just because a lot of the skills used by an auditor on a daily basis do not seem to implement much of what you learned. When you find yourself in conversation with fellow engagement team members, this knowledge learned throughout your time in college should provide you insight on what is the correct way to account for a specific situation or what a general journal entry to record depreciation should look like. Although you may find yourself during the internship questioning what you learned throughout your time in college and its application to this potential job opportunity you are/will be working at, there will be glimpses of times where you find yourself in a discussion being able to contribute something to the conversation or being able to have some insight on the topic to help the team understand some entry or to catch a potential issue. It is these small things that can generally make or break an engagement and if you keep in mind what you have learned over the past few years, this will contribute to your success as an auditor.

These are three of my main tips I would give to anyone pursuing an internship in the field of audit. With this being said, there are many more resources out there for current and future auditors. So do not be afraid to search the web or even look into and keep up with the current Accounting Standard Updates (ASU). Also, if you are interested in reading about more tips in audit or college or any topic let us know! Feel free to comment on this blog or to contact the blog via the contact tab with your own questions. We would love to help!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Audit Internship Tips II: You Are Not Alone

So, you just read a whole blog post and you have not learned anything? You are right where you were before the start of the blog and are still (A) confused what audit is and reading this for future reference or (B) waiting for some tips for that internship you start next month.

No matter which group you may fall into, you are probably a bit confused and slightly annoyed, but this is normal. This is all part of the process of being an audit intern. You start unsure, then get stressed with all of the pressure of interviews and networking, then you finally get an offer and you become dazed and confused about what you just got yourself into. That is what I am here for, though. In providing tips, I hope to not just give you the general speech telling you that there is no way to prepare for it (that I noted in the previous blog). Instead, I hope to supply you with some useful advice and necessary skills, which will supply you the opportunity to be successful in this internship you will receive (or have already received).

So, let us finally get started. You have this internship and you want to be prepared and ready to take it on and provide the employer your best effort, but how do you do that and what is audit? For those of you who do not know what audit is, the best place to start this journey is to first describe and discuss what an auditor does. An auditor’s job is to perform tests of a company’s financial statements and perform other various assurance acts to provide their clients and their client’s stakeholder’s confidence in the preparation of financial statements and confidence in the processes in place at a client’s location. It is with this definition that we can move on into the final blog of the series and really dig into both what this career path known as audit is and FINALLY hear the precious tips you have been waiting quite patiently for.