Month: March 2019

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Discovering My Artistic Abilities | Ceramics

Are you one of those people who has always had a profound interest in art? The kind of intense intrigue where you look at the piece of art and cannot help but wonder what the artist was thinking or how it is even possible that the creator was able to make such a complex and beautiful work simply with paint, a brush, a canvas, and their mind? This type of curious mind was one which I possessed and which always drew me to art… no not as some artist who loved to draw and was extremely gifted, but rather a terrible artist incapable of drawing a simple shape but who was simply intrigued by the work and precision others were able to produce in their works. In having never possessed the capability to draw or paint I somewhat gave up on exploring the field of art and had just stuck to simply observing and enjoying others pieces, that is until my junior year of college when I found a form of art that I had not had the opportunity to experiment with earlier in life. This new medium for art supplied me with the opportunity to use the strength of my hands and machines to create my art rather than the steadiness of my hand or my ability to blend colors. This new opportunity supplied me with confidence that I could in fact contribute something artistic for once.

The medium I was introduced to in the second semester of my junior year was ceramics, more specifically wheel throwing. For those of you who do not know what wheel throwing is, it is a form of art in which one uses clay, a spinning wheel, and various other tools to create pottery. Being that a wheel is used this allows symmetry in these art pieces to be acquired quite easily and allows for enhanced focus on other areas of the art form. As noted above, this form of art allowed me to avoid my shortcomings and inability to be steady, blend, and draw and allowed me to focus on new skills and techniques. In one semester of work I had fallen in love with this form of art as it supplied me the ability to contribute and inspire others as I had been my whole life.

After the close of the semester my interest only grew greater for this field of art which drove me to pursue more classes and more opportunities to work with this artistic medium known as clay. I am now in the second semester of my senior year and before graduation have made space for a few elective credit hours which have allowed me to add two more ceramics classes to my college transcript and which allow me the opportunity to both work with clay in a different manner and to hone in my wheel throwing skills one final time. The two ceramics courses I am currently taking are beginning hand building where I will be able to use different equipment to make more intricate and varying shaped pieces and advanced ceramics where I will be able to keep improving my wheel throwing abilities and creating new more complicated pieces.

With my story I hope that this encourages you to pursue your interests in college, whether these interests are something you already enjoy or something you did not know existed. Explore the various opportunities of your college or university and use your elective hours to learn about things that interest you, you never know what you might learn or what you might grow to love.

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Tri- RHO Extravaganza | What It Is and Its Significance to My College Career and Life

Fill in the blank: There is never a dull moment at __________________________. If you said Grove City College you are correct! Grove City College, its various departments and organizations, sports teams, and on-campus groups all take part in maintaining a consistently entertaining campus life. With events, dances, meetings, games, and loads more forms of entertainment on campus there is rarely a weekend where there is nothing to do.

One of the events in specific which takes place every spring semester is the Tri-RHO Extravaganza. This event is put on by the Tri-RHO housing group, which is one of the College’s nine men’s housing groups, and is open to all of campus. The tri-RHO Extravaganza is a dance which takes places in the Hicks Dinning Hall. The Extravaganza is always a very popular event on campus and draws large crowds as it is usually the first dance of the spring semester and due also to the high quality of the event. Aside from dancing, there are an assortment of appetizers and drinks. The music at the dance, although the dress is formal, is usually the average dance songs mixed in with modern hits creating a great atmosphere for having fun with friends and boogying down. One other key attraction this event has is the signature photo booth where guests can get their picture taken in front of the tri-RHO banner. As can be seen, this event is a great time on campus and supplies students the opportunity to take a break from studies and homework and to just have a little fun.

This event has always been one of my favorites at Grove City College and has made for a lot of great memories. One specific memory that I attach to this event and that will forever be a part of my life is my first experience attending this dance. This is because this dance happened to be the first time I ever hung out with and the first time I ever attended a dance with my current fiancé. To give some backstory, at the time of this dance my freshman year I was texting back and forth with a girl I knew from back home. In our texting I casually invited her to this dance expecting her to give me an excuse to why she could not come but instead, being the spontaneous woman she is, she answered my questions with an unexpected, “Yes.” The day of the event arrived and I picked her up from her car and we went to the dance. Long story short, we had a great time dancing around at the event and with my friends. It is because of this night that my relationship with this, at the time, stranger begin to flourish and that this event and the night of February 5, 2016 will forever be an important and an amazing date in my life.

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How does a college student ‘Pray without ceasing’?

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”

1 Thessalonians 5:14–22 ESV

If you’re ever in the market for a formula to give you a fulfilling life, this is it.

It reads almost like the ultimate daily checklist —

  • Admonish the idle
  • Encourage the fainthearted
  • Help the weak
  • Do good to one another
  • Rejoice always
  • Pray without ceasing… wait, really? how is that possible?

A few weeks ago I read through this particular group of verses with the purpose of adopting them in my daily routine. I had heard the phrase so many times, but for the first time I actually let my brain munch on the words “Pray without ceasing”.

The phrase is so common in the Christian community that I had become desensitized to the commitment it asks of us. We are clearly called to ‘pray without ceasing’ but what does that mean for a busy college student? How can I engage in the world around me while constantly praying?

I decided to dive into the question. I read articles, spoke to my pastor, got input from a few wise friends and most importantly, read the Bible.

Here are my findings —

‘Praying without ceasing’ cannot mean a continuous and conscious stream of thought directed to God.

My original thought was that maybe we are called to a perpetual state of multitasking. Maybe what it means to pray without ceasing is to always have God in the back of your mind, speaking to Him as you go about your day.

It is a nice thought to be sure but it does not quite add up.

Nancy K. Kapiner, contributor to psychologytoday.com, writes,

“Much recent neuroscience research tells us that the brain doesn’t really do tasks simultaneously, as we thought (hoped) it might. In fact, we just switch tasks quickly. Each time we move from hearing music to writing a text or talking to someone, there is a stop/start process that goes on in the brain.”

This may seem a little inconsequential to the question at hand, it does, however, tell us that unless we are 100% fixated on prayer, ‘without ceasing’ is not what it seems. A constant unwavering focus on conscience prayer is impossible.

So, how do we fulfill Gods calling to ‘Pray without ceasing’ as busy college students? I found that the answer lies in not how we define prayer, but how we define ‘without ceasing’. As it turns out, the original Hebrew translation more closely resembles ‘constantly recurring’ than ‘without ceasing’.

This, from my perspective, is a clear command to pray in all circumstances by relating your daily life to God’s purpose. If we have the mentality of constantly praying, we will never be able to properly focus on our surroundings. If however, we live with the purpose of telling God about our daily actions and experiences, we will be able to pray ‘constantly recurring prayers’ about the good, bad and mundane aspects of college life. This will increase our ability to connect with God and our environment.

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ACCT 410 | Contemp. Accounting Theory/Practice

While the names of some college courses seem quite up-front and self-explanatory (i.e. foundations of sociology, principles of accounting, etc…) some courses are quite the opposite. This means you look at the course code, read the name aloud, and you’re still unable to even draw an intellectual guess at what the class could cover or what the purpose of the course could be. ACCT 410 was one of those courses for me. It took me until my junior year to figure out what the class even was, and my senior year to find out the importance of this course to me. In order to help inform you about this very valuable accounting course that Grove City College offers, and to prevent you from suffering the same confusion I encountered, I have written this for you, the reader, the future Grover, the future certified public accountant.

As you may have heard, the CPA certification is a great certification for anyone going into the field of accounting, whether you are planning to go into public accounting or not. This being said, would it not be nice to have the opportunity to take a class specifically created to assist you in studying for the CPA exam? That is exactly what ACCT 410 does. It was created to help students work through the material covered on the Financial Accounting & Reporting (FAR) section of the exam. It allows students the opportunity to work with CPA review software that covers topics found on the actual CPA exam and in a format similar to that of the exam. The significance of this course is not only found in the value provided by the course material and the topics covered, but also in the ability of the course to assist students in getting over the biggest hurdle in studying for the CPA exam – simply starting to study because students get the opportunity to slowly get used to the format and process of preparing for the CPA exam.

While this may not seem extremely significant to you, take it from a senior who will be sitting for this challenging exam in the upcoming months, this class is a blessing in disguise. Yes, a course like this is intimidating to think about and sign up for, but once you immerse yourself in the CPA review software and material, and begin to study, this will help you greatly in the following months and years as you continue your studies and one day obtain your CPA certification.

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Facing Your Demons: You Don’t Have to Struggle Alone

College is hard. It is an unpleasant truth, and one that we often have trouble admitting. Between keeping up with classwork, joining extracurricular clubs, trying to find friends, and being apart from family for extended periods of time, living at college can take its toll. This rings true especially for people who arrive on campus already struggling with personal issues.

I discovered this my freshman year. I have dealt with depressive episodes since my junior year of high school and have had anxiety since my senior year. Because of my unawareness about mental health, I had not sought out any resources. By the end of my first month at college, I felt overwhelmed by everything I had on my plate. I struggled to adjust to the stress of classes, clubs, and looking for a solid group of friends. Being away from family and not having someone to be vulnerable with added to my stress and anxiety levels. My anxiety got to the point where it distracted me during class and isolated me from my friends.

I talked to a few friends about mental health since that seems to be a huge struggle for college students recently. One or two of them mentioned that they had visited the Counseling Center. This was the first time I had ever heard of a conservative college offering mental health resources to their students. I hesitated to schedule an appointment, mostly out of fear that the counselors would tell me that I had imagined my symptoms and that if I prayed more, none of my attacks would be happening.

After some serious consideration, I did eventually start seeing a counselor regularly. Contrary to what I expected, the counselor showed me love – God’s love – instead of giving me criticism. My counselor gave me both spiritual advice and practical tips to manage my issues. I would love to say that my mental struggles disappeared after my first appointment. Unfortunately, progress takes more than that. It involves falling and getting back up only to fall again. But each time I fell I had an older mentor to help me to my feet. She gave me guidance on how to handle the next fall. The counselors at Grove City care deeply for each individual that they see. It shows in the time they take getting to know students so they can best meet the students’ needs, whether those needs relate to mental health or simple stress management.

I think many people overlook the Counseling Center at Grove City while touring campus, but as the semesters have continued, Grove City has brought more attention to the mental health and stress management resources that they offer. This really sets them apart from any other college I toured in high school.

We all have our personal battles, which makes people like Grove City’s counselors all the more important in our moments of need.

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CliftonStrengths Assessment Project | Part 1

The CliftonStrengths assessment is an online talent assessment designed to allow people that take it to discover “the one true you.” Completing the CliftonStrengths assessment allows people to discover what they naturally do best; it helps them learn how to develop their greatest talents and allows them to use their customized results to live their best lives.

Widely known for its polls and employee selection research, Gallup (the company that makes the CliftonStrengths assessment) has conducted extensive research for over 30 years to identify talent that could be enhanced and used to pursue positive outcomes in work and educational settings. CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) is an online assessment of personal talent that identifies areas in which an individual has the greatest potential for building strengths. As an assessment based on positive psychology, its main application has been in the work domain, but it has been used for understanding individuals and groups in a variety of settings, especially higher education.

This year, Grove City College had several students take the CliftonStrengths assessment for free as part of a grant the College was awarded in order to foster a deeper exploration of calling and vocation for the students. The program development grant is from the Council of Independent Colleges, specifically their Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education. Grove City College has a mission of “equipping our students to pursue their unique callings.”  This assessment endeavors to provide students with a common language of talents and strengths and attempts to promote a culture where students thrive both inside the classroom here at Grove City College, and in the outside world.

Today, CliftonStrengths is available in more than 25 languages and more than 20 million worldwide have taken the assessment. CliftonStrengths presents 177 items that each consists of a pair of potential self-descriptors, and most of these descriptors are associated with a “theme.” A theme is a category of talents, which are defined as recurring and consistent patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior. The assessment measures the presence of talent in 34 distinct themes.

I will write a series of blog posts featuring students and faculty who have taken the CliftonStrengths assessment and interview them about how it has helped them learn more about themselves and their talents and how they are utilizing those results in their daily lives.

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How a Grove City Student Started His Own Business to Help Pay for College

College is an investment. A student pays a sum of money for four years of an unforgettable experience, a rigorous education, and lifelong friends. However, many times that sum of money can seem daunting. Junior Business Management and Marketing double major Joshua Kirk found a creative way to not only pay for college, but also earn experience within his field of study.

The summer after his sophomore year of high school, Kirk worked a very labor-intensive hardscaping and landscaping job. Using that summer to learn the business, he realized that there was a lucrative niche in the hardscaping business on which he believed he could capitalize. At the end of that summer, with an investment from his grandparents, he started tackling his own projects. By the end of the following summer, Kirk decided to start his own business, which he called Kirk Bros Lawn and Hardscape Design LLC.

Managing a team of three people (Kirk’s brother, cousin, and best friend), Kirk has created his own business that operates solely in the summer months. Kirk Bros Lawn and Hardscape Design LLC is a full service hardscaping and landscaping company that specializes in designing, building, and installing patios and retaining walls. Operating out of the Cincinnati, Ohio area, Kirk Bros Lawn and Hardscape Design LLC grosses approximately $29,000 in monthly sales during the three summer months. It does not take a calculator to see how successful this company has become.

Kirk has continued growing the business into college, working hard to try to earn enough money to pay for college. He contributes a lot of his success to two particular classes he has taken at Grove City.

“The two most influential classes I’ve taken here that have helped with my landscape company would be my sales class with Professor Kocur,” commented Kirk, “where he really helped me hone my sales skills and really helped me move into projects and close sales quicker. The other class that has been very helpful has been Accounting with Dr. Russin, [teaching me to do] my financials at the end of each year and taxes.”

Having already had a wealth of business experience, Kirk has found his classes even more engaging. “Being able to take what professors are saying and immediately applying them to experiences that I’ve already had…” has been very helpful for Kirk.

I asked Kirk if he had any tips for anyone who wants to start their own business. His face lit up, and he immediately said, “To take it one step at a time. I think if you had asked me to start the same company right now I would be super overwhelmed, but I just took it incrementally. I slowly accumulated knowledge, and experience, and tools.”

“It didn’t all happen in one summer,” Kirk said. “A huge learning experience that I’ve had is any time you are trying to create a company, you have to know that it is long term, and really focus on creating incremental steps that you can achieve along the way.”

Kirk hopes to one day pass the business down to his younger brother.

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Intersession at Grove City College

Every year students at Grove City have the opportunity to take intersession courses provided by the College. An intersession course is taken for two-weeks, four hours a day, six days a week. Grove City offers these classes on-campus, and a select few are offered online. Intersession takes place in the winter, the last two-weeks of winter break, and in the spring, the first two-weeks of summer break. Not every class is offered as an intersession option, but many are, especially a lot of fundamental courses such as a science, accounting, math classes, etc., so students can get them out of the way before their “real” semester begins.

Sophomore Marketing major Gretchen Basham decided to take an intersession course this year, and she took hers during the winter session of 2019. Gretchen took Accounting 202, a required course for all Marketing majors, taken after completing Accounting 201. Gretchen said she decided to do this course for intersession because she wanted to get it out of the way in order to lighten her schedule for her Spring 2019 semester, and she knew she was not necessarily skilled or interested in this topic, so doing it for two-weeks straight was worth it to her in order to get it out of the way for her future schedule.

Gretchen said that she expected intersession to be a simple way to get a class done in two weeks; however, she said she found the class to be challenging, but intersession proved to be rewarding. Although a good way to take a class, she found it to be more labor intensive than she was expecting but said it could vary depending on the course being taken.

Gretchen said one very helpful thing about taking an intersession course is that it forces you to focus specifically on that topic and course and devote all your time to it because that is the only thing you have going on for two weeks. She also said this forced her to learn all the topics in the class, in order to do well, which allowed her to achieve success.

Gretchen said she would do intersession again if she knew there was another class she was not particularly interested in and knew she would want to get it done in the span of two weeks. She said intersession was very helpful to her and would recommend doing it with friends because it can be more fun and exciting when everyone else is gone from campus, and you can use your friends as resources when you may need some help.

An intersession experience can vary drastically depending on the course being taken, if you are with friends, if you are living on campus, commuting for your intersession experience, or in the case of the online intersession, staying at home to complete your course.

Grove City College provides many opportunities to allow its students to get ahead, and potentially add more flexibility to their schedules for future courses and semesters. There are also often many intersession traveling opportunities, where faculty-led trips go abroad, and students can earn credit while doing so.

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Campus Organization Spotlight: The Crimson Collegiate Investors

When prospective students think about college, many times their minds are drawn to big things like classes, professors, sports, fraternities or sororities, and dining. However, many times the most memorable and fulfilling moments of college happen within the many small organizations and clubs offered on campus.

The Crimson Collegiate Investors (CCI) is a group of roughly 15 students from all walks of life. They partake in fundamental equity analysis by studying stocks, and ultimately investing in those companies approved by the rest of the society. CCI manages roughly $100,000, most of which has been donated by friends of the College. They meet weekly to discuss investment pitches and to learn from one of the senior members of the group.

“We are divided into many sectors,” said CCI President Quinn Peebles, “…covering any conceivable area of business from diamond mining to microchip manufacturing to clothing designers. Each sector is headed by a lead analyst whose job is to make sure that everyone is learning and having a good time, as well as do some teaching themselves.”

The success that this group has had in their investing endeavors is extremely impressive. They have consistently yielded a 30% annualized return, something that cannot be said by many professional investors. However, continuing to grow their sum of investment money is not their main focus.

“Our primary goal is to educate students,” explained Peebles. “Everyone is expected to learn, not to arrive knowing everything already.”

People join the group for a number of different reasons. Some have a personal interest in stocks. Others utilize this group as a career building platform, whether that be by tapping into CCI’s alumni connections or using the time to hone their investing skills. Still others join out of pure curiosity, and end up finding a lifelong passion. However, what everyone ends up learning is that one can take their other passions and integrate them into their investing.

“Your interests outside of the investing world drive your interests in the investing world,” explained Peebles. “Know a lot about the gaming industry? There are tons of publicly traded companies out there just for you. Do you like gold? Perfect. Gold mines await you. The possibilities of the investing world are endless. If you can think of it, there is a way to trade it and to make money off of it. People often think of what we do as boring and uninteresting, but that is only because they have not grasped the scope of possibilities and the ability to be driven by what you already think is cool or interesting.”

The Crimson Collegiate Investors is a friendly, fun, and knowledgeable group that helps equip students with the right tools to become successful investors. They hope that in the years to come, more and more students will become educated on the ins-and-outs of investing, and that the $100,000 will continue to grow.

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ICO Ecuador

Rachel and the ICO team in Ecuador (Photo Courtesy of Rachel Puls)
Rachel and the ICO team building for the locals (Photo Courtesy of Rachel Puls)

An Inner-City Outreach (ICO) trip is a mission trip where Grove City College students go out to a certain city, some in the US and some abroad, by themselves and do different missions work while also experiencing the culture of the place they are traveling to.

Sophomore Rachel Puls, who is an Elementary and Special Education major recently went on an ICO trip to Shell Mera, Ecuador from December 27th to January 7th. Rachel went to Ecuador with a group of 15 other Grove City College students. I asked her what made her decide to go on this ICO trip, and she said, “I always knew that I wanted to eventually try a missions trip, so I impulsively went to the meeting and applied and got in.”

Rachel said she absolutely loved her experience on this trip and would love to eventually go back. While there, the team built a workshop for the people living in the jungle to take classes and learn trades/skills that will help them to get jobs and sell their merchandise in the future. They also did some connecting with the Waorani Indians and people living in Ecuador as well as authentically experienced the culture and some of their traditions since they were there during New Years.

I asked Rachel if she would recommend going on an ICO trip to others, and she said, “Going as far as I did is definitely not something for everyone, but I would encourage people to try at least one in their lifetime, even if it is just in your neighboring city.  It is something that can really open your eyes to the Lord and help you to grow in ways you never thought possible.” This was Rachel’s first time going out of the country, and she said it was a great way to do it, and a way to truly experience other cultures.

She said her favorite part of the whole experience was being able to connect with so many people and not being worried about worldly or outside things, just being concerned with experiencing authentic communion together. I asked her if the trip met what she expected when signing up, and ultimately traveling there, and she said, “In some ways yes, but I also did not set many expectations and this trip went above and beyond for what I thought was going to happen and what I was going to see and experience.” She said the only downside to the whole trip was that some of the members of the group got sick toward the end, which was not the best.

Rachel said her favorite memory from the trip was when one day the team was hiking through the Amazon Jungle and she got to cut down banana trees with a machete!

Here on campus Rachel is a part of the ICO Ecuador team, and she is also a member of the Gamma Sigma Phi sorority, the Homecoming Committee, and a co-captain of the Women’s Club Lacrosse Team.