Month: December 2019

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Preparing for a Semester Abroad

Flying over the Swiss Alps to Italy!

Studying abroad through Grove City College is a wonderful way to expand one’s view of the world, meet new people, and learn about different cultures! The school makes studying abroad extremely accessible and allows each student to have options with the multiple programs approved by the Office of Global Programs.

The thought of going abroad for a whole semester can be daunting for a student, especially when the process is unclear and unfamiliar. Not to worry though, because the Office of Global Programs is extremely helpful and students can stop in or make an appointment at anytime! Student Advisers are available to guide each individual in their own process and make it as clear and personal to them as possible. The first step will be deciding what semester will fit best into the student’s schedule to go abroad. It will be necessary to make sure that all required classes are taken and/or available in the semesters that the student will be back at Grove City College. And then the fun begins! It will be time to do some research and narrow down programs and destinations. This is one of the best parts because the options are endless and there are really no limits to where a student can go! Some things to think about when deciding where to go are: What is your major? What languages can you speak? What is a culture that you have always been interested in learning more about? Where have you always dreamed of traveling to? Do you want to challenge yourself in speaking another language or would you rather go somewhere that speaks English?

Once the destination and program have been settled on, it will be time to figure out how many and what courses the student wants to take. The Office of Global Programs will assist the most in this stage of the process, as handing out and receiving the Course Approval Forms is their main job when advising students. Preferred and alternate courses will be chosen and then students take the form with each course syllabus to the correct Department Chair here at Grove City to get a signature. The form will be brought back to the Office of Global Programs where the forms are delivered to the Registrar’s Office to get approved. The Financial Aid Office will email the student to discuss more about preparing to study abroad. The process is a wonderful balance of learning to go through each step independently, along with guidance from the correct staff and students.

Every student should at least consider going through the process of studying abroad. It will be a learning experience and so rewarding once it is completed and the student is on their way to a semester in a different country!

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Facilities: The Grove City Free Weight Room

If you are anything like me, you will probably spend your first few days at Grove City College wondering when the gym will open, since you can feel your body getting weaker every second that you are not working out. Okay, maybe you do not feel like that, but maybe some info on Grove City’s weight rooms might help so you have an idea of what to expect after arriving to college. I will be covering the free weight room in this post, but, if you are into mechanical weights, there will be another post about that later.

First things first, the Grove City weight facility is split into two different rooms: a free weight room and a mechanical weight room. Of these two, the latter is often praised as better than the former, but over time I have learned to appreciate the Grove City free weight room because of the following three reasons:

1. Weight Racks

If you have some free weight experience, you know that weight racks are a hot commodity in every gym. A typical gym will have different types of weight racks meant for different exercises, such as squatting or pressing. Instead of having individual specialized weight racks, Grove City has eight squat racks with movable benches. This means that not only can you perform squats, but you can press and deadlift in the same rack, and since there are eight racks there is almost always one open. As if that was not enough, the weight room also has two Olympic lifting platforms as well.

2. Older Equipment (some of it)

This one might sound strange, but hear me out. Yes, older equipment is seen as a con by some people, but let me tell you, there is a great advantage to having older equipment. That advantage is the ability to bail and drop weights without feeling like you are damaging new equipment. All the weights in the free weight room can be dropped and no one will look at you twice. This is much better than trying to save face and hurting yourself in the process.

3. The weight room is free for students

Enough said.

 

I hope this article helped provide some insight into some key features of the Grove City College free weight room. If you have not tried weightlifting, I urge you to give it a shot. I hope to see you there!

 

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Warriors and Stigma – “By His wounds you have been healed”

Grove City College is truly a great place to be to grow spiritually. There are many different options when it comes to worship, and Warriors would definitely be high on the list. Warriors begins at 9 p.m. in Harbison Chapel every Thursday.

Most worship events at the Grove will have some incentive for students to come, like chapel credits, but Warriors does not, which makes it special. Everyone who comes to Warriors wants to be there.  When you are in Warriors for the first time you will notice that just about everyone is singing and the chapel is echoing with the sound of worship.

Warriors recently had a partnered event with Stigma that was dedicated to suicide prevention. In this event, the Warriors crew sang and read Bible verses, which is what they do on a normal Thursday night – but in addition, at the start and near the end they invited two speakers to come up and talk about their experiences with depression, loss, and suicide. This was kept short but was truly an important message. The speakers were sure to get the point across that we are not alone. We have a great community of Christian men and women who are there for each other. More im

portantly, we know that we have a Father in heaven looking over us.

Stigma is solely found on Grove City College’s campus, and they work to help anyone who has a mental illness. As a student at the Grove, it is really comforting to know that there are always people willing to help if someone is struggling. To learn more about Stigma, go to stigmagcc.wordpress.com.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

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Grove City College: Working a Job While in College

Being a student in college takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but also a large sum of money in most cases. Summer jobs or internships are a good way to help save money to put towards college. But that does not help cover all of the costs that accrue. Between tuition, books, extra food, car payments, and whatever else may come up, there are a lot of expenses to think about. At Grove City College, there are many on-campus job opportunities for students. Anything from cafeteria help, bookstore, tutoring positions, tour guides, and many jobs in between, there is something to fit the interest of most people.

Sometimes, on-campus jobs can get applied for and taken very quickly though. If this is the case, or none of the options interest you, off-campus jobs are always an option as well. Whether you live locally and already have a job coming into school, or if you apply for one once you arrive, it is always a possible option for extra income. There are many nice restaurants, fast food chains, and stores that are interested in hiring college-aged students. Grove City Premium Outlets, only about 10 minutes away from Grove City College, is a great option when searching for a job. The outlet mall offers over 120 stores as well as a food court for people interested in the food industry.

As for myself, I have had a job at the outlet mall since the summer before my freshman year here at Grove City College. I decided to continue working throughout the school year as well rather than trying to get an on-campus job. Personally, having the off-campus job helped me to have a different change of pace every once in a while along with gaining retail experience and make some extra cash.

There are many opportunities to make some extra cash while in college, whether it is on-campus or off-campus. It gives you a way to make some extra cash, builds experience, and helps to improve time-management skills.

 

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Grove City College Camp Fair Spotlight: Alex Berrios

One of the many opportunities offered at Grove City College is the Camp Fair, an event that takes place in the early spring, providing information to students about the various camp opportunities that are offered from many different areas. This is where Alex Berrios, a sophomore elementary education major with a minor in Christian Ministries, received her interview and job placement as a camp counselor at Camp Carl in Ravenna, Ohio.

Alex spoke to me about her experience at the camp fair and how it helped open the door to this amazing opportunity. Camp Carl is a Christian summer camp run by Tom Sullivan who is a resident of Ohio. Mr. Sullivan reached out to Alex and came to Grove City College to interview her for this position. Not only did he leave the Camp Fair with Alex signed up as a camp counselor, but with 12 other Grove City College students as well. With 13 students from one school, it resulted in one of the largest, if not the largest, population of student counselors from one school.

From the Camp Fair experience, Alex was lead into a very fruitful summer. Throughout this 12-week summer camp, there were new age groups of campers rotated each week. Alex and her co-counselor were given between eight to 16 girls each week in whom they invested. Alex stated that she was able to, “witness to them the life of Jesus and demonstrate to them what it meant to be a ‘child of God.'” She was also given the opportunity to form close biblical related relationships with other staff members which she will cherish for many years to come.

From this unforgettable experience the camp fair helped Alex receive, she not only got to help encourage many campers in their walk of faith, but also continue to grow and strengthen her relationship with Christ. She was even given a night to speak and share her testimony to the campers. Alex highly recommends not only Camp Carl, but attending the Camp Fair as a whole.