Author: Sami Bartek

Grove City College 2019 Marketing Management | | Communication Studies Minor PRESIDENT OF SIGMA THETA CHI SORORITY
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Exercise Science Internship Opportunities in Pittsburgh

Nate Sprunk is a senior Exercise Science major with a minor in Psychology.  Nate is from Wexford, PA. He is currently treasurer of the Beta Sigma fraternity on campus. The summer after his junior year, he had an internship at Pittsburgh Veteran’s Administration Hospital located in Pittsburgh, PA.

Nate happens to be a good friend of mine. I roomed with his fiancé my junior year. Priya was a senior at the time and Nate was a junior. This past June, I was a bridesmaid at their wedding! The two of them had a busy summer working out their jobs, living arrangements, and adjusting to married life. I did not have the opportunity to keep in touch as much as I had hoped. This semester I have been able to catch up with Nate and hear more about his summer.

When I asked Nate about his role with the company and what he accomplished that summer he replied, “I was an undergraduate rehab intern. I assisted in the inpatient and outpatient clinics. I observed, cleaned equipment, escorted veterans back and forth from their rooms to the clinic, performed wheelchair follows, and I conducted an educational in-service project for the inpatient staff.”

I followed with, “Did you enjoy your experience?” Which he answered, “I did. I learned more about the field of physical therapy and how clinics operate. After my experience, I feel more comfortable working in a clinical setting.”

Nate did not receive a job offer from Pittsburgh Veteran’s Administration Hospital. He still has to attend graduate school to work as a Physical Therapist, but Nate could potentially complete one of his clinical rotations at the same VA clinic in the future. He plans on staying in the Pittsburgh area after graduation to live with Priya and stay close to their families.

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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.

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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.

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Internship Opportunities: Engineer Edition

Are you a Mechanical Engineering major? Electrical Engineering major? Looking for a summer internship? There is hope for you, just talk to Shannon Stovar!

Shannon Stovar is a senior Mechanical Engineering major at Grove City College. She is from Butler, Pa. and the first person in her family to attend Grove City College.

Shannon was one of my three ‘random’ freshmen roommates and has stayed a close friend of mine throughout college. During our sophomore year, Shannon was looking for an engineering summer internship, and I knew just the person she should talk to. I immediately called my dad, Rich Bartek, who at the time was the vice president and COO of the manufacturing company, Oberg Industries. He worked there for about 14 years and loved to hire Grove City College students as interns and employees. Oberg is headquartered in Freeport, Pa., which is only about a 25-minute commute from Shannon’s hometown of Butler. My dad and I both knew Shannon was a hard worker and fast learner and he was more than happy to help her. Shortly after, Shannon applied for Oberg Industries’ mechanical engineering internship and got an offer for the summer!

Shannon excelled that summer at Oberg Industries and outshined the other interns. Oberg ended up offering her another internship for the following summer, after her junior year. She gladly accepted.

“I assisted the design engineers in a variety of tasks along with helping in other areas of the company like die maintenance and quality control. I developed 3D models and drawings for customer parts and tooling. I worked on quite a few independent projects where I was given a problem such as a component in a machine that had broken and had to come up with a solution to fix the issue,” Shannon explained to me when I asked about what she did both summers.

I followed up by asking Shannon if she liked her time with Oberg, “I really enjoyed the experience! I think one of the most important parts about a company is the people that you work with, and everyone I worked with was extremely helpful and kind. I formed close friendships with workers from all different areas of the company. I was able to work with some of the brightest engineers in the company and was really challenged by this. Oberg gave me a wide variety of tasks so that I wouldn’t get bored and they really trusted me to work independently on big projects.”

Shannon received a full-time job offer from the company this past August. Oberg was gracious and gave her roughly six months to decide if she would like to take the offer. She had obviously proven herself very worthy over the course of her two summers there. Shannon is giving herself some time to decide and taking other options into consideration as the halfway mark of her senior year quickly approaches.

Many Mechanical Engineer majors assume internships are only for business majors. “Companies like Oberg Industries are overjoyed when they receive a resume from a student coming from Grove City College,” my dad stated. “When Shannon applied we could not wait to work with her.”

This is just another example of how connections within the Grove City College community can give you great opportunities. Students need to continue to persevere and form relationships during their four years because you never know where they will land you.

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CCO’s Jubilee Conference 2019

Two summers ago, I interned with the company Coalition for Christian Outreach better known as CCO. CCO puts on Jubilee every winter which is a Christian conference held in Pittsburgh, where thousands of college students gather and learn how to worship God. The CCO has been putting on the Jubilee Conference for over 40 years now and every year it attracts more and more people. Jubilee’s main purpose is to “bring together college students to experience powerful worship, incredible speakers, and engaging topics that may impact our lives.”

Throughout the Jubilee weekend, students experience four large group gatherings that follow the Biblical narrative of the creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. For students, it is a good place to connect and meet people in their vocational field. Students can network to discover their next internship, learn how to continue their education and even plan for their future career. The CCO believes both faith and future are one in the same. This conference is unique in the fact that it is built around college students by trying to expose students to the Christian faith, but also help them plan for their futures in the post-college world. Jubilee gives students the opportunity to be part of a community, even if it is just for a weekend, which expands on the teachings of the Bible and our calling as Christians.

You can sign up for Jubilee online. Tickets went on sale Thursday, Oct. 4. The conference takes place on Feb. 22-24, 2019. Online, you can see the different deals that take place for students vs. non-students. You are able to purchase a conference pass, which is just for the events that take place, or a pass for four people and a hotel room for the weekend. The CCO blocks off rooms at a Pittsburgh hotel every year for anyone who is coming in from out of town or anyone who would like to be close to the conference for the weekend. It is a great offer and a great weekend for a group of friends or a family to join and learn more about God and what it means to be a Christian. I promise you, Jubilee will not let you down. Check out the link below to sign up and view promo videos of 2019’s Jubilee conference.

https://www.jubileeconference.com/

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Grove City College Internship Opportunities – CCO

As a freshman at Grove City College, I never anticipated the opportunities that would come my way during my next four years here. During my sophomore year, I started networking with Grove City alumni. Networking for me meant talking to parents of my friends at school who either are alumni or know alumni of the College. The parents of my current roommate are both alumni and knew at the time I was interested in event planning. They helped me navigate the internship world and by March of my second semester sophomore year, I was offered an internship in the Development/Events Department with a company called Coalition for Christian Outreach, otherwise known as CCO.

My boss at CCO for that summer was Allyson Sveda, Grove City College alumna of ’88. Allyson was a Business and Communication Studies major during her time at college. To say Allyson was “involved” on Grove City College’s campus would be an understatement.  She was in the Alpha Beta Tau sorority, president of Student Government Association, president of Omicron Delta Kappa, president of Association of Women Students, while also involved in Orchesis, Campus Tour Guide, and Orientation Board.

Since May 2013, Allyson has served as the Development Director within CCO. She works with a team of six people to raise funds for CCO’s mission of “transforming college students to transform the world.” The Development team is responsible for raising money for the Next Generation Fund through direct fundraising efforts, planned giving, and annual events. As the CCO grows nationally, Allyson’s department looks for new donor bases across new regions to support the campus work in those areas.

Allyson and I have maintained a close relationship even after I completed my intern summer with CCO.  I recently spoke with her and asked why she hires Grove City College students as interns. Her response was extremely genuine and compassionate toward the campus community. “Personally, I like to give a fellow Grover the opportunity to learn new skills while they discover more about their personal strengths/weaknesses, build a more robust network, and gain solid experience that can leap frog them into their next position or future career. The CCO has a great relationship on many levels with Grove City. I will give Grove City College students first chance at any summer internship slots in our Development Office,” Allyson replied.

“Have you ever seen differences between Grove City students/alumni compared to students/alumni from other colleges? If so, please describe those differences,” I asked. “I have found the students here to be willing to dig in, be concerned with the importance of the details, creative, self-starters, great communicators, immediate contributors, motivated and willing to please! Other departments have commented on the solid nature of our Department interns. It’s no surprise to me,” Allyson said.

As my own career goals have shifted over the last couple of years, Allyson has continued to help by introducing me to other alumni of Grove City College. The Marketing and Sales internship I had after my junior year happened to be under one of Allyson’s sorority sisters! Allyson is just one prime example of all the Grove City College alumni that love to help out current students of the college. The close-knit community  happens to be a very giving and generous one. There are so many opportunities out there, even at a small school like Grove City College. Be confident, get to know more people, and keep your eyes and ears out for any possibilities that may come your way.

 

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Big Man on Campus 2018

Big Man on Campus is an event that has been happening at Grove City College every fall for the last 27 years!  Big Man is a male pageant show that raises money for the American Cancer Society.  One of Grove City College’s sororities, Sigma Theta Chi (Sig Thets), has been spearheading this fundraiser since it started.  The Sig Thets also work with the American Cancer Society in the spring semester by putting on Grove City College’s Relay for Life.  Both of these events raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society and the Grove City College community.

This year, I am the Chair and main representative for Big Man on Campus.  This fall, the event will be held on Friday, November 2nd from 7 to 10 p.m. in Crawford Auditorium.  Ten to 15 male student volunteers, usually ranging from sophomores to seniors, participate in the pageant show.  Every girl in the sorority is responsible for reaching out to friends and spreading the word that the Sig Thets are looking for guys to participate.  We try to recruit guys that are upperclassmen and in a Greek group on campus.  They attract larger crowds to the event like their own fraternity brothers or housing groups.

The event encompasses multiple portions throughout the night.  There is a formal wear, swimwear, talent, and question portion that each contestant goes through during the competition.  The talent and question portion come after intermission.  The ‘Big Men’ usually have to be pretty confident for these segments of the show.  Talents have ranged from playing musical instruments, singing, building a tent, to coloring a picture.  The audience usually prefers the more humorous talents (like coloring a picture).  Every year we have three to four faculty members here on campus judge the ‘Big Men’.  Once every boy has gone through all of the portions of the show, a Sig Thets collects the judges’ sheets and tallies up the points each boy earned.  The audience also gets one ticket when they come to Big Man and can use this ticket at the end of the show to vote for their favorite Big Man participant.

The winner receives a sash, crown, the title of “Big Man on Campus”, and a $50 Sheetz gift card.  All of the proceeds from the pre-sale and the ticket money we collect the day of the show go directly to the American Cancer Society.  Speaking on behalf of the Sigma Theta Chi sorority, we love doing this fundraiser every year.  It is good publicity for the sorority and the second biggest fundraiser on Grove City College’s campus (Relay for Life being the first).  For the freshmen, it is a great event to attend.  It gives students something to do on a Friday night and exposes them to upperclassmen and members of fraternities on campus.  We always hope for a large crowd to come out, watch the fun event, and participate in supporting the American Cancer Society and the Sigma Theta Chi sorority.