Author: durensd19

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E-Commerce (Knot Hangin’)

Each year at Grove City College there is a class called E-Commerce, where students create online businesses that donate their profits to local nonprofits. In this class, teams of students learn how to manage an online business in a hands-on learning experience. This week I sat down with Amanda Mayer, team member of E-Commerce team “Knot Hangin’,” who gave me some insight into her experience over the course of this semester. 

I began by asking, “So, what have you learned from E-Commerce?”

Amanda thought for a moment and then replied, “Before this class I had no experience in marketing, finance, and… I’ve learned so much within a few short weeks. I’ve had to balance checkbooks, produce items (goods), and market actual products to be sold. It’s no longer your safe, pretend theory of a world. You’re actually making things that people will use.” 

Curious as to what kind of goods Knot Hangin’ produced, I asked, “What’s an example of some of the products you make in Knot Hangin’?”

“We make plant hangers, keychains, coasters, and small wall decals, all out of macramé,” Amanda answered. Macramé coasters is a new concept to me, but what a cute idea!”

“Very cool! So you’re making the macramé yourself?” I though to myself – students learn how to make macramé in this class too? That’s pretty cool. 

 “Yes, everything is made by my team,” Amanda chuckled, reflecting back on recent nights of putting together the team’s orders. 

 “Have you worked with macramé before?” 

“Oh, no! I didn’t know how to make anything before this,” Amanda exclaimed, which means that she picked up making macramé in a matter of weeks before her products began to sell. How amazing! 

“Oh, so who came up with the idea for selling macramé?” I questioned. 

Amanda answered while pulling out her computer to show me some of their products, “Bailey Mantzel. I knew her through Young Life, and when I heard her idea I really fell in love with the concept and the excitement of being on her team.” There is nothing better than a project with friends, and Amanda has clearly enjoyed working with her friend Bailey. 

As I scrolled through the beautiful webpage and glanced over the macramé products, I asked, “What’s your favorite thing about your business?” 

Amanda laughed, “My favorite thing? That it’s real. It’s not like an idea or a theory, we are actually putting it into practice. I love the team, they’re a bunch of goofballs. I love the products that we make because they are actually good products and we give all of our profits to charity.” 

“Yeah! Can you tell me a bit about the charity you donate to?” I asked, excited to hear about the impact Knot Hangin’ was making in our community. 

“Absolutely. The charity we donate to is the Arc of Mercer County,” Amanda started, pulling up their webpage to give me a better look. She explained, “Their mission is to provide for adults with disabilities. I have family members who are adults with disabilities and personally I felt at a loss… I didn’t know how to help them but through this I found a way to encourage my family and encourage my community.”

So not only did the class teach her all these amazing life skills, but she was able to make an impact in a subject she truly cared about.

Wrapping up, I asked my final question, “Would you recommend E-Commerce to incoming students?” 

Without missing a beat, Amanda replied, “Yes. I would recommend E-Commerce to anyone. If you’re an Engineer, you have a mindset and solutions that would benefit the team. If you’re in Marketing, it gives you experience in reaching out and boosting your product. Computer Science – we need people to make a good website, sometimes even from scratch. Any major, I would recommend this.” 

You can find out more about Grove City College’s student businesses at gccentrepreneurship.com. Each year, the E-Commerce class has a handful of online businesses that start up and sell their products to donate to a variety of charities and organizations. It is a good place to see what Grove City students are creating and find a sense for the causes that are important to the community. 

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Students tell us their favorite thing about Grove City College

From the beautiful nature surrounding the campus, to the well structured buildings and engaging professors, there can be a lot to enjoy about Grove City College. This week I surveyed the student body and asked them to tell me their favorite thing about Grove City College, and here is what they had to say: 

Christ-Centered Education

When asked what their favorite thing about Grove City College is, many students gave a similar report, saying, “The Christ centered education.” One student shared that he loves “the way it’s shaping how I view the world through the light of Christ and the Lord of all.” 

The College is focused on incorporating Christ into every subject. If you are learning about business, you are learning about how to honor God in operating your business. If you are learning about sports, you are learning to honor God with your body. If you are learning about education, you are learning to honor God in the education field. Everything we learn points us back to our relationship with Christ. 

Trees

Another classic campus favorite is the autumn trees on campus, which explains why some students answered, “The trees.”

Maybe you do not wander around thinking about how great trees are, but when you walk on to Grove City College’s campus in the fall, noticing the trees is absolutely unavoidable. These trees are nothing less than stunning. As someone who comes from the west coast, seeing such brightly covered trees is my new favorite part of fall. Another student gave a shout out to the campus trees when they said, “The fall trees are beautiful.” 

 

Professors

“Professors,” answered more than a couple of the students surveyed. Another student responded, “The people and professors.”

When you are thinking about attending college, considering the quality of professors should be at the top of your list for college qualifications. Trust me, good teachers make a world of difference when it comes to what you will take away from a course. As we can see here, the professors on campus are truly beloved.

Another student made a remark about how the professors at Grove City do more than just teach, saying, “The quality professors. They always genuinely care about students.” 

 

Community

“Generally friendly people,” replied one student. 

“The people!” exclaimed another. 

 

It is pretty obvious that our community is another favorite aspect of Grove City. One of the core values of the College is community, and that core value is lived out in the lives of the students on campus. Students here actively encourage one another and help others out. I once dropped my I.D. card in a parking lot three miles away from campus, and another student took the time to pick it up and walk it back to me. If that is not an excellent community, I am not sure what is. 

Deep friendships and community can make the world of difference on whether or not you enjoy your college experience. Students here have certainly found that the friendships, mentorships, and community runs deep. One student says their favorite thing about campus is, “The great friendships I’ve made while here.”

Nearly half of the students surveyed agreed that community is probably their all time favorite thing about school. So, if you are worried or nervous about making friends, do not sweat it. Odds are, if you are coming to Grove City College, you will make lifelong friends.

 

Lighting up the Star

One Grove City College student reminds us about a favorite campus tradition when she writes, “Lighting up the star in December.” This is such a fun tradition at Grove City College that we hope we get to see this year. Each year when we come back from Thanksgiving break, the school is fully decorated for Christmas. There are trees in most buildings, the outside trees have twinkle lights, and the chapel is so beautifully decorated to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Best of all, each year there is an annual star lighting ceremony, when the big star above our science building is illuminated for the rest of the holiday season. 

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Dorm Plants

You might not be able to have pets on campus, but one thing you can keep in your dorm while you live on campus is a plant. If you have never been good at taking care of plants but you are looking into trying it out, or just want something to spruce up your room, give it a try! Taking care of plants is really simple and fun. Here are some tips for taking care of houseplants at Grove City College. 

 

  1. Pick out a sturdy plant. My roommates and I have always enjoyed having plants – in total we have around eight pots of various plants. While we have grown some plants from seeds (such as Alaskan poppies), it is really tough and takes constant attention. Some good plants to start with are succulents such as Christmas Cacti or Aloe Vera. Having a sturdy plant that is able to bounce back really helps. 
  2. Get creative on your watering methods. If you are bad at remembering to water your plants, do an internet search on self-watering plant pots. Using a net and some old rope, all you need to do is put water at the bottom of the pot once a month, rather than every other day. I used this method for my plants last year, and it worked perfectly. It was also great for when I had to send my plants home with friends over breaks, so they did not need to worry about killing my plant. Which leads me to the next piece of advice… 
  3. If you live far from campus, keeping plants on campus can be tough. I grew up on the west coast, which means my plants coming home with me over break is not an easy option. Start checking around with staff and friends on campus to see if anyone around campus is willing to watch your plants for a couple of weeks. For this reason, it is good to have low maintenance plants, so that your friends are not concerned about killing them while they take care of them. Another good solution is to look into air plants, which do not require water or soil, making them easy to take on the plane. 
  4. If you do not want to pay an arm and a leg for good plant pots, but do not want to stick with the basic plastic ones, there are lots of other solutions. In the past we have used cute salsa jars or mugs. Another good solution is going for a simple terracotta pot and decorating it yourself. 

Just remember – the weather in Pennsylvania gets pretty cold in the winter, and the heaters crank up around then too. I have noticed this can be a challenge for my plants. Even though I would love to start growing a palm tree in the room, it is simply not practical. Also, be mindful of your roommates and how much space the plants take up. With all of that said, I hope you have fun starting your college dorm garden!

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Halls and Doors: the Hubs of College Culture

When I first came to campus, I had no clue that dorm hallways were going to be pivotal to my time as a student. It sounds crazy, but it is true. So much time is spent in transition – walking up and down hallways, heading to your room, visiting someone else’s room, going to the bathroom. Thankfully, for me, these hallways are like campus cultural hubs – which makes for really interesting walks. Most hallways on campus have themes and are decorated, and some students do really interesting things in their halls like open up shops on their doors or sell art. With that said, here are some of my favorite hallways/door events from campus: 

  1. Sticker Shops. As I mentioned above, some students turn their doors into little pop-up shops. One door last year used to sell stickers we could buy for our laptops. There were lots of plant and “feel good” stickers on it. The stickers were super cheap and convenient; just drop in a dollar on the way to class and slap a sticker on your laptop or water bottle. 
  2. Hobby Sales. I have seen a few of these around campus. Some people make paintings and art you can use to decorate your room, and many of the pieces are impressive. Others I have seen have made crochet hearts, pot holders, and some homemade patches to put on backpacks. It is a fun and easy way to make extra cash on campus, and I think it adds to the fun of my afternoon walks through the dorms. 
  3. Celebration doors. These doors are always fun to look at, and they usually are the result of life events. When a girl in the hall gets engaged, all her friends decorate her door with congratulations cards and cute sayings and balloons. On birthdays, people cover their friend’s door in streamers and birthday wishes, often taping candy or gifts to the front of the door. Or maybe someone has joined a sorority – it is likely her door and the entire wall surrounding the door are going to be covered in Greek lettering and glitter. 
  4. Holiday decoration contests. While I am not sure if there will be door decorating contests this year with our extended breaks, I know last year’s Christmas door contest was so fun. Some completely covered their doors in wrapping paper, while others made their door look like a massive chimney with Santa hopping in. My personal favorites were the doors that were decorated to look like paper Christmas trees. 

When you arrive at college, remember to look up as you are walking around your hall. It is one of the best ways to get a feel for the culture of the people around you. Who knows–you may end up finding a good deal on some stickers or potholders!

 

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Dealing with Roommate Conflict

Not knowing who your roommate will be as you begin college can be a little nerve-wracking. You could be living with someone you do not know anything about, or who is from a completely different state or country, or who has completely different expectations for sleep cycles or cleanliness. It can be tough. This week I interviewed a couple of people and asked them about what their experience has been with their roommate, and asked for tips on how to deal with roommate conflict. 

I started by asking how they went about dealing with roommate conflict. H replied, “Well, my roommate S normally does it for everybody else. But, one thing I noticed she does a lot is when she has a hard conversation with one of our roommates, and she says something that could be taken the wrong way, she always goes back and does something nice for them. For example, sometimes when I’ve had a tough conversation with my roommates and I felt like it went badly I will leave them a nice note and try to encourage them or make things right.” 

M had a similar thought, saying, “Yeah, I think it is best to try to restore the relationship, but still be sure to deal with things. I really don’t enjoy confrontation, and I think sometimes people try to not deal with things or push it under a table, but it just does not go well.” 

J thought it was good to bring up the conflict early on, saying, “You bring up the problem early before it becomes a big problem and try to talk it out respectfully.” 

“So,” I asked, “Is there ever a good time to ignore problems with a roommate?”

H replied, “Don’t ignore your problems with other people, actually address them. I think people do that a lot – it’s not a very big social norm (to address problems), especially coming out of high school. People don’t deal with problems they have with others in high school. They don’t talk to people they are having problems with. Before I came, I had maybe had those types of conversations about three times. But when I first arrived I needed to have those conversations like three times within the first week of school.”

J wanted to add more clarification – “If it’s something you are sure you can deal with and it’s just irking you, but not really ruining you… If you know you can live with it, and it’s just inconvenient then you could probably ignore it.” 

Continuing the thought, I asked the group, “Why do you think that is important to address problems with roommates?”

“So you’re not building up any sort of weird emotion with your roommate. You don’t want things to get stuck under a table and have it be tense in the room,” H said, with a look of remembrance on her face. 

J added, “I think it’s a good thing to do early because it kind of builds up some respect between you and your roommates and it keeps it open for more conversation.”

Roommate conflict can be a tough issue when you share a small dorm space with people, but hopefully this tips help give you a hint on how to deal with roommate issue in the future. I have had some amazing roommates throughout the years, and all of them have become life-long friends. Whatever the circumstances, aim for peace.

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A Culture of Worship

When I walk down to the coffee shops on Broad Street, right off of campus, I sit down to enjoy my coffee and pull out some textbooks and begin reading. As I read I can hear the conversations of Grove City College (GCC) students nearby, asking about faith, sharing their stories with one another, and discussing what ways God is working in their life. By now you may already know about Grove City College’s chapel program, which happens on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. But here is some insight on the spiritual growth happening in the daily lives of GCC students outside of the regularly scheduled programs.

Someone once said that worship is genuine relational interaction with God. If that is true, then I know that Grove City College is truly a place of worship. One of my highlights of my first year was getting to hear people’s testimonies. I was able to hear so many stories about how God has moved in people’s lives. It surprised me how many people I spoke with who were willing to share stories of how God has been working in their life. I have known that there are groups that hold testimony nights, where people share their stories with the group. There is truly a culture of loving the Lord and eagerly expecting Him to work in our lives and sharing the testimonies of His goodness. 

To add to that, there is a richness I see in people’s relationship with God here. People are eager to spend time worshiping the Lord. I see small friend groups getting together to sing worship songs randomly. People are often out on the Quad (a grass field in the middle of campus) journaling and listening to worship music. I hear others singing hymns underneath the stars. Sometimes some girls in my hall have art and worship times, where people get together to paint and color as worship to God. I pass by the guitar players who play randomly around campus, and hear them pouring out their heart to God in song. I have even talked to runners, who wake up at sunrise to run and they say that their early morning runs are a time they can focus on God. 

There are also many groups dedicated to prayer on campus, beyond the regular clubs that have prayer meetings. Every so often I am invited somewhere to pray with a group of friends, or to study the Word of God with people. To me, there is something truly beautiful about these unorganized, student-led times of worship, prayer, and study. It shows me that people here authentically love God and want to know Him. The culture here is so unique and beautiful: college students who love God and want to spend time with Him. 

 

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Fall Fest

 

One of my favorite events on campus is Fall Fest. It is exactly what it sounds like: a festival to kick off the fall season here at Grove City College. All the clubs, sororities, fraternities, and other organizations on campus make game booths in the Quad and you and your friends spend an entire afternoon wandering from booth to booth playing carnival games. To top off the fall experience, this year the student body government passed out caramel apples, popcorn, and other snacks. So here are some highlights from Grove City College’s 2020 Fall Fest. 

  1. Bunnies. Bunnies. Bunnies. Most years, some wonderful club or organization brings a petting zoo to campus. Yes, a petting zoo. In effort to make Fall Fest a little more sanitary this year, the campus decided against a petting zoo.  One club was a little more creative and  decided to bring some small rabbits to Fall Fest this year. I cannot tell you how many times I heard the question, “Did you see the bunnies?” during Fall Fest. It was a big hit, and I think we are all excited to hang out with some bunnies again next fall. 
  2. Duck Hunt. You have probably never heard of this game, but it is a Fall Fest favorite. Each player has a large bucket of assorted rubber ducks. When the person running the game shows you a rubber duck in a cowboy costume, you are on a mission to find the cowboy rubber duck in your bucket before your opponent can find a cowboy rubber ruck in their bucket. 
  3. Egg Roulette. If you have ever played the card game Russian roulette, then you might have a good guess as to what this game is. Every game has four players, and each player smashes an egg against their forehead. Hopefully, your egg was hardboiled and you can earn tickets. Unfortunately there are losers in every game, and the loser in this game will end up with a face full of raw egg. 
  4. Water Dunk. It is a classical carnival game and there is a good reason for that. There are not many other feelings as good as when you are  the one to nail throwing the ball at the target so that a large bucket of water falls on some poor booth runner’s head. 
  5. Bigfoot Run. This was a new booth to Grove City College’s Fall Fest. For this game, participants strapped on some massive feet and raced against one another to the finish line, while trying to not lose their toenails (some plastic balls attached to the giant feet). It was probably my favorite booth to watch.
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Professors Online

 

Before attending Grove City College, I was taking a full course load online through a community college. I did not mind online classes when I was taking them my first year of college. It gave me more freedom to have a job and travel. By the end of a year, however, despite my guzzling down textbook information, I did not feel like I was retaining much of what I learned. (Apart from business law, surprisingly most of what I learned in that course stuck- who would have guessed?) It was then that I began looking into going to a college in person, and poof- Grove City College fell out of the skies. 

The professors here did a lot more than teach in person though. Most professors I had actually took time to get to know who I was. Getting lunch with professors, going over to their homes to study for finals or have tea, and having professors offer to pray and talk with students happens a lot here. While I first attributed this to perhaps being part of their job descriptions, many over summer would reach out and ask how things were going. Some even, unfortunately who do not work at the school any longer, continue to reach out and pray with me. My sole conclusion is that the staff at Grove City College authentically care, and feel it is their calling to teach and mentor us. 

When the school needed to switch to online because of an international emergency, I think all of us students were wondering how it was going to go. Having done a year of online school in the past, I was not as worried about formatting as some of my peers seemed to be. Most of all, I knew it would be the most difficult for professors who were not all tech savvy and had about a week before they needed to transition their entire way of teaching online. The first couple weeks online were a little chaotic as many professors were figuring out which face call meetings worked best- Zoom or Teams or other programs. When quizzes and tests came, it was another big haul of decisions. Would the tests be open note? Would we do them while logged into the meeting? WiFi  was spotty where some students lived- how would those students be helped? There were lots of logistics to be worked out in a short period of time. I could tell a number of my professors were thin-stretched by all the changes. 

Despite this, I still felt like I learned more through my time online with Grove City College than through my time online in my past school. The professors did not stop teaching, and they continued to do their best work. The high standard of education did not change, even though all of the circumstances did. There were immense amounts of grace as well. My parents were working in the medical field and could not stay home to help my seven year old brother with school, so often he would join me for my classes once his were over. When this happened, some of my professors would even keep him engaged and ask him questions about what we were learning in class.  

Needless to say, I was thoroughly impressed by the teaching staff here at Grove City College over the past year. Many were pushed out of their comfort zones and had to change their methods very quickly, and from my experience they did a great job. More than that, we have a staff that authentically care about their students and want to know where each of them are at. I have not experienced this in many other places. 

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Virtual Career Fair

 

Grove City College students are a notoriously driven bunch. It feels like many of us are thinking about what we will be doing post-graduation or over the summer more than anything else. Last semester saw many summer jobs and internships canceled because of the virus, and we have been hesitant to get our hopes up for more opportunities. Many of us were really disappointed and nervous to hear that the Career Fair was not going to be held in person like it usually is. Yet, the online Career Fair put on by the Career Services Office was a complete success, and I suspect there will be lots of jobs and internship positions for this upcoming summer because of it. So, here is some insight as to how it went: 

The entire event was hosted through Handshake, which is a job recruitment application for college students. Weeks in advance, the Career Services Office worked hard to advertise the event to make sure the entire student body knew about the Career Fair. This was a big help to people like myself who do not typically stop to read all the flyers around campus. Student staff wore Career Fair t-shirts, banners were up around campus, and chapel advertised months in advance. It was impossible miss the career fair. 

A few days before the event, the CSO put catalogues in our mailboxes, which listed out every company that would attend the virtual fair. I found this to be very helpful and much more effective than past Career Fairs where I would typically wander around until I stumbled upon a company that interested me. With the catalogs in the mail, I could easily see which companies might be of interest to me and sign up for interviews. Amanda Meyers, an Entrepreneurship major commented about past years, “Most booths are computer science and chemical engineer booths. There are only a couple booths suited for my major.” The new system of sorting out companies ahead of time made connecting with businesses a breeze in comparison to previous years. The use of Handshake made it easy for companies to connect with students as well. Many students had companies reach out and request to interview with them at the fair before the fair had begun. 

Each session was 30 minutes long, which gave businesses adequate time to present to students what their company was all about. The longer sessions allotted  time for students to properly connect with businesses and ask questions as well. Overall, I felt that connecting with companies was much easier through the services offered through the online Career Fair than it was at past in-person fairs. Next year might be in person, or it might be online, but the CSO’s hard work from the past year is going to open new doors even for next year’s Fair.