Today, I talked to Tara about her life at Grove City College. If you have ever met Tara, you know how kind, welcoming, and warm she is. She is a wonderfully sweet person. Her academic life is awesome, too. Tara was originally a biology major but then switched to a communications major in her sophomore year. She has a minor in studio art and spends a ton of time in the Pew Fine Arts studios because of it. Honestly—I always see her there.
She is also passionate about growing in her walk with Christ. A leader on Grove City College’s Intervarsity group, Tara is no stranger to high levels of extracurricular responsibility. I have seen her lead in group settings many times. It is a joy to watch.
I wanted to introduce you to Tara because she has a lot of insight on cross-departmental academic life, being in Studio Arts and Communications. Plus, I do not know anyone as good and consistent at organizing fun activities for friends as Tara. In this video, I asked her about her involvement with Intervarsity, talked with her about some of her favorite professor moments, and got her advice on making friends when you get to college (something she excelled at). I hope you will watch and get a better feel for the type of campus Grove City College is, and the opportunities we have here. Tara is certainly a great example of how multi-faceted a student on this campus can be.
In this episode of Reel Life, I wanted to give you a look into the life of a specific student. Meet Drew. He is a junior communications major and a super cool dude. Drew reached out to me asking if he could interview me for a class, and I thought, “Wow, this is perfect–you can interview me for your project, and I can interview your for Reel Life at the same time!” To my delight, he agreed that yes, that was something we could do.
I wanted to post this interview because I think it is essential that you hear a focused spotlight on a current Grove City College student. A lot of prospective students do not have a current student they feel comfortable reaching out to about how student life is going for them. Many do not even have a current student they know. So consider Drew your one-on-one look at life in Grove City College. As I mentioned, he is a top-notch communications major. He also has a passion for film, co-runs an on-campus Bible study group, is on the leadership team for the Intervarsity group here at Grove City, and is currently starting his own podcast. Plus, he is an awesome friend.
I loved the answers he gave to the questions I asked him. I want you to hear them, because I think they are a fantastic representation of the student experience here at the College. I hope after watching this you will get a better idea of the community we have here on campus and even gain some insight on how we are being prepared for the real world.
Lastly, I want to give a special thank-you to Drew for helping me make this video. Enjoy!
One of the most common concerns I’ve heard from high schoolers in their college search is this: Will employers hire me if I have a degree from a small, Christian school?
I’m shocked by this worry.
I just started my junior year at Grove City College, and right now I have an on-campus, paid graphic design job. Today, I was called in to interview for another part-time position at a national business and technology solutions company. A few weeks ago, a company in Washington D.C. reached out to me to talk about being the ‘young voice’ of a six-person marketing team they were building. I also have a paid internship with a multi-billion dollar biotechnical company lined up for the summer.
I do not specify the size or scope of these places to brag, but simply to express that small schools do not have to lead to small jobs.
The company I am going to be working for this summer, I worked for last summer, too. To emphasize to you how employable a Grove City College degree is, my employer for this job told me I was selected out of more than 300 applicants, many of them Ivy Leaguers. Of the final pick of interns at this company, more than 85% were from Ivy League schools. I personally did not even encounter another intern without an Ivy League or next-to-Ivy League degree – except for one. Another current Grove City student ended up being accepted to this company to intern as well.
Now, this is an organization in New York, with no ties at all to Grove City. My application went through a lot of employees before I even got an interview. I doubt more than one of them, if any at all, had even heard of Grove City. It didn’t matter. Both the other girl from Grove City and I had secured internships there. This was a perfect testament to me of how employable Grovers are – in both Christian circles and in the business world at large.
When I ultimately did talk to my employer about why they chose me for my internship position, the answer had nothing to do with school. It came down to three main qualities they cared about:
I did my research before the interviews. I knew what the company was, their values, and why I wanted to work for the company. I was able to express specifically why they stood out to me in my search process.
I was enthusiastic. During my emails, phone interviews, and video interviews, my employer said it struck her how passionate I sounded about the topics we discussed. That was important to her.
I had organized knowledge on the topics I needed to know. When I was asked questions about business, marketing, or management, I stayed calm whether I felt confident or not about the answers. I had thought-through opinions and understanding of the information she referenced.
I was grateful. After every conversation, every question, every interview, I made sure to show my appreciation for the time recruiters and my manager were spending on me.
These qualities were far more important to my company than the fact that I was from a small school. And the fact that Grove City had a wonderful academic reputation served me when people at my company looked it up during the recruitment process.
So I encourage you, regardless of what college you end up at, not to be overly concerned about the notoriety of it. Be much more focused on how you present yourself to companies, how many jobs you apply for, and how many connections (and friendships) you build along the way. Those are the qualities that Grove City College nurtures in students, and in my experience, it has always been more effective to be kind, enthusiastic, and productive than it would be to go to a big-name school.
I look forward to my dinners at Hicks every day here at Grove City College. Regardless of how crazy my schedule is, how overwhelming the week has been, or how cold the short walk to the dining hall might feel to me, I am always comforted by the warm, friendly faces I meet when I go. It is a fun, lively, and calming experience with great real-talk and hilarious moments. Plus, with all the negatives you might hear about “classic college cafeteria food,” I always find something I enjoy eating at Hicks Cafeteria. And that is saying something, because I am often a picky eater. (If you ever get a chance to visit, or if you end up attending, make sure you try the chocolate milkshakes Hicks makes. They are incredible.)
With all that being said, in this vlog, I wanted to bring some of that Grove City College dining hall fun to you.
I picked a random day like any other to take out my camera, thought of some questions to ask students at dinner, and started filming. The result had me smiling ear-to-ear. This is a vlog I am going to look back on and treasure when graduate. I love the sincerity of answers, and I love the humor people brought to the table. But overall, I love most that this vlog represented a classic dinner at Hicks. By watching it, I hope you get a sense of how lovely the people here are, how much we care for Grove City College, and how strong the community that exists here is.
I am a Junior now. At this point, I know Grove City College was the right choice for me; however, I was not always so sure. As any student knows, we all question what college is the best for us. What do we want to major in? What do we want the student-professor ratio to be? Does the food quality matter? And on top of all that confusion, how do we wade through the promises to make life awesome that countless schools are offering us?
When I was in my senior year of high school, I struggled in my college decision process. I have high standards for myself and big dreams for my future, so I felt a lot of pressure to choose the ‘perfect’ place. I was vulnerable, confused, and bombarded with messaging from all sorts of colleges. Every one of them tried to tell me they would meet my college needs in the ‘best’ way. Promises like these can be overwhelming and even tempting, but I wanted more. I wanted a school that proved itself worthy of my time, and a place that would allow me to grow both academically and spiritually.
Something major that set Grove City College apart was the fact that rather they refused to consider themselves the bearer of all my dreams.In fact, the stance of the people I talked to was glaringly different. The stance here was—and is—only God can fulfill you. Only God can truly get you where you are meant to be. The job of the college is simply to facilitate and provide a platform for the influence of Christ on student’s life.
This was a level of authenticity and integrity that I had not seen among the other promotional messaging of schools I was looking at. It spoke to the heart of a question I feared as a high-schooler: Is my college experience going to be enough for me? Instead of claiming that they would be the ‘have all, be all’ ofschools, Grove City College reminded me that only God could be my key to an amazing future.
Looking back, I almost feel surprised that I was able to distinguish this subtle difference in messaging at that point in my life. Amidst all the stress, all the pressure, and all of the uncertainty of being a rising college student, I was often tempted to forget how important the permanent things in life are—God, family, curiosity, being good to people, and so on. Rather than take advantage of my lack of perspective, Grove City College helped bring it back to me and continues to do so. For that, I am forever grateful.
As you continue your search, I hope to leave you with these reminders that Grove City put in my heart. Wherever you end up, remember that a college is not going to fulfill you. A great sorority is not going to fulfill you. An awesome cafeteria is not going to fulfill you. And they are not going to take you places, either.
Only God can do that.
So work hard, do right, and remember to leave the fulfillment you get from your college years up to Him.
Wishing you the very best as you continue your search.
By the time I figured out I was truly interested in Grove City College, I already felt overdue to have an overnight visit there. At that time though, it was already nearly April of my senior year. Who would take me in under such short notice? And how could the experience be anything but stressful?
To my delight, all my fears and doubts were squashed in a few short days.
My mom and I reached out to Grove City, and they connected me with some girls here who lived in a suite together. They offered to take me in for a night, and in no time, we had a date planned on the calendar for the visit. As if that was not enough, Grove City also organized multiple classes for me to sit in on during my trip. They even opened up doors for me to talk to specific professors in the major I was considering.
Instead of being scared, I was now excited. For the first time in my college search, I felt like things were actually falling into place.
I live about eight hours away from the college. On the morning of the day I would do my overnight, my mom and I drove all the way there in one trip. When I arrived on campus for the first time, the girls I connected with met me in the parking lot with smiles and hugs. They were so kind. Throughout the day, I had all my class and professor meetings. I felt like a superstar – every professor made sure to get my name right and remember it. Even the students I met during my class visits seemed to go out of their way to make me feel at home.
As the day went on, the girls took me to a worship service, campus Zumba, and watched a movie with me. That night, one of the girls I was staying with—Kimberly—gave me her bed to sleep in while she slept on the floor in a sleeping bag. I protested, but she insisted. The next morning, the girls ate breakfast with me at Mary Anderson Pew Cafeteria and we all had a good talk about life before I had to go back home.
I often think back to that first, 24-hour experience I had at Grove City. The trip there felt uncertain and scary. The trip back felt calm. My overnight was a definite turning point for me for so many reasons. I was able to experience the College’s beautiful campus, its top-notch classes, and some of the flourishing clubs and activities it offered students. Most of all though, I was blessed by the goodness of the people I met during that time.
If you can find the time during your college search, I encourage you to reach out to your top schools and try to organize an overnight with them. I was amazed by how much I learned about my school and my hopes for my college experience during my short overnight. It turned out to be one of the most important trips I could have taken at that point in my life.
If you’ve never visited Grove, you might not know about the every-Thursday-night, student-run worship tradition here. It’s called Warriors, and it brought me to tears the first time I experienced it.
I come from the greater New York City area. I grew up going to a very secular public school where most of my teachers wouldn’t even mention God. When they did, it usually wasn’t positive. It was often derogatory, in fact. People have asked me since if it was tough going through a school career like that, but honestly, it wasn’t. It was a bit annoying at times, but for the most part, it was so normal that I never really thought about it. I thought that was just ‘the way things were.’
All that changed when I visited Grove City for the first time and the girls I was staying with on my over-night brought me to Warriors.
Like I mentioned, every Thursday night, students flock to worship together at Warriors. It’s run by students, for students. Well over a hundred come every week. From 9 to 10 p.m., we turn off all the lights in the on-campus chapel, and just sing worship songs for an hour. It’s a beautiful and overwhelming experience.
When I went there during my first visit to Grove City, I didn’t know what to expect, but I certainly wasn’t expecting what it turned out to be. I went to a small church in New York. I’d never seen so many people come together in worship before, especially not so many young people, and all by their own choice. Looking around at what could have been hundreds of eager faces in the dim-lit chapel made tears come to my eyes before we even started singing. And then, when the first song came on, I lost it. All of those individual faces turned into one, powerful voice. Goosebumps raced through me. To put it plainly, I was changed.
I came into that service feeling so many things at once. I was a highschooler in the midst of my college search, getting ready to make a huge decision, and I felt like I had a lot on my plate. Going to Warriors melted all of that away for me. Looking back, what it left in my anxiety’s place was a huge sense of gratitude. I felt so grateful that a place like this existed—and that it existed in a college I could call home if I wanted to.
It’s hard to choose the ‘one moment’ I knew I wanted to be at Grove City College, but if I had to, this experience would probably be it. It still gives me chills to think back on. Now as a junior, I still try go to Warriors every Thursday, no matter how full my schedule is. Even though I’m at a school where my professors pray before class and I see Bible study groups on the grass when I walk out of buildings, I can remember my public school in New York. I think back at its antagonism and how out-of-the-ordinary Christianity was to people there. I can’t help but be filled with gratitude at the contrast. I can’t help but cherish my first Warriors experience—my first time seeing what a prayerful, thriving church looks like.
So the point of all of that is to say this: If you get a chance to visit Grove City at some point, I hope you’ll make time to go to Warriors. Try to visit on a Thursday night. You won’t regret it. And if you’re used to big churches and faithful Christians being around you at all times, cherish that. Whether you go to school here or not, surround yourself with that. It is beyond important, and not something that ever ought to be taken for granted.
