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Career Spotlight: Hayley Klinger | HP Internship

Hayley Klinger is a senior Business Management major at Grove City College.

Over the summer of 2015, Hayley had the privilege of interning with one of America’s largest global information technology companies in the nation, Hewlett Packard at their Little Rock, Arkansas headquarters. She tells of her road to landing the internship, the influence the Grove City College Career Services Office had on the entire process and her experiences during the internship.

She also sheds light on moving forward from her collegiate level education into the work force.  Watch the video below to hear directly from Hayley.


[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTW3MKjxLis]
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A Journey from the Grove to the Globe: Alumni Spotlight on Valerie Perry

What does it take to navigate your career path?

Valerie Perry (‘07), a technical production specialist at National Geographic, knows that getting a job you love requires courage to pursue opportunities and willingness to learn from a variety of experiences.

Valerie Perry

As a Grove City College student, Valerie was a double major in Communication Studies and Christian Thought (now called Biblical & Religious Studies). Her four years at Grove City College were influential in Valerie’s faith and personal growth.

“I developed a strong work ethic during my time at Grove City,” Valerie explains, “There is still a lot that I don’t know (we’d need a longer article to list those), but I’ve found that I’m capable of learning anything if I’m willing to put in the work. Grove City also helped shape my identity. I left college knowing what I believed and why—knowledge that has been a great comfort and counsel to me throughout several seasons.”

Following graduation, Valerie worked for Silver Ring Thing, a program that hosts concert style events promoting sexual abstinence for teens. As a live event video director for the national tour, Valerie learned valuable skills that prepared her for her career in production.

Career paths can often take unexpected turns. After attending a career fair in Las Vegas, towards the end of the Silver Ring Thing tour, Valerie applied for a position at Royal Caribbean International. A few months later, Valerie transitioned from life on a tour bus to life on a cruise ship as a broadcast technician.

During her time at Royal Caribbean International, Valerie not only gained technical skills in video production, but also developed a stronger sense of her values and faith, which are central to her passion for video production and her positive attitude toward work.

Building upon her past experiences and willingness to learn, Valerie landed her current position with National Geographic. Through her career in production so far, Valerie has discovered that honing one’s skills, being humble, and welcoming a variety of experiences is invaluable.

Her advice for students pursuing creative careers is simple: pursue any opportunity that develops your creativity.

“Sadly you can’t teach creativity. I’d be the first to sign up for a class if it could be taught. It can’t. But, I do think it can be absorbed. Hang out with people and work that inspires you. Spend time in nature or in museums or at the movies—whatever works for you. Spend time with people more talent and creative than you. They’ll push you to be better. Creativity involves risk and often comes with a lot of failure and rejection, so learn how to be comfortable with those. If you choose a creative career, don’t forget to have creative pursuits in your non-work life as well. That creativity is just for you— you don’t have to worry about it being “wrong” or not meeting someone’s expectations. It’s just pure fun. The enjoyment you get from that creative process will help you get back up if you get knocked around from time to time. And recognize that even taking the risk is a victory. It’s easier to sit on the sidelines (or the couch) than audition for a play, paint a picture, or write a poem. Just by doing you’re winning,” Valerie explains.

Poster for Valerie Perry's speaking engagement at GCC Design by Kara Mazey ('16)
Poster for Valerie Perry’s speaking engagement at GCC
Design by Kara Mazey (’16)

Recently, Valerie returned to her alma mater as a guest speaker for a series hosted by the Grove City College chapter of Lambda Pi Eta. During her presentation, she shared honest and thoughtful insight into the learning process involved in pursuing a creative career.

As Valerie spoke with GCC students about her experiences, she offered these words of wisdom:

“If you can learn to write well and speak well, the world is yours.”

For Valerie Perry, these words of wisdom have truly opened up the world.

 

 

 

 

Learn more about the Department of Communication Studies & Visual Arts here.

Learn more about Valerie Perry’s new book Sea More: Caribbean here.

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VentureLab Business Spotlight: LunchTime

While Grove City College has a wide array of majors and fields of study, one that particularly stands out and offerLunchTime Founders, Haley Nerlich & Ashley Hendersons students some interesting and unique opportunities, is the area of Entrepreneurship.

VentureLab, which is a program offered to the entire campus community through Grove City’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, allows students to explore business ideas with funding raised by the college for this purpose. Students submit their ideas to Center, and, if chosen, enter the VentureLab program which gives them the opportunity to test the viability of their ideas and receive mentorship and guidance from professors, alumni and local business professionals. Students remain in the program for the better part of the academic year.

Last year, entrepreneurship majors Ashley Henderson and Haley Nerlich, who developed an idea called LunchTime, were the only social enterprise team accepted to the VentureLab program. LunchTime proposed taking advantage of a federally funded program that provides money for lunches during the summer to needy children. They found that while the funding existed for kids in Venango County, the delivery system did not. LunchTime created a delivery system in rural communities that would bring lunches to children that may not otherwise get food. The idea came from Haley’s summer experience in volunteering at her mom’s nonprofit company, with whom they later ended up partnering. Haley took this idea and joined forces with Ashley to successfully implement their plan into a real life, feasible business.

Through the funding of the VentureLab, they were able to set up twenty six locations including churches, playgrounds, and schools where a large number of children needing this type of program lived. Determining the optimal locations took a lot of hard work and dedication. They sent out over seven thousand forms to parents asking for addresses so they could create map out ideal serving locations to reach the maximum number of children.

As the end of the school year neared, Haley took over the project as Ashley went on to complete an internship at Two Men and a Truck. Haley, with additional support of her mom, was able to set up the 26 needed sites that were serviced by 33 employees and 15 volunteers. Fifty-five days later, LunchTime surpassed Haley’s original goal and distributed over 20,000 meals.

Although the hard work is credited to Ashley, Haley, and the members of the LunchTime staff, the opportunity afforded by the VentureLab and Entrepreneurship program at Grove City College helped to lay the groundwork.

“The Entrepreneurship Department sets you up to do the things they are teaching you in a safe environment,” reflects Ashley.

Through these different programs, students are able to take the lessons they are learning in class and put them to the test in a real world scenario that can lead to a successful business. Because this lab is done in a safe environment, students minimize some of the risks that a lot of business startups face. “The program itself is created so you can do these things we talk about every day in class and not have to be worried about losing investors or equity,” says Ashley.

For Ashley and Haley, the VentureLab allowed them to not only launch their own business, but also to help a community in need.

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Q&A With Redbox Missionary Adrienne Scrima

Senior Communication Studies major Adrienne Scrima is currently studying abroad at the King’s College in New York City. This past summer Adrienne was one of the students accepted into Grove City College’s unique Redbox Missions program, where accepted students are granted funds to complete mission work of their choosing throughout the summer. 

Why did you decide to pursue the redbox program and what did that process look like?

I applied my sophomore year and was rejected, but encouraged to apply again my junior year. I applied because it was a great opportunity to do any kind of mission work on scholarship. I applied my junior year after Dr. Graham stopped me in the hallway to follow up and encourage me again. That happened the day after I asked friends to pray for my summer plans. I applied, interviewed (funnily enough my interview sophomore year went far better), went to the theology/missions training sessions, met for meals with the Red Box students, and spent months and months researching, consulting, and praying about my missions decision.

Can you describe your program and the calling you felt towards that area?Adrienne

I applied to Athletes in Action after a speaker at Fellowship of Christian Athletes spoke about how he was impacted by his experience at an AIA camp. I definitely didn’t feel called. It was the last thing I wanted to do. I thought God had better plans for me, ones that would be more sacrificial and less fun. However, God’s plan was easy to see when every other option for the summer fell through.

What were some favorite moments from the summer?

I began to see that God has gifted me in ways that are advantageous as a journalist. I started to see journalism as ministry. It actually prepped me for my King’s College study abroad journalism program. By far, the best part was the community. Everyone was extremely intentional on being open, vulnerable, and gritty about personal issues. Interns for example, initiated group discussions on homosexuality, beauty, and diversity.

How your experience affected you and impacted those around you, relationally and in your faith?

Relationally, I get to live the rest of my life miserable that I may never experience community like that again. But actually, it just showed me how valuable intentional Christian community is. And how fun it is. I entered the program with the goal to get to know myself better. I felt as though I had a ton of blind spots and wasn’t sure of how I came across. I made sure to ask people why they complimented me or get feedback, criticism on my actions. And my faith is always on a high when I can dialog with others freely and openly about God.

Adrienne2What would you say to a student considering applying for the redbox program? Is it worth it?

Yes. You can do whatever you want. Red Box isn’t for a specific kind of person, Its perfect for any Christian, regardless of calling, with a willingness to serve. Also, learn from my mistakes and don’t think too hard about it. I tried to be the best steward of the scholarship I could be, thus indecisively passing decision deadlines.

Anything else you might like to add that isn’t covered above?

GOD KNOWS WHAT YOU WANT/NEED BETTER THAN YOU DO.

 

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Streamlined: Politics to the Point

Politics. The word conjures a feeling of complexity. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a variation of “I don’t even know, it’s too complicated” in response to political current events. However, this response will not suffice for much longer. As college students, politics is transforming from something we learned in our text books while in high school into something that affects the “real world” in which we will work and raise our families.

This was the concern of a group of students at Grove City College. Political science majors David Kirk, Bryan Denny, Brooke Dymski, Jamieson Weaver and Christina Vilbert saw a problem in our society. There were news sources that spoke to millennials and there were news sources that aimed to simplify political news, but there lacked a news source that combined both. Upon this realization, the website Streamline was born.

Still in its beginning stages, Streamline aims to be a non-profit organization that partners with donors of older generations who value its worthy cause. Streamline will provide an online, un-biased, concise news source for millennials to become engaged and interested in politics. One of the many advantages that Streamline has over other new sources is that it is led by millennials themselves who understand the overwhelming nature of current events. In turn, Streamline will do the hard work for their readers by summarizing pertinent political news in an engaging way, choosing both topics and examples that apply to millennials.

Furthermore, the brilliant idea of Streamline is a great reminder of the power of ambition and creativity. Freshman year, the crew of Streamline would never have guessed their idea would stand where it is now. Now, a little over 2 years later, Streamline has been awarded Grove City College’s Venture Lab and will be funded to become a legitimate business that, hopefully, will carry far past graduation. Their success is an inspiration to other Grove City College students to work with their fellow students, to foster creativity, to build upon one another’s strengths, and to build upon an idea that will benefit others.

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Rigorous Academics at GCC: A Student’s Perspective

Marcs-2015-001-449x304I’m a person who likes to do it all. When I was in high school, I always had the longest spiel at every senior night, leaving the announcers breathless as they rattled off every sports team, club, and activity in which I had participated for four years. Naturally, when I was about to start my freshman year at Grove City, I was ready to come to this school and take it by storm.

But I was afraid. I had heard the stories from my brother and friends about how rigorous the academics were. Yes, I wanted to devote myself to my studies first and foremost but what about the rest of the college experience? What about continuing my college career as a track and field athlete? At the end of August, I had plenty of butterflies in my stomach about the prospect of starting my freshman year of Grove City College.

I wish I had been able to read a blog post to soothe my nerves then like I am doing for you. If you are wondering if you will be able to handle the academics that Grove City College offers, as well as have a healthy social life, the answer is 100% yes. If you are wondering if Grove City is a school full of people sticking their noses in books, I am here to assure you that the answer is no. If you are wondering if you can be an athlete as well as have a good GPA, it is completely possible.

I am currently a junior at Grove City and for the past two years I have kept myself plenty busy with activities like varsity track and field, Orchesis Dance Troupe, New Life, Alpha Beta Tau Sorority, and Orientation Board. All of my friends and fellow students have just as busy schedules if not more. All these activities don’t account for all the late night talks about life and faith in a college dorm, endless dances, numerous Coffaro’s pizzas consumed, and intramural sports games.

Yes, Grove City is going to prepare you for your future job. Yes, they are going to push you academically and there will be many nights where you will be writing papers, reading, or doing lab reports, but Grove City will teach you many more valuable life lessons than just that. Grove City will surround you with lifelong friends who will be there for you when you do poorly on a quiz and when your heart gets broken by a Christian boy who felt like “God called him” to break up with you. Friends who you get so close to that it blows your mind that you only have known them a semester. Friends who will pray for you when you are struggling with anxiety, depression, and faith issues. Friends that will encourage you to be in the word and post sweet notes with Bible verses on your door in the dead of night.

Grove City will help you to seek God first, each and every day. You will find yourself in classes where the teacher doesn’t tip toe around controversial issues from a Christian perspective and where professors actually pray before your tests and quizzes. You will find yourself even becoming friends with your teachers, who will remember your name and even invite you to their houses for meals. At Grove City, you are so much more than just a number you are precious daughter or son of Christ and no one lets you forget it.

Grove City College isn’t just a school that will grow you academically. In just the two short years I have been here, I have grown so much—socially, spiritually, and in every area. I look at the person I was coming in freshman year and I don’t even recognize her. I have grown to become someone I would have admired in high school and, though God isn’t close to being finished with me yet, I know that I am so much closer to Him than I ever was in high school.

If you’re looking for a school where your GPA is all you’ll have to show for your four years, Grove City College is not the place for you. If you’re looking for a college where you’ll remember all the memories and good times at college, pick Grove City. You should pick Grove City if you are ready to be pushed in every area of your life, if you are ready to go home on breaks and have your family members notice positive changes in you, and if you want the whole college experience. I can guarantee that you that you will not be left unchanged.

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Grovers Abroad: Samantha Parry

During her sophomore year at Grove City College, Samantha Parry (‘16) received an e-mail inviting her to apply to the college’s study abroad program in Nantes, France. Samantha, who had always wanted to visit Europe, decided that this opportunity was too good to pass up.

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Samantha in Nantes, France

The following year, Samantha spent the fall semester with twenty three other Grove City College students, from a variety of majors, at the Grove City College European Study Center in Nantes, France.

One of the unique aspects of the Nantes program is that it gave Samantha the opportunity to earn credits for her mechanical engineering major. Through one of her classes at the Université de Nantes, Samantha gained helpful insight into the field of engineering beyond learning technical skills.

“We took most of our classes through Grove City, but one class that we took with French students was called Engineering Management and it was basically learning about different cultures and then learning how to manage projects cross-culturally,” Samantha explains. “We learned about how cultural nuances can affect how you make a business deal or work on a project and things like that, so that was cool to learn about but also cool to get to know French students…I think that getting to know them, doing projects with them, and learning about French culture helped me be more objective in how I treat people and situations and I think that learning more of the business and personal relations side of things is something that engineers don’t really get through engineering school,” Samantha explains. “If you are going to be an engineer one day, you’re going to have to deal with things internationally. Technology is worldwide and it [studying abroad] gives you so much more of a global perspective that I think is really important for anyone, including engineers.”

Samantha and GCC students in Paris
Samantha and GCC students in Paris

Although Samantha says that it was an adjustment to live in a different culture, she explains that Nantes became like a second home to her. She distinctly remembers a moment when she felt at home in France.

“I was out in town during the day and we went down to do some shopping and I think we went to get lunch crêpes,” she recalls. “Sometimes there are street performers, but on this particular day there was a whole drum line and choreographed dance group. They had all these different types of drums and there was a huge group of people around who were enjoying them. It was so cool that a lot of people took the time just to watch them. Even just that day, realizing that I could get around the city totally fine—I knew where to go, I knew where to shop, I had my favorite crêpe place—it was like it became my home city…being totally immersed and getting to the point where I felt really comfortable in the city and in a different culture and being able to enjoy it with them [the locals] was a cool moment.”

Not only did Samantha learn more about French culture, but she was also able to explore other European countries during breaks. One of Samantha’s favorite memories from her study abroad experience was meeting up with a Grove City student who was studying abroad in Italy at the time.

Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy
Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy

“The second [favorite memory] would be in Florence, which is the place we went during Thanksgiving break. I had previously contacted a Grove City student that was studying in Florence and we met up at the steps of the Il Duomo and he walked us around and took us to his favorite gelato place and then we sat on a bridge there, looking at the famous bridge in Florence. Sitting there, at nighttime, eating gelato, with someone else from Grove City in Florence at a popular landmark was surreal,” she says.

After returning home with gifts for her family members and a camera full of photos, Samantha says that she would love to go back to Nantes.

“If you would have asked me which country I would have wanted to study abroad in [before college], I wouldn’t have said France because I would have rather gone to Spain or Italy, but after going to France and living in Nantes, I realized how much I loved it and how much France had to offer. I learned so much and I loved it there” she says.

Learn more about the Office of International Education here.

Learn more about the mechanical engineering program at GCC here.

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Faith, Freedom, and Family

Faith and freedom are the founding principles that Grove City stands on, but after being on campus you’ll come to realize that it also stands for Family. Grove City seems to attract generations of students following in their parents’ or siblings’ footsteps. Why is that? What makes high school students want to come to the same college as their parents? I decided to talk with one of these legacy students to get some insight.

Family 2

Clifford Hovis ’16, an entrepreneurship major, knew at a young age that Grove City was the place for him. His career at the college started a little earlier than most of his peers; he attended Pre-Kindergarten in Pew Fine Arts. He talked about coming to various college functions with his parents while growing up, whether it be football games or Homecoming. Grove City was a family affair to Clifford, with his parents, sister, 1 uncle, 3 aunts, and various distant relatives attending the school. He describes attending Grove City as an old family tradition.

With so many members of his family that had attended Grove City, he grew up hearing stories about professors, the campus, Greek life, and other traditions. His father, Cliff J. Hovis, graduated from Grove City with a degree in Marketing in 1989. While his mom, Lynn (Johnson) Hovis graduated with a degree in Business Administration in 1989. When the time came for Clifford to start looking at colleges, he knew exactly where he wanted to go. Much to his mother’s nervous dismay, GCC was the only school he visited and applied to! Luckily his parents’ nerves were calmed when he was accepted to Grove City in 2013.

Family 1

What does Grove City College mean to you?

It is a place where I feel like home. Grove City has played such a major role in the lives of my family members; it gave them a solid foundation to start their lives with. They are all so thankful when they look back on their time at Grove City, because of the things they learned and people they met. For my family, Grove City is their legacy and I hope to continue that legacy.

Why do you think Grove City College attracts generations of students?

Grove City is a conservative Christian school that instills strong values into its students. These students leave GCC and pass them on to their peers and family. People care here, what other school can you go to where your professors actually care about you? Grove City is like a big family, I can’t imagine going anywhere else.

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The Second Annual Innovation Club Christmas Party

For those who don’t know, the Entrepreneurship Department can throw a great party, as is evidenced by the success of the innovation club’s second annual Christmas Party at Beans on Broad. The party featured many key events, including games like Settlers of Catan and Bananagrams, a white elephant gift exchange, a chili cook-off, and of course an open tab that allowed students all the coffee and pastries they could handle! Throughout the night, more than seventy five students from all different majors joined us for an evening filled with holiday cheer and of course Christmas music.

beans

The beauty that resides in this party is hard to describe. It is the culmination of a semester of great meetings for the innovation club, and a time for the whole department, and those from other departments, to unwind from a crazy semester and enjoy each other’s company. One of the times that makes this party so great is that many of our professors and staff are able to come and play games with the students. This year, professor Howley, professor Mech, and Mrs. Stillwaggon got themselves into an epic game of Settlers of Catan against reigning champion Karolina Lagerquist. Additionally, the party had a chili cook-off featuring Chicken Chili and Buffalo chili made by professor Howley, and beef and bean chili made by professor Carson. They were all so delicious that it was impossible to chose a winner!

The party has been the brainchild of the innovation club’s board of directors (Logan Hammerschmitt, Karolina Lagerquist, Ben Che, and Jordan Jensen) for the past two years. The party takes a lot of planning, but the end result greatly exceeds the effort put in. There is little doubt that this event is one of the highlights of my fall semester here at Grove City College, and the party shall continue on for years to come.

For those of you who missed the party, experience it here! Here is a 360 degree video of some of the things that happened at the party!

https://youtu.be/CZX5Ppz3e0E

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Transfers to the Grove: Jen Kerr

Jen Kerr ’16 is a Psychology major and is minoring in Social Work, and she transferred to Grove City in the fall of 2013. 

Jen 2

  1. What college did you transfer from and why?

I transferred from the Community College of Allegheny County.  I wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted to go after graduation and the community college was a temporary situation.

  1. How did you find Grove City?

I live outside of Pittsburgh and have known about Grove City for years.  A lot of people from my church are associated with Grove City as well.

  1. What made you eventually decide to transfer to Grove City?

I initially did not want to come to Grove City.  I felt that it was too close to home and I knew a lot of people here and I wanted a different experience.  I finally gave in and went on a tour around campus and fell in love with it.  Throughout my freshman year at CCAC I would come up and stay with friends to get a true feel of the school.

Jen     4.   What made you stay?

Everything.  The academics were challenging enough for my attention, the Christian environment was refreshing, the professors are personable and of course my amazing, wonderful friends.

     5.    What ways did Grove City offer to help you get assimilated when you first came?

My connection group leaders through OB.  They were the most helpful, useful and insightful people who gave us the true low down on Grove City and didn’t treat us like freshman, but also understood that we were still new to the school and didn’t know much about the school.  OB was the most helpful but that was about it.

  1. How will this experience influence your future after you graduate?

Grove City has prepared me for graduation.  This school has instilled a strong work ethic and a strong Christian worldview.  It helped me find my passion for social work and grew my passion for serving others.