Category: Academics

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Interning at a Mom and Pop Shop

As a Business major, I used to think that the best thing that you could put on your resume is that you interned at a large corporate company. I believe that many college students think that that they need to work at a big company in order to gain quality experience. However, I interned at a small mom and pop shop this summer and I gained wonderful experience and learned many new skills.

The name of the company that I interned at is called At Home Senior Services and it is a non-medical home health care company located in Pittsburgh. It is owned by a husband and a wife, so I really appreciated the closeness of the relationships that I made within the internship. Since I interned at a small company, I was able to express my ideas because they were very open to new ideas. The job was flexible, and I got to test out a lot of different ideas. I loved that I was not given a “to-do list” each day. Instead, I was able to brainstorm my own ideas for marketing the company to both clients and caregivers.

Interning at a small company allows you to be creative, and you also are given one-on-one advice and training from the bosses. Not only did I learn many different marketing skills and ideas, but also I was able to spend a lot of time talking to my boss. This allowed me to gain first-hand business experience from a businessman himself. Overall, I was very pleased with my internship this summer, and it helped me to learn that I would work much better in a smaller, private business than in a corporate setting. I would not have known that if I did not intern. Interning allows you to discover what you like and what you do not like, so that you can get a better idea of what path you want to take after college.

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Internship Business Learnings

This summer, I had my first internship. I interned in marketing at a business in Pittsburgh called At Home Senior Services. At Home Senior Services is a non-medical home health care company. At first, I had no idea what I was going to do and what I was going to learn. I was afraid and nervous because it was a new experience for me. Not only did I learn many practical skills, but I learned many business skills that you cannot learn in a classroom.

An internship is great because you get to apply what you have been learning in college to an actual business. I loved that I was able to be hands-on in the company. I learned how to work with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is one of the most challenging skills that I learned. SEO, in a nutshell, is how you best optimize your website and your posts so that they are successful within search engines. I also was able to participate in many conference calls and other virtual meetings. My boss assigned me projects so that I was able to learn business skills such as telephone skills, negotiation skills, and communication skills.

I learned a lot about how a business operates and all of the different functions of a business. Even though it was a marketing internship, I was able to learn a lot about Human Resourses by interviewing applications on my own. I also learned how to recruit employees and how to best market our business to both employees and clients. I learned a lot of practical business skills that I never could have learned in a classroom. I really enjoyed the hands-on application of the marketing skills that I have learned because it was the first time in my life that I could actually apply what I learned at Grove City College to the business world.

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Things I Wish I Knew as a Freshman: Part 1

Are you or have you ever been nervous about going to college? Me too. And so has pretty much every other person to ever attend college. With that being said, here are some pieces of advice to hopefully ease some of your nerves.

  1. You WILL succeed in your classes if you put in the effort. They are not as impossible as they seem. You learned how to study and work in high school, you will be fine.
  • One of the things I was most nervous about when coming to college was the workload and the classes. I always heard that college was significantly more difficult than high school and that I would get a rude awakening. While Grove City has rigorous academics, the classes and workload are doable. I was so scared coming to college thinking that I would not have a social life or that I would not do well academically. Let me reassure you as a senior at the College, if you put in the work you will figure out how to best study for you and get the work done without working yourself crazy. You CAN do it!
  1. The professors are here to help you, not to scare you or fail you.
  • In high school, I remember my teachers telling me that my college professors would not be lenient with me (i.e. no late homework, schedule was hard set, no extra credit, no conversations when extenuating circumstances arose, etc.). This terrified me for college. But I can assure you that I have not had a single professor at Grove City who has not worked with me when conflicts arose for either class or an assignment. Every professor I have had at the College has always been the most understanding when I have reasonable excuses or a difficult situation that requires an extension or simply the professor to work with me individually.
  1. It is okay not to find your lifelong best friends your freshman year. You will find close friends.
  • When I first moved into my freshman dorm, there was this weird underlying pressure to find your best friends the moment you got to school. It was like if you did not find your best friends within the first month of school you were somehow never going to find them. I am proof that this notion is simply not true. Yes, for some, freshman friends or roommates do become the best of friends. And that is awesome! However, I did not find my closest friends or friend circle freshman year. I found it sophomore year with my roommate who I have now lived with for three out of the four years I have been at Grove City. Also, I found my group of close friends sophomore year when I joined a sorority on campus. My point is, it is okay if you do not end up being best friends with your freshman year roommate. You will find your group and you will find your close friends.
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English Major Internship Spotlight: Laura Locher

Internships are a stressful topic for some and a reminiscent memory for others. I completely understand both sides of this coin. My name is Laura Locher and I completed two internships over the course of my time at Grove City College. Both internships were in New York City. The first was with an independent publishing company called Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group and the second was with a healthcare marketing ad agency company called FCB Health. Today, I want to focus on my most recent experience with FCB Health.

FCB Health Experience (remote from June 2020-August 2020):

My most recent internship was with FCB Health, NY. I was the single editorial intern for the network’s NYC office. I spent the summer learning the lingo, various editing software systems, the history of the company, and the editorial process FCB uses. Let me describe the editorial process FCB Health enacted. With what I am legally allowed to share, being that the network is a healthcare company, the editorial process is a multi-level system that includes factors like cold reads, fact checks, proofreads, etc. The editorial process is much more in-depth than that and I would love to talk to anyone who is interested in a similar field!

I loved my internship experience with FCB so much. If I could some it up in a sentence I would say this, it’s simple: the people, the culture and atmosphere, and the work. I cannot begin to explain how much I loved everyone I worked with last summer. Whether they were people from various departments or my fellow interns, everyone was phenomenal. The company culture is exactly what I am looking for – accepting, encouraging, team-oriented, driven. And finally, the work I did this summer piqued my interest in something I never pictured myself working in – healthcare. Overall, my experience with FCB Health was incredible and I have recently accepted a freelance editor position with the company beginning September 1, 2020.

One final highlight from my internship was winning the intern pitch project challenge! All 53 summer interns at FCB were split into five teams and tasked with creating a pitch for a brand the company works with. My team ended up winning the pitch and the group’s ideas are actually going to be used in an upcoming campaign! My advice to students seeking similar internships is this, apply everywhere and anywhere even if you think you don’t have a chance of landing the internship. You have no idea what door God will open for you. Look at me, I applied to FCB Health on a whim randomly on LinkedIn, got the email saying they want to start the interview process, got the internship, and now have a job with the company. You never know.

 

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Being a Computer Science Major at Grove City College

First of all, what is Computer Science?

To put it simply, Computer Science is the study of processes that interact with data through the use of programs. It enables the use of algorithms and processes to manipulate, store, and communicate digital information. Computer Science is, essentially, how we use computers to interact with our digital world.

At Grove City College, Computer Science involves a lot of different things. It involves learning how to program, administrate a database, create mobile applications, implement proper security measures, create websites, and a whole lot more.

What’s it like being a Computer Science Major at Grove City College?

As a senior enrolled in Computer Science, I can say one thing for certain about my major; it is tough! There are a lot of late nights, hard assignments, and challenges that I have had to endure to get this far. Despite the difficulty, it is a really rewarding major. You are learning how to build apps, write logical proofs, measure algorithm performance, run parallel processes, and everything you need to join the workforce and change the digital world. In my experience, the work is tough but the technical skills learned are incredibly valuable in today’s world.

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The Courses

In the Computer Science major, there are a wide variety of required courses. There is a heavy emphasis on high level mathematics, requiring students to take Calculus I – III, as well as some logic based mathematics, such as Automata Theory and Discrete Mathematics. The processes and principles learned in these classes apply to many of the programming and development courses, and generally improve logical thought. Speaking of programming, there are lot of programming courses! Introductory courses like Programming I, Database Management, and Data Structures help build a solid foundation. Building on this foundation are higher level development courses, like Parallel Computing and Computer Security. Aside from the required courses, Computer Science students can take Computer Science electives, which are more specialized niche courses like iOS Development, Web Programming, and Big Data. Overall, there are a wide variety of courses as challenging as they are rewarding.

The Projects

Over my four years here at Grove City College, I have done a lot of projects. Nearly every class has two to three projects, or one really big one. These projects, worth a significant portion of the course grade, tend to take up a good amount of time and require you to do some independent learning. Though they are difficult, they are also very rewarding and applicable to the real world. As a senior, I have done my fair share of projects.

One of my favorites was an iOS application “Crammit,” which was an app that helped students plan out large assignments and involved timers, to-do lists, scheduling, and many other things that you would find in a productivity app. Another one of my favorite projects was in Software Engineering where students actually work together to create one giant semester-long application. Over the course of a few months, me and my team built a computer assisted tutoring application, which incorporated machine learning to help teach students Java Programming.

What’s next?

Currently, I am pursuing a job in my field applying to become a mobile applications developer. I found my love for mobile development in iOS and Android programming and I am currently working with some of my graduate friends on an independent project that should hit both iOS and Android app stores! Grove City College’s rigorous Computer Science program has certainly helped me to develop a good work ethic, learn lots, and have confidence in my abilities. I know that when it comes time to start my new job, I will be prepared and ready.

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What Is Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship. What does that word even mean? To some it may conjure thoughts of innovation and business, while others might think of classes where a scammer teaches customers how to make a successful career by pretending to have said successful career. Unfortunately, the latter of these two is far too common nowadays, so I thought I would clear the air and describe what the Grove City College Entrepreneurship major consists of for anyone who (understandably) may not know what it is all about. Here are three different areas of education you will experience if you choose to study entrepreneurship.

1. Idea Generation

The first type of class you will run into as an Entrepreneurship major are classes that deal with the beginnings of businesses and how good ideas come to be. Believe it or not, since there are so many products and services already out there, coming up with a decent idea for a business that has not already been done can be quite challenging. These classes, which include Entrepreneurial Mind and Lean Launchpad, are perfect examples of classes that help students hone their venture generation skills. In Entrepreneurial Mind, students will learn about how to think of the need a product fixes before anything else, and in Lean Launchpad students will take the lessons learned from Entrepreneurial Mind and apply them in a Shark Tank like situation.

2. Business Core

The second group of classes students take in the Entrepreneurship major consists of the business core. These are your typical college business classes such as finance, accounting, and marketing. Although these may not be as exciting as other entrepreneurial classes, the importance of this curriculum cannot be understated and is a necessity for any student interested in entering the world of business after they graduate.

3. Entrepreneurial Effectuation

The last set of classes Entrepreneurship majors will take are the upper level capstone courses. It is hard to describe these classes succinctly, but if I had to choose one word, I would choose effectuation, the concept of using your own skill set and connections to create opportunities where you can reduce risk and produce a more consistent outcome. In other words, effectuation is where entrepreneurial ideas and reality meet. A good example of this would be to think back to when you were a teenager. You probably had some big ideas of what you wanted to do, but did not have the tools to do so. If you had a lawn mower, you might have done what you could with the tools you had and mowed lawns as your summertime job. That is entrepreneurial effectuation. As you grow older, you will learn more skills and your tool set will increase, but in reality some business ventures will be out of your reach, or at least way harder to produce than an opportunity that is at your fingertips. For these classes, expect a lot of presenting, writing, and real-life work in classes such as Business Planning and Healthcare Innovation, where Grove City College partners with a pharmaceutical company to provide students with job experience.

 

I hope this post helped you understand what classes make up the Entrepreneurship major at Grove City College. If you have other questions, or would like to find out more, feel free to check out the Entrepreneurship department website here. Whereas this post was about the classes of the major, the website will show you more of the events that the Entrepreneurship Department holds. If you are interested in a business major where you can express your creative side, I highly recommend you look into entrepreneurship.

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The Writing Program: A Professor Interview

Grove City College is home to a robust Writing Program that allows students to pursue specific types of writing in the form of either a writing minor or a writing concentration. Writing minors carry more weight in terms of credits than concentrations, but they offer a broader approach to the subject as Grove City offers either a general writing minor or a creative writing minor.

Writing concentrations allow students to take classes that teach them about specific styles of writing. At the Grove, students can concentrate in Business, Professional, Technical, Scientific or Creative Writing. Because writing concentrations are smaller in terms of credits, they allow students from majors unrelated to English or Communications to hone their writing skills and even specialize in writing that serves their craft and career pursuits. From mechanical engineers to accounting majors, students can add a writing concentration to any major, whether they are looking to write a novel or translate an instruction manual.

Grove City’s Writing Program is unique because of its offerings, but its professors are pivotal in fostering a passion for and understanding of writing in students. For this article, we asked some of Grove City’s writing professors for their input on the program.

Sometimes students shy away from writing classes thinking these courses will be the bane of their semesters and that writing is only for people who are good at it and who like it. We asked our professors what their approach is for the writing-wary student:

Dr. Joshua Mayo, Assistant Professor of English, spoke to this dread for writing and responded,

My experience suggests that nobody really dislikes writing. What most students actually dislike is the difficulty of writing, the frustration involved in articulating one’s thoughts. Aristotle says in the opening of his Metaphysics that ‘all people by nature desire to know’ math, music, physics, history: When we get it, we love it. The same goes for the art of rhetoric and writing. Who wouldn’t want a facility with words and ideas? That’s what the Writing Program is here for: to help with that innate (though sometimes abandoned) human aspiration.

Professors understand the dread some students feel for the required Writing 101 class that refuses to budge on their schedule, but instead of forcing students to go blindly into the writing process, they equip them with the understanding they need to write informatively, persuasively, and to put their ore in an age-old conversation of writers and thinkers.

Dr. David Hogsette, Director of the Writing Program and Professor of English and Writing, spoke to what differentiates Grove City’s Writing Program and how it prepares students for success in their chosen careers. He suggests,

One of the main distinctives of GCC’s Writing Program is the interdisciplinary nature of its two minors and five concentrations. In addition to taking required WRIT courses, students also take courses in such areas as communication arts, accounting, business, entrepreneurship, computer science, design, the natural sciences, and literature. Students learn the craft of writing as it manifests in various disciplines, depending upon which concentration or minor they choose. This practical interdisciplinarity lends a greater degree of legitimacy to the program.

The Writing Program at Grove City allows students of all levels of interest, confidence, and backgrounds to pursue writing as a skill to complement their craft and equip them for success.

 

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Life Changing Electives: The Seminar in Life Management

The Grove City Business Department is helping students of all majors start their post-collegiate career off right with the Seminar in Life Management. This very reasonable and manageable 1-credit elective teaches students the importance of employment and benefits decisions, savings, investments, and budgeting. By the age of 30, you will have made nearly 90% of the important financial decisions that will make or break you.

As a Finance major, I can appreciate the valuable advice that Dr. Powell has regarding savings and investments. Topics explored in this regard include: ROTH IRAs, tax deferred annuities, index funds, and many more options.

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 says, “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” Tithing and charity is a big part of this course as well. It is important to recognize the important things in life. Only 30% of Americans said they were happy in a recent poll. There is no amount of wealth that can mirror the satisfaction that a God-centered life provides.

Through my seminar project, I realized that planning isn’t everything in the key to a successful financial future. On the back of U.S. currency you will find the phrase “In God We Trust.” It is important to remember to honor this. Many Americans alternatively live by the phrase “In Money We Trust.” There is no amount of planning that can parallel God’s plan. What He has in store for my life may be very different from what I have in mind. I can react to financial parameters and industry standards, however, I must also prepare to alter my plan based on His plan.

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Making the Most of your College Career: Interning Early

The internship has taken the place of the entry-level job in today’s job market. It is more important now than ever before to gain this valuable experience on your resume. Most students believe that they are unqualified to perform an internship until their junior or senior year, but there are many great opportunities for younger students to get started early in their college career!

Internships are very competitive and waiting to apply later might be a mistake. Even though the more desirable internships might be earned by upperclassmen, you should take advantage of other opportunities. At a recent networking event on campus, an employer was asked, “What do you look for on the resume of the perfect applicant?” The response was, “First, I look at the student’s GPA, and second, I look for previous internship experience.” Accepting a modest internship during your sophomore year is probably the best thing you can do to prepare yourself for the internships that you truly desire in your years to come.

Some great opportunities exist in sales, non-profit, and management. These might not be positions that you are looking for, but they are excellent ways for you to gain real professional work experience. This will separate you from the rest when it comes time to apply for the next big opportunity.

What should you do when you start applying for internships junior or senior year? You should network with students and alumni and get your LinkedIn profile ready early because this is important. I would reach out to family and friends to see if you can use your personal connections. Informational interviews are a great way to meet new people and gain some information – additionally, there are many alumni that would be more than happy to talk with you about their profession. When it comes time to find your full-time job, the last thing you want to do is settle. It is important to intern early and make the most of your experience!

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I Recorded a Music Video in Haiti

This past summer, I spent two beautiful weeks in Deschappelles, Haiti. The heat was intense, the people were very relaxed (as is common with islanders), and art was incorporated into mostly everywhere one could look. From the sides of buildings to the sounds of street musicians, I relished in the aestheticism of this country.

This country of Haiti, although severely impoverished, was rich with creativity. I experienced this fierce and natural creative spirit most when I met Pasky.

I had met this young man, 24 years of age, at the local tennis court. Being an avid tennis player myself, I would stop at the tennis courts at least once a day to play the town’s best hitters. It was titillating to barely be able to communicate with many villagers, but nonetheless exchange forehand, backhands, and serving strokes.

Pasky and I shared a match, and a few days later, he saw me walking around town with my big camera taking pictures of the area’s tree reforestation program (my reason for traveling to Haiti).

Pasky walked on over to me and said, in broken English, “Mark, will you please take a music video of me?”

I responded, “Pasky, you’re a rapper?”

He said “Oui, oui.” (meaning yes, yes).

It was natural that I accepted the challenge, even though I had not used video editing software since high school. I traveled to the country to help Haitians and this was my opportunity, one which could not have been more directly offered to me.

So, we set to record the next day. Pasky showed up wearing quirky and colorful rural costume of sorts, and had brought his friends from the tennis courts as his personal hype-men. So, we set forth, me recording, Pasky singing, and his friends joking and suggesting different dance moves to their rapper-friend. I was very grateful to be able to record what I think of as a pure manifestation of Haitian culture that developed before me.

We had a blast hitting up different spots around town and having random members of the community get involved, all while having good fun.

My personal favorite part of the video is the last minute, where the music fades out and you can only hear the raw noises of the excited Haitians. The country has an amazing culture, represented by this final part of the film clip.

The day before I left, Pasky gave me a nice present. It turns out, he’s an excellent pencil artist as well! Here is the portrait he created with myself as his inspiration to show thanks for me agreeing to give him his hour or so of fame…  he even depicted me showing peace!

Indeed, I loved the country, and now, looking back, I love the simple and pure memory of the video-recording experience. I look forward to going back to Haiti and meeting Pasky, my friend, at the cement tennis court in the heart of Deschappelles.