Category: Course Spotlights

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Sports Management at Grove City

A new and popular major at other colleges is Sports Management, and we are now lucky to have this as a concentration under the Business Management major. My freshman year I started out as an education major but then decided that it was not for me, so after freshman year I changed my major to Business Management with a concentration in Sports Management joining the first Sports Management class in Grove City history.

I switched to Sports Management because I knew I loved sports, and I wanted to do something in sports later in life. The sports industry is growing so much, and there are now a wide array of jobs that you can get when you work in sports. The classes here at Grove City prepare you for a career in sports with the diversity of classes. The first Sports Management class that I took was Principles of Sport Management and Marketing with coach Gibson, the athletic director at GCC. In this class, I learned the ins and outs of sports management both in the professional world and in college athletics.

I was able to attain an internship with the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, which is the conference that Grove City plays in for every sport (except for Women’s Water Polo who plays in the Collegiate Water Polo’s Association). I learned so much, and it was because of the Sports Management class that I got my internship. The other classes at Grove City help you, challenge you in your faith, and help you connect your faith with your athletics. Finally, my favorite experience was in Sports Management and Event Practicum. This course is essentially an internship style class where you go and work for the Grove City College athletic department and help in any way that you can. You have a big project during the semester where you run and operate a sports management project. For my project, my partner and I ran the press booth at the Grove City track meet. During this project, I learned a lot and my knowledge grew even more in athletics.

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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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Life Changing Electives: The Pottery Program at Grove City College

Grove City offers many worthwhile majors and minors to pursue, but if you are like most students, you will have a few general electives to fulfill as well. “General Electives” are classes of your choosing! This requirement gives students a great opportunity to explore topics and activities beyond their regular area of studies, and you can have a lot of fun doing this.

One of the most fulfilling and satisfying electives that I have ever taken is Pottery. Professor Rhoades has maintained a quality program for students with courses encompassing handbuilding, wheel throwing, sculpture, pueblo, raku, and advanced ceramics. When you are using the medium of clay, the process is always the same, but you get to choose what the final product will be. Here are some examples of the work you can create and keep at the end of the semester:

The following is a very basic description of how you begin to work with the medium of clay. You begin by wedging, the technique of mixing and rolling clay to make it consistent and remove air bubbles (air bubbles can cause problems when you fire the clay, mostly by turning your new piece of artwork into a mini explosive in the kiln). Once you have wedged your clay you can begin to create its form. There are two main techniques for doing so – handbuilding and wheel throwing. Your clay will slowly dry over time, and you can work with it until it reaches the texture of leather, at which point you cannot make any further alterations (aside from starting over again). Once your pottery is bone-dry you are ready for the kiln! First, you will bisque fire your work, then you are ready to glaze with a variety of different colors. Once you have glazed your pottery, you place your work back in the kiln for a glaze fire. If there are any runs that you do not like from your glazing then you can sand them in the studio to polish them up!

For anyone who is hesitant because they don not believe in their artistic ability, I would encourage you to take a look at my first piece of work. It is by no means a masterpiece, in fact it is an embarrassment! But Professor Rhoades is very generous and will reward you for your efforts and improvement! Yes, even this humble piece of pottery was A-worthy.

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ART 207 | Advanced Ceramics

Interested in taking some art electives during your time at Grove City College? If so, ART 207 might be an interesting opportunity for you. ART 207, also known as advanced ceramics, is a course for students who either have already taken a ceramics course at Grove City College or who have experience outside of the College working in the art setting with clay. Why this course requires such qualifications is due to the fact that it takes the basic concepts of both hand building and wheel throwing and elaborates and expands on technique, use of equipment, and creativity involved in each type of art production. In doing this it allows you to truly test your ceramics skills and to improve your knowledge and abilities to create different and more complex pieces of art with clay.

How this is accomplished is through the use of assignments that focus on different aspects of improvement. One example of this can be seen in the first assignment given to the wheel throwing section of the class. Students are asked to perform the basic task of producing cylinders while not focusing on the creation of the cylinder itself, but rather on the space inside the cylinder. Such an exercise takes a skill learned in Beginning Wheel Throwing (making a cylinder) and elaborates on it by providing the artist the opportunity to envision the use of the piece and its effectiveness in accomplishing its end goal of holding something. This provokes a different thought process in creating the cylinder. This assignment and various others (the hand-building and wheel throwing sections of the class receive different assignments simultaneously) provide students the ability to not just maintain and improve their ceramics skills, but to also learn new skills and thought processes when thinking of the art.

If this sounds interesting to you be sure to check out ART 207 when scheduling your next semester of classes, or during your meeting with your advisor as an incoming freshman at Grove City College!

 

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ART 103 | Beginning Hand Building

Whether your artistic abilities are horrible, great, or somewhere in between, ART 103 could be an intriguing option for you! This class is a three-credit art course at Grove City College where students are given the opportunity to work with clay to create artistic pieces.

The class covers the basics of creating art with clay and walks you through the process of making various types of pieces. As you become more and more accustomed to the machinery and processes, bigger, more specific projects will be given to you, allowing you to show both what you have learned while also providing an opportunity to express your artistic side and personalize pieces to be and look like whatever you want within the confines of the assignment. This course is a great option for people who have never worked with clay and also for people who may have years of experience working with this artistic medium because grades are given based on your progress and efforts rather than comparing one student’s piece to another student’s. While this class can be difficult for some, the professor (Kathy Rhoades) is very understanding, motivational, and caring towards her students and willing to help them in any way.

With this brief overview of ART 103,  a comparison can be made between this course and a normal elective. This course requires creativity rather than constant learning as in a normal course. This aspect is something that some people may look for as an elective during a busy or more difficult semester but could also be something that may not interest you. Another aspect to take into consideration is the course fee that comes with this and all other ceramics courses at Grove City College. The fee varies slightly each year but can be something that deters some students from this class over another. When considering this fee, though, it is important to also keep in mind that your textbooks for another elective may be more or even equal in price. In conclusion, this course is one that I love as it provided me a time to relax and use my creativeness to create art that I can look at and actually be proud of, which I cannot say I am able to do when drawing or painting, while being in an environment where I am surrounded by others creating themselves, inspiring my works, and that is led by a very encouraging and helpful professor.

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ACCT 410 | Contemp. Accounting Theory/Practice

While the names of some college courses seem quite up-front and self-explanatory (i.e. foundations of sociology, principles of accounting, etc…) some courses are quite the opposite. This means you look at the course code, read the name aloud, and you’re still unable to even draw an intellectual guess at what the class could cover or what the purpose of the course could be. ACCT 410 was one of those courses for me. It took me until my junior year to figure out what the class even was, and my senior year to find out the importance of this course to me. In order to help inform you about this very valuable accounting course that Grove City College offers, and to prevent you from suffering the same confusion I encountered, I have written this for you, the reader, the future Grover, the future certified public accountant.

As you may have heard, the CPA certification is a great certification for anyone going into the field of accounting, whether you are planning to go into public accounting or not. This being said, would it not be nice to have the opportunity to take a class specifically created to assist you in studying for the CPA exam? That is exactly what ACCT 410 does. It was created to help students work through the material covered on the Financial Accounting & Reporting (FAR) section of the exam. It allows students the opportunity to work with CPA review software that covers topics found on the actual CPA exam and in a format similar to that of the exam. The significance of this course is not only found in the value provided by the course material and the topics covered, but also in the ability of the course to assist students in getting over the biggest hurdle in studying for the CPA exam – simply starting to study because students get the opportunity to slowly get used to the format and process of preparing for the CPA exam.

While this may not seem extremely significant to you, take it from a senior who will be sitting for this challenging exam in the upcoming months, this class is a blessing in disguise. Yes, a course like this is intimidating to think about and sign up for, but once you immerse yourself in the CPA review software and material, and begin to study, this will help you greatly in the following months and years as you continue your studies and one day obtain your CPA certification.

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Ring By Spring

There is a little saying at Grove City College that goes: “Ring by Spring.” This “motto” refers to a stereotype that Grovers have a peculiar desire to get engaged to someone before they finish their final semester of college. Another stereotype that is based on the same idea is that some women at Grove City seek to receive an “MRS” degree upon graduation. Regardless of the validity of these perceptions of Grove City’s students (I myself know of a decent amount of classmates that have already tied the knot), it is something that can be pondered and analyzed for good purpose. A truly distinct class that our college offers is Jim Thrasher’s Courtship and Marriage. The title may be a little intimidating for students not currently enrolled, but speaking as someone who is taking the class this semester, I can attest that it’s certainly a “don’t judge a book by its cover” situation.

Dr. Thrasher is a seasoned professor and graduate of Grove City as well as a married man. He is extremely impassioned about tying a Christian worldview to any course that he instructs; Courtship and Marriage is no exception (after all, the covenant of marriage resembles the very relationship between Christ and the church). Many may think it would be, simply put, “weird” to take a class centered on Christian dating and marriage, but the course material goes beyond just telling men or women what the “should do” when they meet someone they are romantically interested in and eventually have thoughts of spending their lives with them.

The class delves deep into the question of what “love” truly means in a biblical sense. Comparisons are drawn between the current cultural and historical views of love and the scriptures’ take on the same.  More than just teaching on couple “do’s and don’ts,” Courtship and Marriage (or SOCI 251 if you will) analyzes what the intention of human relationship is with our own species, and especially focuses on the differences between the sexes in regard to our communication, roles and actions.

Many people who have taken this class walk away with life lessons that go outside of the relationship with a significant other. I highly recommend it to any future or current student who is looking to learn a little bit more about what it means to be in a healthy, Christ-centered relationship with, quite frankly, anyone.

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Faculty Led Study Trips (Part 2)

As a sophomore, I have had the privilege to partake in one of the faculty led study trips abroad during the May 2018 intersession. I signed up to take the three-credit humanities course, Western Civilization. With Dr. James Bibza and Dr. Paul Schaeffer as the professors teaching this course and leading us in our travels, the trip was guaranteed to be a success. These two professors had experience with the travel route that we would be taking, and had worked closely with a tour company to ensure we would have smooth travels. The objectives they had set for our class to accomplish seemed reasonable. It included some readings from a text book, and attending lectures while we were on our trip. However, they ultimately hoped that we would immerse ourselves in the new cultures that we would be experiencing.

Our studies began in London, England for four days. Following a day trip to Oxford, our group headed for Dover. At this point, we took a ferry across the English Channel to Calais, France. Once we were 0n the continent, our stops included Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Innsbruck, and Heidelberg. In total, our trip visited six European countries in a 14 day period.

Once we had safely returned to the United States, our final task was writing a paper that discussed any of the topics that we discussed in lectures. The paper may have been a requirement of the course, but I know that many of my fellow travelers felt that it helped them to thoughtfully compose the incredible experience that we shared.

The trip itself was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I will always cherish the memories that I made through it. However, I was also lucky enough to also make lasting bonds with people that I may not have had the chance to meet without this course. My experience with faculty led study trips was incredible, and in the future I will absolutely look to do more of them.