Category: Off Campus

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Grove City Good Eats

Beef and Vegetables

Grove City may be small, but there is an abundance of great places to eat out when you are looking for a change from the cafeteria. I was pleasantly surprised when I came to Grove City to find amazing food in such a small area. Here are four of my favorites, two within walking distance and two within a short 10-minute drive!

Jin Sushi is a cozy, new Japanese restaurant on Broad Street across from Beans on Broad. They craft delicious sushi and authentic Japanese and Chinese cuisine with over 15 years of experience from their chefs. If you come in around lunchtime, they have sushi lunch specials: miso soup and two maki rolls for $9, or soup and three maki rolls for $12. The atmosphere is calm for a nice sit down meal, or you can get your meal to go if you are running between classes.

The Broad Street Grille is the classic Grove City comfort food restaurant, located on Broad Street across from the parking lot. Whether you are in the mood for wings, burgers or a simple sandwich, the Broad Street Grille has you covered. They will often run specials such as wing nights, and it is a lively scene with music and good times in the evenings. If you are a Grove City student and you have yet to visit the Broad Street Grille, do not miss a chance to experience the quintessential Grover restaurant.

If you have a car and are willing to drive to the Grove City Outlets, Primanti Bros. is a comfort food restaurant that has been serving western Pennsylvania since 1933. They specialize in “almost famous” sandwiches, but you can get anything from wings to pizza to salad. You can check their website for promotions and deals, and it is a popular destination for large student groups going out to eat for celebrations.

If you want to take that special someone out to a nice dinner, TimberCreek Tap & Table is a rustic chic restaurant serving everything from steak to seafood. It is a more expensive option, but the atmosphere is amazing, and the food is spectacular. TimberCreek looks like a log cabin, and the central floor is glass so you can see below into its own brewery. If you are looking to impress, TimberCreek has your back with some of the highest quality food and best atmosphere to be found in or near Grove City.

These are my four favorites, but there are even more restaurants in Grove City that I visit and enjoy. Each of them has their own unique feel and niche, and the diversity of flavor is a culinary adventure.

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Inside Peek at an Education Degree

HAL: Hall of Arts and Letters

The Education Department at Grove City College is made up of a well-known, highly regarded program that provides the education students with the best experience they can get. From its highly qualified professors, to the extensive out of classroom work that the students are required to do, each student is sure to graduate with enough preparation to head into a real teaching career. As a part of the education major each student is required to meet a certain number of “field” hours, which is best described as going to a school to observe the classroom dynamic and teach a lesson to the students. These hours differ depending on the year of the student as well as what level of education they are studying. Starting first semester freshman year, the ED majors are presented with a number of field opportunities that are set up and arranged by the College. The only part that you have to do is arrange them into your schedule. In a small town like Grove City, containing only one elementary, middle and high school, one would think that finding an opportunity to teach in a classroom as a college student would be hard. However, with connections in the surrounding towns as well as the reputation that the ED majors uphold, they are able to go outside of Grove City for their fields. Some of the schools that students have done fields at are: Seneca Valley, Hillview elementary, Artman elementary, and EEC (Early Education Center – day care within the College). While doing fields at a school in Grove City is convenient, there is much to be learned when you are placed in a school in a different location that has a different environment. Starting fields freshman year puts our ED majors ahead of competing schools, and gives them experience right off the bat.

Like stated earlier, fields are primarily set up by the school, however it is up to the student to fit it into their schedule. Students can have as many fields as they want during the week, but they also need to keep in mind that they will have to take classes on top of that. Freshman year the fields are mainly observation, which is essentially sitting in on a class and watching the teacher give their lesson. After freshman year the fields become more intensive and the teaching is placed in the hands of the student. The students are required to come up with lesson plans and activities to help the class learn what they are being taught. These lessons can be done on just about any subject, as most of the education classes require fields as an extra asset of the class. Even though so much is learned from the fields, it is not always as glamorous as it sounds. “Learning how to control a classroom can be a tough task to accomplish and that it why it is so important to accept the fact that you are going to make mistakes, but also that you can learn from those mistakes,” said secondary and special ED major Olivia Alexandar. Regardless of the bumps in the road, the Education Department at Grove City does a phenomenal job of equipping their students with the necessary tools and resources to teach a class and teach it well. By jumping into the classroom right off the bat, the students have an ample amount of resources to use come graduation and are able to decide which level of education suits them best.

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A Time to Reset and Reconnect

Grove City College is not like other colleges, but you probably already know that. And if you do not already know that, then you most likely have at least heard this from someone if you were talking to them about the College. The campus that I have called my home for a significant portion of the last three, going on four, years of my life is one that along with its worldview being based in Christianity also accordingly displays its commitment to the sense of traditional family values and relationship/fellowship between friends and loved ones. One of the ways that Grove City puts this convention into play is the way that it handles breaks.

Students throughout the country often live in apartments or cheaper homes together during their college years. Grove City on the other hand requires students to live either in the dorms or in the on-campus apartments, unless they are registered commuters. When breaks longer than a few days occur, the dorms and apartments close to students unless they enroll in intersession classes. Looking in from the outside, some could think this is restrictive of the students’ freedom, but in actuality it presents a unique experience that cannot be had at almost any other college around the country. Instead of the point of view that students are stripped of this privilege, it can be seen as a time for young adults get a chance to refocus their time out of the classroom on building and sustaining strong relationships the families they have been geographically separated from during the semester.

Since students are all on campus during school, friendships at college can develop quite naturally. Grove City through their policy to keep their students together in one general area creates a fairly tight-knit community that often extends beyond the four years of a bachelor’s degree program. Family dynamics, however, often change very significantly after the completion of college. So, given the uncertainty of where they may end up in the future, the school feels it is important to provide this time where students can be reconnected with their families.

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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.

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Faculty Led Study Trips (Part 1)

Grove City College offers unique opportunities to take your learning outside of the classroom. The Office of International Education, along with many professors, work together to provide students with the chance to take classes abroad. While Grove City does provide more traditional study abroad experiences for those interested in doing so for a semester or entire academic year, the faculty led study trips are a shorter and more condensed way to learn in foreign countries.

Professors work with the College to design specific trips that they feel will help to provide the most beneficial learning environment. This is why Grove City is able to offer such a broad range of excursions including trips to England, France, Guatemala, Greece, Italy, Japan, and many more countries. Parents and students may worry about what the costs may be, but Grove City is careful to keep prices as low as possible while ensuring that each trip is a wonderful experience.

These trips are designed to allow students to take up to a three credit class in a condensed period of time. Faculty led study trips tend to be between 10 and 15 day experiences. The goal is to allow students to learn about and immerse themselves in different cultures, while also ensuring that the academic requirements of each course are fully met. Students of all majors have the opportunity to participate – this means students also network with one another and make friendships outside their field of study.

Grove City is actively looking to broaden our horizons in regards to faculty led trips. With new trips comes new opportunity and new corners of the world for students to explore. With chances to go during both the January and May intersessions, every student has plenty of opportunities to partake in one or more of these very impactful experiences. In my next post, I will give an insiders view of what my experience on a faculty study trip was like.

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Students visit Cameron Energy Co. on Site

Grove City students were visited this week by representatives of Cameron Energy Company. Cameron Energy is an company that is unique for the industry that they find themselves in. They operate as a small scale fracking company with a strong commitment to improving the environment.

The representatives that visited Grove City spoke to Dr. Stephen Jenkins’ Environmental Science class to give his students a basic understanding of the fracking process. However, they also talked about some of the precautions they take to ensure that they leave the environments of the sites they frack minimally influenced.

Later in the week, Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Kriley escorted several of their students to a live Cameron Energy fracking site. Twenty-four Grove City students, accompanied by their professors made the trip to the woods of Allegheny National Forrest to observe the fracking site. This unique opportunity allowed students to get a first hand look at the fracking process, and allowed them to become better informed in regards to the effects that fracking has on the environment.

Dr. Jenkins said, “I was blown away by the response that we got. I expected only two or three students would be able to find the time in their schedule for this sort of thing, but I am very pleased with the turnout we got.” Despite this field trip being completely optional, many students made the effort to be able to attend.

Fracking is a very hot button topic not only in Pennsylvania, but in the national discussion of our dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels. By simply hearing from the Cameron Energy representatives in class, our students were becoming better versed in a highly debatable issue, which is very beneficial. However, presented with an opportunity to see firsthand what goes into this process is a testament to students taking a real interest in their studies, and expanding their learning opportunities to outside of the classroom.

         

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Inside Married Life: Priya Sprunk’s Perspective

Priya Sprunk was a Psychology major with a concentration in Exercise Science during her time at Grove City College. As a member of the 2017 graduating class, Priya still feels very connected with the students. She was a member of the Sigma Theta Chi sorority, and still holds close relationships with the current girls, along with alumni. About a month after graduation, Priya was married to her best friend, Nate Sprunk, who changed her formerly the last name of Graczyk. Since Nate is a current senior at The Grove, Priya was able to shed some light on their relationship while in different stages of their lives.

When asked what it is like with Nate still in school, Priya responded with:

“It is different for sure. It is a somewhat challenging dynamic when one person in a relationship works full time and one is a student full time. I sometimes wish I didn’t have to live in my college town because it makes me feel like I haven’t fully moved on from college. However, my job helps me feel like I’m making a difference, which helps. I work as an instructor for adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities who have graduated from high school, but still, need to develop independent living and employment skills before living on their own. I really enjoy it!”

Priya stressed how it has been hard to make time for other friends after working full time and then coming home to spend time with Nate.  However, she feels that marriage has helped both become more independent and hard-working, along with giving them the happiness of living together.

“We met about 10 years ago when I was in 7th grade and Nate was in 6th grade. We were part of the same youth group and were always close friends. I had a huge crush on him, but we didn’t start dating until the summer of 2014 before my freshman year at Grove City College. The college time together helped us grow together; I don’t even recognize the young and immature teenage couple we were four years ago. Living in a Christian environment helped me grow spiritually and make Christian friends who hold me accountable while encouraging me. Later we began to think about marriage as we started thinking about our future careers and what we wanted for our lives.  By the fall of my junior year after many discussions by ourselves, with both sets of parents, and with friends, we had decided we were ready to commit our lives to each other. We were engaged the following March,” Priya said.

Priya and Nate continue to enjoy each other’s company, build upon their relationship, and focus on God. By attending church, reading their Bibles, and praying together, their commitment to growing spiritually has shown in their actions toward others and each other. They lift one another up while practicing patience and empathy in the hard moments. Priya looks forward to their awesome future.

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Internship Opportunities: Engineer Edition

Are you a Mechanical Engineering major? Electrical Engineering major? Looking for a summer internship? There is hope for you, just talk to Shannon Stovar!

Shannon Stovar is a senior Mechanical Engineering major at Grove City College. She is from Butler, Pa. and the first person in her family to attend Grove City College.

Shannon was one of my three ‘random’ freshmen roommates and has stayed a close friend of mine throughout college. During our sophomore year, Shannon was looking for an engineering summer internship, and I knew just the person she should talk to. I immediately called my dad, Rich Bartek, who at the time was the vice president and COO of the manufacturing company, Oberg Industries. He worked there for about 14 years and loved to hire Grove City College students as interns and employees. Oberg is headquartered in Freeport, Pa., which is only about a 25-minute commute from Shannon’s hometown of Butler. My dad and I both knew Shannon was a hard worker and fast learner and he was more than happy to help her. Shortly after, Shannon applied for Oberg Industries’ mechanical engineering internship and got an offer for the summer!

Shannon excelled that summer at Oberg Industries and outshined the other interns. Oberg ended up offering her another internship for the following summer, after her junior year. She gladly accepted.

“I assisted the design engineers in a variety of tasks along with helping in other areas of the company like die maintenance and quality control. I developed 3D models and drawings for customer parts and tooling. I worked on quite a few independent projects where I was given a problem such as a component in a machine that had broken and had to come up with a solution to fix the issue,” Shannon explained to me when I asked about what she did both summers.

I followed up by asking Shannon if she liked her time with Oberg, “I really enjoyed the experience! I think one of the most important parts about a company is the people that you work with, and everyone I worked with was extremely helpful and kind. I formed close friendships with workers from all different areas of the company. I was able to work with some of the brightest engineers in the company and was really challenged by this. Oberg gave me a wide variety of tasks so that I wouldn’t get bored and they really trusted me to work independently on big projects.”

Shannon received a full-time job offer from the company this past August. Oberg was gracious and gave her roughly six months to decide if she would like to take the offer. She had obviously proven herself very worthy over the course of her two summers there. Shannon is giving herself some time to decide and taking other options into consideration as the halfway mark of her senior year quickly approaches.

Many Mechanical Engineer majors assume internships are only for business majors. “Companies like Oberg Industries are overjoyed when they receive a resume from a student coming from Grove City College,” my dad stated. “When Shannon applied we could not wait to work with her.”

This is just another example of how connections within the Grove City College community can give you great opportunities. Students need to continue to persevere and form relationships during their four years because you never know where they will land you.

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Finding a Church Home Away from Home Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlycklqOb8I

Grove City College students come from a variety of denominational backgrounds. Looking for a church for the first time away from home and family can pose interesting challenges and opportunities. Many students find it interesting to explore denominations and churches that differ from those they grew up in. Other students find comfort in finding churches similar to those they grew up in. Student Andrew McDevitt attends the Beloved Disciple Catholic Church. He grew up with the Catholic tradition, attending a Catholic high school. While he explored other denominations in the first few weeks, he felt the need to stay true to the traditionalist values he grew up with. McDevitt reflects on the Beloved Disciple in saying, “I found a strong sense of community that was lacking at some of the other Catholic churches I’ve been to.”

Sophomore Elsie Becker regularly attends Wayside Community Church. A member of the church picks her up every Sunday for service, and she is the only Grove City student that attends. The church has a very elderly population. She comments that this aspect of the church appealed to her because as a college student she does not often get the chance to interact with an elderly generation. Becker comments that she likes to see “how God worked in their lives for a very extended period of time. They are much older so they really have a unique perspective on their faith.” She reflects on hearing a story from a member that donated the money for the pews when the church was being built. He did not have the money at the time but felt called to donate. Soon after, his boss gave him a bonus check for the exact amount without knowing about his donation. Elsie thinks that these stories help her have a better understanding and perspective on God.

Like Elsie and Andrew, many Grove City students find the churches around the College as great places to strengthen their faith and get involved in the community.

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Inside Married Life: Nate Sprunk’s Perspective

Nate Sprunk, an Exercise Science major and Psychology minor, is a quarter of the way through his senior year at Grove City College. He began his freshman year busy with his involvement on the lacrosse team and continued up until this year. His decision was primarily to focus more on school, along with his new wife, Priya.

Nate and Priya have known each other for about 10 years, meeting at middle school youth group at their church back in the day. Although, they did not start dating until the summer before Nate’s senior year of high school. They had always been great friends, but that summer they spent much more time together and grew extremely close.

“Going to school together gave us time to grow closer and build a stronger relational foundation to get married. Being at GCC was positive because it gave us a Christian environment to grow in,” Nate said. They started the conversation during Nate’s sophomore year of college, Priya’s junior year. With Priya being a year older, the decision to be married was difficult in terms of their current academic standings, but, with an abundance of advice and prayer, the couple decided to be married this previous summer.

This fall semester, with Priya as a Grove City College graduate, Nate has noticed changes in his life since the wedding. He feels that he has become more responsible and independent in his current college career and post-college plans. In living off-campus with his wife, he sees friends significantly less, which can cause strains in his relationships, but it just means working harder to maintain the ones that are truly important.

“It’s great to live together and have our own place. It’s also great to be able to support each other. However, it does make things weird with your relationships with other people because of change. My advice for people would be to make sure you’re truly ready for everything that comes with the commitment. We did marriage counseling prior to our wedding. I think that it helped us be more prepared for the transition and for what to expect,” Nate said.

Although only 21, Nate’s maturity and dedication to Priya has made their marriage fulfilled and exciting. His future plans include attending school for physical therapy to further his knowledge of subjects surrounding his college education.