Category: Inside Student Life

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CCO’s Jubilee Conference 2019

Two summers ago, I interned with the company Coalition for Christian Outreach better known as CCO. CCO puts on Jubilee every winter which is a Christian conference held in Pittsburgh, where thousands of college students gather and learn how to worship God. The CCO has been putting on the Jubilee Conference for over 40 years now and every year it attracts more and more people. Jubilee’s main purpose is to “bring together college students to experience powerful worship, incredible speakers, and engaging topics that may impact our lives.”

Throughout the Jubilee weekend, students experience four large group gatherings that follow the Biblical narrative of the creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. For students, it is a good place to connect and meet people in their vocational field. Students can network to discover their next internship, learn how to continue their education and even plan for their future career. The CCO believes both faith and future are one in the same. This conference is unique in the fact that it is built around college students by trying to expose students to the Christian faith, but also help them plan for their futures in the post-college world. Jubilee gives students the opportunity to be part of a community, even if it is just for a weekend, which expands on the teachings of the Bible and our calling as Christians.

You can sign up for Jubilee online. Tickets went on sale Thursday, Oct. 4. The conference takes place on Feb. 22-24, 2019. Online, you can see the different deals that take place for students vs. non-students. You are able to purchase a conference pass, which is just for the events that take place, or a pass for four people and a hotel room for the weekend. The CCO blocks off rooms at a Pittsburgh hotel every year for anyone who is coming in from out of town or anyone who would like to be close to the conference for the weekend. It is a great offer and a great weekend for a group of friends or a family to join and learn more about God and what it means to be a Christian. I promise you, Jubilee will not let you down. Check out the link below to sign up and view promo videos of 2019’s Jubilee conference.

https://www.jubileeconference.com/

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Grove City College Homecoming 2018

Grove City College’s Homecoming weekend is a wonderful tradition of bringing back alumni, enjoying the variety of groups on campus, and celebrating the lasting culture of the college. The Saturday morning parade showcases floats created by the different sororities and fraternities, alumni class reunions, the College’s band, Homecoming court, and much more.

As a member of Sigma Theta Chi, our sorority float was representing the Mardi Gras celebration from New Orleans, after this year’s Greek life float theme “Around the World.”

 

Our brother fraternity, the Adelphikos, were crucial to the construction of the float and made the work fun. Members played live music during the parade to give a true Mardi Gras experience.

As a sorority tradition during the parade, Senior members ride on the back of a truck for their last Homecoming as college students.

As Greek groups prepare to enter into the parade route, intermingling and laughter occur among everyone. Friends took many pictures of one another, showcasing the hard work put into their amazing floats.

After the parade, people make their way to their reunion tents, campus group tents, or leisurely walking around socializing. Grove City College’s alumni enjoyed the delicious food provided by the school, along with real conversations about their meaningful and occasional embarrassing college experiences.

The majority of Greek life was located on lower campus, while groups like the Entrepreneurship Department and reunion tents were located on the “Quad” on upper campus. Later in the afternoon, the majority of people entered the stands for the Grove City College football game. With a win of 36-33 against Westminster College in the last 11 seconds, the Wolverines were just as enthusiastic as the crowd.

After another successful Homecoming weekend filled with laughter, excitement, and reuniting of alumni with current college students, the anticipation for next year awaits.

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Career Fair 2018

Grove City College hosts a Career Fair every year, which provides an awesome opportunity for students to network for potential jobs and for employers to find potential employees. It is a win-win situation for both sides in the business world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year, the college celebrated 20 years of a successful event. Last year, around 170 employers and graduate schools along with 1,200 students attended for an abundance of professional socialization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students of all years and majors attend the Career Fair. Even the freshmen who are not necessarily looking for a job; it is a great way to practice one’s elevator pitch, interview skills, and speaking ability with business people. For seniors, it can serve as the way to land a job for directly after graduation. With the event being around September every year, it can put senior students at ease for the rest of the academic year if they know they already have a job in place for post-graduation.  Even if a job is not found directly at the Career Fair, students can build relationships with business people to meet others down the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students engage with businesses to understand their company goals, meanings, and morals. With a variety of businesses showcased at the Career Fair linked to specific majors, like Accounting, Finance, Engineering, Business, Biblical and Religious Studies, and more, students have the ability to meet their potential employer or network to eventually reach another company.

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, the Career Fair is a wonderful way to look for jobs. Even if it does not specifically cater to a specific major or job interest, making connections with people can be the start of finding the perfect career. Many students can attest to the potential of Grove City College’s Career Fair with the ability to connect people and expand one’s professional circle into the real world after college.

 

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My Summer Internship – Work Relationships

This previous summer I had the opportunity to work at my parents’ business, Keystone Ridge Designs, an expertise site furniture manufacturing company.  It was a comforting image to know that before I started my senior year at Grove City College, I had an internship to add to my resume.  I mainly looked at the internship as a “check off the list” of things to do before graduation.  Although, after a summer of a great deal of hard work, knowledge gained, some family tension, and strengthened relationships, I can say that working was so much more than just an internship.

Keystone Ridge Designs has been around ever since I was born, existing as a purely family business since around 1995.  My grandpa worked hard raising his family that would soon be raising me, along with building a company ever since his early 20s.  Since then, the business has excelled in terms of profitability, customer relationships, and building its brand.

The major concept I took away from my “job” was how important family businesses are and how they function in a world full of the idea of pure profit, no matter the ethics.  I appreciated the relationships between employees and their bosses, essentially my family members, except they were personal.  I watched as my family could ask their employees specific questions about their home lives because they genuinely cared to listen.  When meaningful work relationships are developed, work becomes easier.  It is more straightforward to work together, be efficient in the tasks they do, along with authenticity in the work completed.  The employees took responsibility for their actions, whether good or bad and were not purely focused on their individual career.  The collaborative atmosphere made for better problem solving and the generation of new product ideas to grow the business.  The selflessness that came from these work relationships goes to show that it is possible to profit in a business, while still caring about the needs of each employee.

Hearing about large corporations treat their employees like they are just another person working under them is something I personally could never work for, especially after seeing the relationships at Keystone Ridge Designs.  Similar to Grove City College’s ethics about faith and education, keeping them unseparated, my family’s business functioned to serve a greater purpose.  Working hard, helping others, extending generosity, and accomplishing business in a loving manner are simply four ideologies I want in any potential company I would work with.

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Just a Fortnite Ago

The incredibly popular video game Fortnite was released during 2017. Coincidentally, I became a freshman at Grove City College just a few weeks before this craze hit the campus. If you are unfamiliar with how to play Fortnite, the name of the game is survival. You and up to four friends can cooperatively battle with other online players in an attempt to be the last ones standing on a gradually shrinking map.

My Resident Assistant (RA) was the first person to introduce the game to our freshmen hall, and right from the very beginning I knew that it could greatly alter the dynamic of my freshman year. In the beginning, most of our hall would simply laugh off his invitations. Why would any of us just want to watch him play some video game? However, one by one it seemed that my hall-mates were beginning to get sucked in and began to play the game. In my first several weeks of school, I was met with many invitations to play Spikeball or football out in the grass in front of Memorial Hall. My experience began to change, and was now frequented with the Fortnite loading music and invitations to join my hall-mates in the online battle. This severely interrupted the community that we had been building on our hall. This was a bit concerning because it seemed like most people around me had become more involved in this online world than in the real one that was all around them. However, I soon found that my concerns were not warranted. This new game, that seemed to be separating us, had actually begun to unite us. For hours, there were rooms filled to the brim with eager players who would help others strategize if they themselves were not playing. The Fortnite craze was really getting into full swing just as we could no longer enjoy the outdoors because of the cooler temperatures. My freshman hall-mates embraced the new game and, before the end of the year, almost everyone in my dorm was an active participant.

The RA of the hall opposite of my own had a program for the entire building that included several TV’s set up in one lobby while a few played, and many observed. This was by far one of the most popular programs that any RA had all year long. I was quite nervous about this new game taking over the community of my freshman dorm, but ultimately it became a uniting force that helped bond and shape our freshman hall for the rest of the year.

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Foundations and Filmmaking

The Kelly Barnes Dam broke loose and Greg Bandy’s life shook. The whelming flood took 39 lives on the morning of Nov. 6, 1977. As most people would after witnessing such a horrific event, Bandy asked the question “Why am I still alive?”

The scene sounds like a movie. And maybe one day it will be. Professor Greg Bandy specializes in teaching multimedia. He joined the Grove City College faculty this fall, previously working at Asbury University, where he received his undergrad in Secondary Education.

While at Asbury, he co-founded the Highbridge Film Festival in 2005 with Jeff Day. They were both professors in the Media Communications department at the college.

Before Bandy found his passion of filmmaking and screenwriting, he practiced journalism on a smaller scale. While writing a local newspaper, he developed a skill set which can be beneficial in business, non-profits, education, research and many other fields. “At the heart of solid creation is journalism skills,” Bandy said. But journalism is not bound simply to newspapers. Instead, journalism includes design, writing, production and multimedia. “Journalism today is content creation,” Bandy said.

“It starts with knowing how to write a story,” Bandy said. Therefore, he teaches his classes building up from the basics. First, his students will learn how to write a story. They may acquire six or so new skills. Then the next class they take they will add six more skills. The progression continues until students are fluent in the language of multimedia.

“We are not swimming in content, we are drowning, but liberal arts education is the key to that,” Bandy said. Learning about science, math, writing and language all aid in writing good stories. Though science may be difficult to fully grasp, it is an avenue for new writing. It is a new network for content creation. The liberal arts education at Grove City is one reason Bandy accepted a position here.

He currently teaches Journalism, Video Production, and Documentary Film. “The school has invested nicely in the production tools in the TLC,” Bandy said. These tools assist students in creating their own documentary films by the end of the semester. “Production is different,” he said. “It includes technology, people, art, writing, problem-solving, and creative, narrative production.”

He looks forward to building upon the Communication and Visual Arts department and driving it in a new direction. He hopes to create an intersession course in which students produce a film from screenwriting to the finished cut. Bandy loves story-telling and hopes his Rhodesian Ridgeback dog will join him in Grove City soon.

Check out Bandy’s Instagram at profbandy. He also has his films on Vimeo of his first and most well-known films is on C.S. Lewis. Find the film and others here: https://vimeo.com/16791969

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An RA’s Perspective: Katherine Nichols

Katherine Nichols, RA of MAP West

Katherine Nichols, a senior at Grove City College, balances a busy schedule between a major in Biology, a minor in French, and being a Resident Assistant (RA) for those living in Mary Anderson Pew (MAP) West. Living with primarily freshmen ladies, Katherine can offer advice from the perspective of not only a senior, but also a third-year RA.

She explains that since her first year as a sophomore RA, she has seen a few changes in the Student Life & Learning department. For example, a few Resident Directors (men and women who oversee a particular dorm) have come and gone while some have changed buildings. In her opinion, the changes that most directly affected the RAs, were amendments to Open Hours. Initially called ‘Intervisitation Hours,’ these policies govern how men and women may visit dorms for the opposite gender. When Katherine was a freshman, the guest was required both to be escorted through the building by their host and to register to the host’s room. Now, a visitor may go directly to the host’s room, but is still required to sign in – to the floor, not to the specific room. Katherine explains, “This change has given the students privacy and responsibility.”

Life as an RA comes with many unique challenges. Being assigned to a floor of residents, Katherine says, means that as many as 30 or 40 students “go to you as their first point person.” She has helped with stress and roommate conflict, offered prayer and tutoring, and has even smashed “that weird looking bug on the ceiling” in the line of duty. However, these issues are just a part of the job description. Katherine explains that the real challenge lies in finding a balance between fulfilling RA responsibilities, while also dedicating time to academic and other responsibilities. In her words, “I want to be able to take my residents out for coffee and shopping on a whim every day, and just live college like it’s camp, but I am pretty sure I would fail out of Grove City College if I did.”

While RA life comes with challenges, it also comes with unexpected blessings. Katherine says that “it’s the little things like notes, a hug, or chocolate that keeps you going.” These are reminders that the sacrifices, like staying up until 3 a.m. or hours devoted to a fun program, are worth it. In addition, it is a blessing to “represent the school well, to foster community, and to minister to your peers.” She loves the opportunity to develop relationships with 40 ladies that otherwise she might not have met. As a new student at Grove City College, the prospect of making new friends can seem overwhelming, but having a familiar, friendly face on your hall makes the transition easier.

Though part of her job is to enforce the rules, Katherine explains that the stereotype of a strict, overbearing RA is a misconception. She says, “RA’s are not out to get you. Our job is just to help make sure that Grove City is a safe, functioning, and loving community.” After helping to foster a loving community for three years, she has excellent advice to offer freshman students. For her, patience was the biggest factor in gracious dorm life, as well as the ability to “walk in the other person’s shoes.” Being able to empathize with the other person, and to understand the personalities and experiences in play, makes it much easier to effectively address any problem in dorm life. She urges new students to “get to know your roommate, suitemate, or hall-mate as best as you can – it’ll make a world of difference.”

 

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Lifelong Friends at Grove City

Around second semester of freshman year, I became extremely close with a group of people at Grove City College and have remained close with them throughout my time here. They have all impacted my life tremendously and continue to bless it every day with liveliness, laughter, and an overwhelming sense of joy. In this group of friends that I belong to, we all share similar morals in how we live our lives. With all of us being Christians, we work hard to keep each other accountable for our actions and keep our eyes focused on God.

When our friend group is altogether, we act fairly similarly. We find humor in almost situation, strive to make every meeting entertaining, and accidentally (slightly purposefully) become the loudest crew in most settings.  Most people do not understand the hilarious aspects that make us cry from laughter in the middle of a quiet Student Union. However, this is because of our intimate group dynamic and the general understanding among each other.

This group of close friends from the beginning of our college career has helped to shape us into the people we are now. At the end of the day, we all know there is a greater purpose to our earthly lives. So, although we might spend our time differently, having other friends we occasionally spend our time with, or having some differing ideas, we conform in the way we care for one another and use our relationships to lift us closer to God.

I am so thankful for Grove City College because of the meaningful and lasting friendships I have found. We are called to bring as many people to Christ as possible and the only way that can be achieved is through building relationships. It means so much to me to see other people gain significant friends here and use that to spread love to even more people. Connecting the lessons learned at college help to show the significance of surrounding oneself with meaningful relationships, especially when they are pointing me closer to God.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

 

 

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Study Abroad Relationships with Photography

A semester abroad in Florence, Italy left me with a perspective I have never experienced before and has provided me with lifelong thoughts. When I arrived in Europe, I was anxious for the next four months and what the Lord had in store for me. Throughout my time, I felt waves of excitement, pure joy, and love for the beautiful sights I was seeing every day. There was a constant sense of being overwhelmed by God’s creation because of how much there is to be thankful for and appreciate.

From the start, I knew my photography class was going to be my favorite. My professor, Cosimo Bargellini, lived in Florence which gave us a direct source of Italian culture, especially considering he was also a professional photographer. Our class consisted of walking around the city, learning techniques of photographing, and enjoying each other’s company.  Although he was fluent in English, Cosimo was still raised in the Italian culture. This provided a slight obstacle in that I did not fully understand everything about his culture since I was raised completely different.

Our verbal communication was acknowledgeable because Cosimo taught based off his experience and practice in photography. By discussing and showing aspects like exposure levels, shutter speed, and framing a picture, the students, myself included, learned new approaches about the way we had previously known about photography. We had differences though, relating to our faith and politics. Cosimo had grown up in a Catholic church but once he was older, he decided to become a Buddhist and focus intently on the lifestyle. One day in class, Cosimo talked about how he had hope for his next life and that it would be even better than his current. I immediately asked him to explain his thoughts further and he described how he lives following the teachings of the Buddha. Buddhism obviously is different from the Christian religion that I have grown up in, but I was still able to open my mind up to hear Cosimo’s opinions about life and the afterlife. Without alternate viewpoints, we are all agreeing on the same idea and this will not generate new concepts that could ultimately benefit a community of people. I did not agree with Cosimo’s religion because of my own but I am still able to respect and understand how Cosimo thinks, something that benefits our intercultural relationship.

His view on politics also differed from my own, but I did not let that affect our bond through the lens and about the beautiful world in which we live. Italians generally criticized the ways of “greedy Americans” and the decisions we make as a country. They especially denounced our current president, Donald Trump, and his ideas for the future of the United States. I do not particularly like to argue with people about politics because most of the time I am not knowledgeable enough and think it can be pointless in that people can be set in their ways. Despite my personal feelings, I could understand Cosimo’s feelings in that he had a heart for the nature and animals on this earth. He would tell our class stories of his expeditions in the wild, surrounded by the purest form of a safari and the amazing tigers that he photographed. His passion for photography and showing emotion through his pictures is what is truly important, not how we disagree on politics.

I think my experience with Italians abroad, specifically Cosimo, was such an important life lesson for others and any future I have with other intercultural relationships. There are always going to be stereotypes about people of different cultures, race, or ideas but we must not let that stand in the way of connecting with others and learning about alternate lifestyles. In hindsight, I absolutely loved meeting people of other viewpoints.  It expanded my personal knowledge and provided me with the ability to have a stronger compassion and perception of others, something that I believe can always be enhanced. Focusing on other’s actions, both verbal and nonverbal, is the best way we can comprehend how they are feeling and do our best to further unity among one another.

 

Cosimo Bargellini, my photography teacher during my study abroad class in Florence, Italy.

 

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Bill Flanagan: More Than a WPXI-TV Host

Trisha Pritchard’s public speaking class had the pleasure of meeting Bill Flanagan, a Pittsburgh local and strong community figure. Bill is currently the chief corporate relations officer for Allegheny Conference for Community Development and host of WPXI-TV’s “Our Region’s Business.”

With 25 years of full-time TV news, Bill has had a remarkably amount of experience and continues to learn these useful lessons. He has learned to focus on the main points, considering the majority of people watching the news are multitasking. “I’ve learned to speak to a 6th grade level, not because people are illiterate but because they just are not paying attention,” Bill said. Consuming media comes with a million other distractions going on around them like getting ready in the morning. Bill emphasized that if people can remember one sentence during the entire six to seven minute story, he has gotten the message across. Framing the talk into three main parts makes it easier for people to remember the important points and reinforce the message. Making a simple, yet meaningful broadcast is what will impact the community the most.

Bill has had his share of experiences while involved with journalism and broadcasting, but he discussed some of his favorites and most memorable. The first news story he ever covered was President Richard Nixon’s resignation, which was a strong start to his career. He also accidentally interviewed President Ronald Reagan, who was about to board the plane awaiting him. Bill’s producer was signaling him to wrap up his news story explaining about Reagan’s current activities, when Reagan thought he was being called over to be interviewed. On the spot, Bill had to ask Reagan a couple of questions, which was a great lesson about organizing and producing content quickly while not cracking under intense pressure. He recalls painful interviews and stories covered, like talking to a family after a loss of their soldier son or the bombing at a Marine base in Lebanon. Bill emphasized finding a connection with people even in the worst situations and celebrating everything he can, like the giving life of a fallen soldier.

In having a Sunday morning talk show for 30 years, Bill has learned that drawing out his nerves gives him the right energy level to focus and interview people to the best of his ability. He stresses how the interviewee is just as nervous, if not more, and needs to rely on Bill’s ability to ask the fair and honest questions they need to give the answers they want. When Bill focuses solely on the person he is interviewing instead of himself and has “done his homework of preparation,” he finds he is not nervous at all for a TV interview.

Bill also discussed the importance of interpersonal communication in everyday situations. Having a job requires one to be able to work well together, deal with confrontation, know how to public speak, and be open with a boss or someone of higher authority. In his specific region of work, Bill deals with people coming in and out of a career.  He must know how to handle the changes in a work environment without disrupting the business as a whole. When the majority of the “Baby Boomers” are getting close to retirement, he needs to recruit members of the younger generation to fill the needed positions. Bill places emphasis on taking skills seriously, especially with the younger people entering the workplace for the first time.

Businesses are always competing. Bill is constantly working toward improving region’s competitiveness to make it more attractive to other businesses to invest in, ultimately maximizing profit. With all of the opportunities opening up, it is extremely valuable to have employees prepared for their future career. This means having students well equipped in college and focused on the subjects that they could potentially be involved with. Chances like internships are relevant in that people can “decide what they want and go for it,” as Bill said.

The relationships that he has made throughout his career has given him the skills to establish new, reconnect, and connect others. Bill has had a major success in using his relationships to better the community, like organizing 100 organizations around the same message, to strengthen one another at the end of the day. Bill’s closing remarks consisted of prioritizing the development of communication with people, challenging one another with different viewpoints, and ultimately coming together as much as possible. “Narrow pathways do not lead to a great result,” Bill said. Let us remember that opening our eyes to understand others and their ideas, no matter the situation, leads to a better world altogether.