The Rock Blog

I forgot, ok. I forgot the emotions that come with shadowing and looking at colleges as a high school senior.

This past week, a girl named Kat from southern Ohio came to Slippery Rock for the day to shadow me as a potential student. It’s always a fun day when I have shadows and this one in particular had a lot in common with me. Kat reminded me throughout the day of her fears and excitements of making a college decision. She was torn between two colleges, SRU and a small liberal arts school in Ohio. Both schools had perks but overall I really believe that Slippery Rock will be the best fit of her. (not that I’m bias of anything!)

Some of the reasons that Kat should choose Slippery Rock are because of the atmosphere. We truly have a friendly, welcoming campus of very passionate and diverse students and faculty. We also have one of the nicest dining halls in the nation with many different food options each day for every meal. Kat really enjoyed hearing about our new science class building and the new exercise physiology lab being added to Patterson Hall. Oh did I mention the horse barn on campus used specifically for therapeutic horseback riding for people with disabilities? From the art sculptures to the athletic trophies, Slippery Rock truly has a lot to off Kat as a student next year.

And The Rock has something to offer you too! 

Have a great week- let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Keep shining!

Kaitlin

This past weekend I had a trip of my lifetime. And a lifetime is a long time!

40 students and our director boarded the bus and headed to Toronto, Canada for a 4 day trip! We all got really excited for our vacation when we reached the Sheraton Hotel and saw how nice our hotel rooms were- like really really nice! We enjoyed the shopping center across the street and the nice, yet cheap, restaurant around the downtown area where we were situated.  My favorite place to eat was called Frann’s Diner- it has been around since the 1950s and our waiter even had his hair gelled like back in this era! The food was delicious and the Elvis music was rocking!

Some of the sights we saw included the internationally-known Royal Ontario Museum, the Casa Loma castle, the tall CNN Tower, and Ward Island.  My personal favorite was Ward Island since it was away from the city and had a wonderfully homestyle feel. This island is open year round for its residents and no motorized vehicles are permitted on the island.  It was amazing how much quieter it was because of this! I would love to live here one day and raise my family in such a friendly community!

Overall the trip was amazing and I’m thankful for the Honors Program providing such trips for us students!

All for now… keep shining!

Kaitlin

Wow can you believe this weather? It feels like we should all be chilling at the beach with this kind of unusual SRU sunshine! But I’m sure not complaining!

One of the most rewarding experiences in college is when your professors graces you enough to take you outside for class on these nice spring days! One such day was yesterday- in the 75 degree sunny weather!  As my Intercultural Communications class walked outside to share our most recent projects with eachother, I was personally excited to be sitting with friends in the wonderful weather! It was awesome to hear how each person did this interview project differently but how we all were able to take something from our schoolwork to apply to our every day lives!

Now the only thing I forgot about this beautiful weather… the one thing that really hurts me in this sunshine… the UV rays! Yep I got sunburned for sitting out in the sun for class for one hour!

But even though I look a lot like a human-sized tomato, I am still grateful for the opportunity to spend a wonderful day outside while in class!

All for now… keep shining friends!

Kaitlin

Have you ever wanted to stand up for what you believe in? Did you know who to talk to? Did you have the support of others to even speak your mind?

Well this past week I journeyed with 9 other SRU students to the Mid- Annual American Therapeutic Recreation Association conference! Located in the beautiful Baltimore Inner Harbor, this conference taught me so much about what it means to be a TR in the clinical field. Sunday and Monday looked similar to any conference, with lots of sessions and snack breaks throughout the day. I personally enjoyed the free coffee at every break- that sure kept me on my toes!

It was not until Sunday when the group of over 250 TR professionals and students headed off to D.C. that I really understood the main purpose of this conference. You see, the CMS insurance company is not clearly stating TR as a reimpursable service and because of that we brought a letter to other Congressmen to see if they could support us. Walking around the halls of the Congress buildings is a maze in itself and I only got 7 people to smile back at me all day… talk about a tense place! However, we did speak with 6 Congressmen from PA and thankfully all 6 of them agreed to look into our letter and sign it soon! It was intimidating at first to speak to such “important” people, but you come to realize that they are just like us in many ways!

Overall this trip was a great opportunity to network in my field and show love on Congressmen and their assistants who just needed a break in their day to stop and smile!

All for now…
Keep shining friends!
Kaitlin

 What is your favorite class this semester? Do you even have one?

Well for me, Intercultural Communication is making my life so enjoyable, yet challenging my mind to think outside of the box and broaden my perspective on life. What makes this class my favorite is also the great classmates who contribute in so many different ways to our discussions. From talking about ethnic food, to city vs. rural living, to racism and derogatory words, to personal experiences and testimonies, this class is amazing. It even got to the point where my professor had to “ban us from participating” for the rest of the class because we were not moving fast enough since so many people wanted to share.

It is classes like this liberal studies class that really makes college interesting and serves its purpose for helping college students in little Slippery Rock to better see the rest of the world. This coming week we are presenting on controversial topics and I am excited to see the discussion that will arouse because of these presentations. I just love people and hearing people’s stories and being able to love one another through communication is indescribable!

All for now!

Have a great week friends!

Keep Shining!

Kaitlin

The winds are changing… what once was a gentle breeze is now a whisking wind in the other direction. Can you relate to what I’m saying at all?

Now as a junior at Slippery Rock I am realizing how much I have grown as a person over the last three years here at school. What used to fill me up and guide my walk in life is now shifting as I seek for greater opportunities to serve and help others around campus and in the community.

Don’t get me wrong, friends. I am very thankful for the organizations and activities that helped shape me and mold me into the woman I am today but it’s time for a new direction. I am excited to see where this plan is leading as I step down from leading some orgranizations to give room for new leaders to step up. I know that this change will be hard. I mean if it was easy it wouldn’t be an adventure, right? But I am beyond blessed and thankful for the opportunities ahead.

Slippery Rock provides so many opportunities for fun, refreshing, and rewarding experiences and I am so thankful to be at a school that appreciates change and new directions for their students to grow and be fully shaped for the future.

Life Rocks so press in and press on!

All for now… keep shining!

Kaitlin

Are your days usually half-full or half- empty?
Are you an optimistic person or a pessimistic person?
Have you declared this semester to be half-full or half-empty?

Attitude is everything and having faith in yourself and knowing that there is MORE to your circumstances than you can see is even Greater!

This first week of classes has been amazing for m
e. This can be attributed to the fact that I arrived to my off-campus house a week early to prep for the semester. During that week, I decided. I made the pledge. I declared that I was going to Choose Joy this semester and live my life for MORE. And man has it already been so rewarding to wake up every morning and see how today is GREATER and BETTER than yesterday!

If you go into this semester (in college or high school) with your cup half- empty…. It’s going to be a tough, and physically, emotionally, and spiritually Draining semester.

So: Go Fill Up your semester- do things that will give you joy. Be around people who LIFT you UP and not tear you down. Dream Big because the Plans for Your Life…. ROCK! 

Keep shining friends!
Until next week…
Kaitlin

Can you believe it? …. Neither can I…. Where did the Time Go?

Can you believe it’s after Thanksgiving already? This semester has been a blast and a half for me so it’s very bittersweet to see it coming to a close!

So…wanna to know what’s there to do at THE ROCK during the Christmas Season? Well there’s a lot! First off many professors and clubs gather money together to buy toys, clothes, and other school supplies for an underprivileged child in the New Castle area.  This Project Christmas Elf program is always a success each year and I am excited to see more clubs and organizations getting involved! In addition, the Center for Student Leadership and Involvement is hosting a “Stuff-A-Plush” event to make stuffed animals for low income families and their children for Christmas! I am excited for this event because Campus Crusade for Christ, the Harbor and other organizations have been asked to Christmas Carol during the event! How sweet is that? (sweet sounding too! haha)

The “bitter” in the bittersweet part of this time of the semester is that finals are right around the corner! As a college student, this is the time when you work hard to balance studying, exercising, eating and hanging with friends while “studying”! haha But somehow we always make it through the stress and fun of finals week!

All for Now!

Keep shining friends!

Kaitlin

Oh the things you find out about your school as a junior in college………..

This weekend I went to my roommate’s choir concert in Swope Music Hall because she asked me to attend. I honestly did not think I would 100% enjoy the performance since a lot of the songs are in different languages and are by old artists like Mozart, Beethoven, ect. But man was I wrong! Slippery Rock’s Chamber Choir is fantastic and combines a lot of old school hymns and songs with newer tunes to create a modern day piece! The sound of the choir was fairy-tale like and I could not believe that more people on our campus know how good our singers are here at school!

This got me thinking about the rest of the campus that remains hidden from the public eye and I started to research some of it. One finding is that a small auditorium is located under Malty for small theater productions. The athletic trainers also have three rooms where they help athletes. There is a DJ who specializes in Irish music for the 88.1 WSRU radio broadcast station. Boozel dining hall has their own graduate assistant to help with special events and make the food taste as homey as possible!

Sometimes it takes something like an unexpected choir concert to spark your interest in the rest of the campus. I am very thankful for this and hope to see what more “new findings” I can find here at SRU!

Go Rock Football!

Keep shining friends!

Kaitlin

Got Homework?

Got Friends?

Got Dinner?

Got Meetings?

Got Exercise?

But do you have Purpose?

Here at Slippery Rock, the university and its clubs offer many opportunities for you to realize the WORTH that you have here on campus and in life.  For example, the Psychology department offers amazing sessions for girls to realize that body image is not about what our society tells you to look like but who you are inside.  The Health Center also offers great opportunities for students to see that healthy living will benefit them here on campus and how to lose weight in a healthy manner.

Last night was what I consider to be one the best events on campus.  The Big Dudes ministry opened up the doors of ATS auditorium to show a short film on what is means to be a man.  This event was titled MAN UP and the film was about a college kid losing and finding his purpose in life and not modeling his action off what society tells him to act.  This movie was a hit and over 150 people turned up to watch! Even as a girl watching the film, I now have a better appreciation of the struggles that society places on guys to fit certain criteria.  Overall our men just need to lose what society tells them to do and MAN UP to fit God’s standard and worth for their lives! Woot!

Ok friend, all for now!

Keep shining!

Kaitlin