Majors: Journalism and English
Hometown: Kane, Pennsylvania
Further degrees: Attending the University of Maryland for a Master's in English.
Most enhancing experiences: Besides my classes and friends, the best part of IUP was working for three years on the HC development staff, functioning as an admissions counselor and later as Open House Coordinator. It was the easiest and most fulfilling job I've ever had! There were challenges, certainly, but I loved working with the bright, eager students who were thinking about coming to the HC. This place was such a part of my life and had such an influence on me that giving them a list of reasons why they should come to IUP and the HC was effortless. I'll know I'll have found my "dream job" when the work comes as easily and joyfully as it did on the development staff.
Majors: My majors were fantastic. I really got the best of both practical and theoretical training in communications. The English department gave me a great foundational understanding of the way people experience the world and the way they choose to write about it. Journalism taught me how to put together concise words to mean big things. This coursework, combined with the HC, made me a strong writer, speaker, and thinker. I'm convinced that if you can do these things, you can do anything.
HC's impact: Honors Core prepared me to think critically about the opinions I encounter every day. It didn't make me cynical about the world, but it gave me the tools to be sure that the views and beliefs I hold can be backed up with reason and not just assumptions. The great thinkers you'll meet in core--Descartes, Plato, Kant, your professors and classmates--will be your most valuable teachers. Enjoy every second of Core and take it seriously. It will not be easy, but nothing worth knowing never is. If that is the kind of challenge that excites you, the HC may be the right place for you.