Live your last like it’s your first

As I wrap up my fall semester of senior year, I’ve realized it slowly hitting me that I’m actually going to be graduating next semester. I never thought my turn to graduate would come so fast. When I came here as freshman, the orientation workshop leaders said time would fly by in the blink of an eye, but I always shrugged it off. Almost four years later flashed by before my eyes and now I definitely see what they meant.

I remember my first semester at Bloom like it was yesterday. A completely new environment, new people, and a chance to become a new me. Bloomsburg University became my home away from home. Something I thought another place could never be.

Every year I’ve come back, it’s just as exciting and nerve-wracking as the one before. The feeling of anticipation for what fun the new semester will bring. New opportunities, fresh starts, and new memories with old friends.

Reflecting on my college career, I’m glad Bloomsburg University gave me the chance to grow as a person. My first semester here, I was a shy 18-year-old that only went to class. Now, I’m so much more involved on campus in organizations such as BUNow as a social media editor, I’m member of the International English Honors Society Sigma Tau Delta, and the vice president of my sorority, Chi Sigma Rho. If I hadn’t chose to go to Bloom, I don’t think I would have learned what I have and met the people that I did to help me become the confident and involved person I am today.

The classes I’ve taken and professors I’ve had have given me important knowledge that I know will be crucial to be successful in my future. This university has definitely prepared me for the “real world” and I feel confident I’m prepared to handle whatever comes my way after I graduate.

My time here has allowed me to not only gain lifelong skills like time management, leadership, independence, and effective communication, but friends that I’ll cherish for a lifetime.

Our college years are some of the most difficult times of our lives. Most of us are off on our own for the first time, living in a new area, and having to make new relationships with all kinds of different people. Not to mention the different and overwhelming stressors that we all can experience during these years.

I’ve been able to go through the hard times of college with the friends I’ve made. Whether it be getting a bad grade, or just having a rough day, I’ve always had someone to lean on or ask for support.

As I go into my last semester of my undergraduate college career ever, I want to live it up as if it’s my first. Any chance I get, I want to make sure I’m living the moment to the fullest. Every new opportunity that comes my way I’m going to make sure I experience it. Any campus events I’m able to go to like Free Food Friday, bingo or trivia at the KUB, I’ll be there. I want to spend as much time as I can on campus just taking in the time I have here, while I still have it.

Most seniors take easy classes their last semester, but I want to take advantage of the last bit of time I have as an undergraduate student and continue to learn as much as I can in as many different areas as I can. I’m even going to make sure I utilize all of the resources Bloom offers as much as I can like attending more Professional U workshops, and even applying to present in the Husky Student Leadership Summit.

Years from now, when I look back on my college years, I want to have no regrets and no missed opportunities I wish I took. My time at Bloomsburg University will be a piece of my life that I’ll always be proud of myself for.

When I walk across that stage at the end of next semester, I will be grateful for the memories I’ve made while a student here. Bloomsburg University will always be a part of me, and I know I’ll always be a part of Bloomsburg.

Once a Husky, always a Husky!

— Samantha Bergan, senior mass communications major and English minor

#BloomOnward #HuskyLife

I wouldn’t change a thing

Thousands of dollars. Four years of your time. I thought it sounded awful, too, just a short three and a half years ago when I was getting ready to leave for college.

I didn’t have the best time in high school, and I thought college was going to be an exact repeat of that. But I was so wrong. I’d be lying if I said college is easy. College is tough and at times, it will test your limits. But college is more than just being young dumb and broke. College is about learning about who you are.

What I've learned

• Get Involved — While your GPA is important, it's not the only thing employers are looking for. While joining extracurriculars are certainty a good resume boost, they also allow you to meet new people. Some of the best friends I’ve made in college are because of the activities I’m involved in. #ThanksDPhiE
• Go to class — Read the first sentence of this post and come back to this line. Yes, you’re paying THOUSANDS of dollars to be in school. Show up to class and participate.
• Ask for help — As I previously mentioned, college is not always going to be easy. There will be times where it gets both academically and emotionally hard. Whether or not it seems like it, the faculty and staff at Bloomsburg University are here to help you and want to see you succeed. If you’re struggling in a class, visit that professor during your office hours. If you’re struggling with life, go to the counseling center. At the end of the day, it’s okay not to be okay and it’s okay to ask for help. But people can’t help you if you don’t ask for it!
  
• Utilize Campus’ Resources — As much as you don’t want to admit it, the time will come where you will have to be a grown up and get a job or go to grad school. But what is going to separate you from the thousands of other people you are competing with? Experience. ProfessionalU offers so many resources for FREE that I encourage you to take advantage of. Give up a Saturday every now and then and attend these professional development opportunities — your future self will thank you for it.
• Enjoy it. Every second of it! — You get out of college what you put into it, and I really encourage you to make the most of it while you can. Four years is really over in the blink of an eye, and someday you’ll wish you had these moments back.

The only thing you’ll regret are the chances you didn’t take. College is your time to take as many chances as you want — to make mistakes and to learn from them. You never know what could happen if you never try. If taking a chance causes you to fall flat on your face, at least you learned how to get back up. It’s hard to believe that I only have one semester left, and if I could do it all over again I wouldn’t change a thing.

— Kim Oaster, senior mass communications and marketing dual major #HuskyLife

Empowerment through philanthropy

On Jan. 9, 2015, while my college peers were enjoying their winter breaks and time off from school, I sat anxiously in a waiting room at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Over the course of the previous 24-hours, my family received a life-changing phone call: they had found a heart for my dad, after nine months and nine days on the organ donation “waiting list.” For over 10 years, my dad was suffering with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart condition and eventually went into congestive heart failure.

On top of the heart problems, my dad also has primary progressive multiple sclerosis, the rarest form of this disease. My dad receiving a heart transplant was a blessing. However, my family endured many setbacks because of my dad’s heart transplant.

A few weeks later, I headed back to Bloomsburg for my second semester of college. The guilt of leaving my family, especially my dad, during such a hard time was eating away at my conscious.

I needed to find something to distract myself from the guilt and the stress, so I decided to go through the sorority recruitment process with my roommate. When I first decided to rush, I did not expect to end up anywhere; however, my whole perspective of Greek Life changed when I met the sisters of Delta Phi Epsilon.

It’s hard to explain that instant connection you feel when you find where you’re supposed to be, but as I mingled with several of the DPhiE sisters, I had never felt more comfortable. It felt like I knew all of these young women my whole life and not just several minutes. As the rounds of recruitment continued, I got to know more sisters and about the sisterhood of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority. While the bond I felt within the sisterhood was certainly part of the reason I joined, what drew me in to this sorority was one of the philanthropies: the National Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

Anorexia is a disorder that has affected several members of my family, most recently including myself. I was drawn in to the idea that I could be a part of a sisterhood where empowering women were empowering other women on the importance of body positivity. When I learned that DPhiE was an organization that did this, I felt compelled to not only be a part of that empowerment, but also spearhead it.

Shortly after joining Delta Phi Epsilon in March 2015, I ran and was voted as the coordinator of community service position for the following academic year. As the community service coordinator, I worked directly under the vice president of programming (VPP) where I supported the fundraising, philanthropic, and community service efforts for our chapter. Because of my experience and passion for all three of our philanthropies, I decided to run for VPP the following year.

Empowering other women was one of the many goals I set to accomplish as VPP. I got the idea to create an awareness video for the National Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders from a sister from another chapter. My vision for this video was to show that every woman has things they are insecure about, but there are so many positive things about each of us that we should focus on instead. In addition, I teamed up with the Women’s Resource Center for National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Through our partnership, we had several successful educational events throughout the week.

Members of Greek Life are often stereotyped for partying all the time and having low GPAs. However, those assumptions are not always the case. Being involved in Greek Life is so much more than that — it offers you a support system and a home away from home. But more importantly, being involved in Greek Life allows you to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Members of the Greek community collectively completed over 22,400 hours of community service last year.

How many other organizations can say they did that?

— Kim Oaster, senior mass communications and marketing dual major #HuskyLife

Getting out of your comfort zone

Growing up, I attended thirteen years of small, Catholic schools in Delaware County. While I received a quality education while attending these schools, once I began attending Cardinal O’Hara High School, I quickly learned that if you weren’t on one of the sports teams, in the band, or a part of the theatre productions, you slid through the cracks. While despite not being very involved in high school, I still managed to form a tight niche of friends; but I still yearned to belong to a group that made me feel bigger than myself.

Unfortunately, I consider myself virtually talentless — I can’t sing, I have two left feet, and I am pretty much the most uncoordinated person you will ever meet. So if I wasn’t in school, I was found working part time at Rite Aid. Once I graduated, I made a promise to myself that college was going to be different — I would do more than just work, go to class, hang out with my friends, and watch Netflix.

During my freshman orientation, they mentioned that the Center for Leadership and Engagement would be hosting an Activities and Involvement Fair where student clubs and organizations would be highlighting what they were about and what they would be doing that year. I was so excited! This was the perfect opportunity for me to keep my promise to myself — and a few days later, that’s exactly what I did.

I was a little overwhelmed at first because I had no idea what kind of things I wanted to be involved with; but the best part about attending a public school for the first time in my life was that if there was something I was remotely interested in, there seemed to be a club for it. I ended up signing up for six clubs at the Activities and Involvement Fair ranging from academics to fitness to community service. At first, I seemed to be able to balance 15 credits and seven extracurricular activities; but as soon as midterms hit, I realized it was going to be impossible to be involved in everything.

During Week 6 of my first semester in college, I called my mom in a panic. That week I had three exams and a ton of meetings for all of the clubs I was involved with. I have always had really bad test anxiety, so my mom suggested I take a step back from some of the organizations I was involved with and focus on just a few. I realized she was right and after that phone call, I created a pro-con list for each activity I was involved in.

I decided to try to stay involved in the American Marketing Association because marketing is one of my majors and I had already paid the dues for that year. But I still wanted to be involved in something that wasn’t necessarily academic. Because I attended Catholic school, I was required to do a certain amount of community service hours every year; but usually I went beyond the minimum amount. I realized in that moment that I needed to be involved in some sort of community-service club.

During my junior year of high school, I attended a leadership camp for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and quickly grew passionate about finding a cure for childhood cancer. When I saw that Bloomsburg had a Colleges Against Cancer chapter, I knew that this club would be perfect for me. During the summer before I started at BU, my grandma was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer so I thought that this was the perfect club for me.

I was pretty active in CAC my first two semesters of college, however, decided not to be involved any more during my sophomore year. I had joined Delta Phi Epsilon in my second semester and became the community service chair for them, so I wanted to put all of my passion into that.

While I believe that being involved on campus and in the community is an important part of being a student, I think it’s more important to find a few activities you really enjoy and are able to put your time, energy and passion into. As college students, we are often running around like chickens with no heads; but the friendships, soft skills, and resume boost you gain from being involved on campus is truly worth the stress.

Bloomsburg University has so many opportunities for you to get involved and leave your mark; and I really encourage you to get involved as early on as possible. The earlier you get involved — the more positive experiences you’ll get out of it.

Don’t be afraid to try something new and get out of your comfort zone. Even if you don’t think a club or organization is right for you, try it out and see how you feel. You never know the amazing things that could come out of it.

— Kim Oaster, senior mass communications and marketing dual major #HuskyLife

Getting the experience!

For was long as I can remember, I have had trouble getting jobs due to lack of experience.

I cannot explain the level of upsetedness I feel when I see “3-5 years of experience” as a position requirement. I’ll find the perfect position at an amazing location. Then after I spend a good amount of time reading the description and envisioning my future life, there it is…3 years of experience required.

And my immediate response is “how do you expect me to GET experience if no one will hire me without having experience?!”

So when I was accepted into Bloomsburg’s College Student Affairs program I knew I needed to secure a graduate assistantship to gain an ample amount of experience in two brief years. I applied to every available opportunity, and was lucky enough to be offered a position with the Living and Learning Communities. Wanting a position in fraternity and sorority life (FSL) upon completion of my M.Ed., I was worried that I would have insufficient direct Greek Life experience (post undergrad) to get hired in the FSL area.

I carried this thinking around for a really long time. I started to volunteer with my national sorority by assisting chapters across the U.S. and, wherever possible, built my course assignments around Greek Life topics. However, I still did not feel like this was enough to remain relevant or marketable to prospective employers.

It wasn’t until my second year in the CSA program, while working with the Compass LLC, that I shared my worry with my supervisor, Jennifer Hunsinger. She advised me to research open FSL positions and find specific experiences that were desired. I made a list of responsibilities that I had not had experience in and areas that I thought I still needed to improve on. From that list, Jennifer and I CREATED the experiences that I needed to get my desired job!

Soon, I was on the university’s formal hearing board, facilitating classroom workshops, building programs, creating outcome assessments, writing reports, and so much more! Having my volunteer work with my national organization and getting really involved with student affairs at BU, I still felt like I needed that direct FSL experience. So I picked up the phone and called Matthew Richardson, Coordinator of FSL at the University of Pittsburgh.

Thankfully, he was able to meet with me three days later and offered me an internship! In January of 2016, I moved to Pittsburgh and spent over 350 hours (100 hours over the requirement for the field experience course) working with the FSL community.

I am sharing this to remind your to concentrate on the things you can control when you’re stressing out about finding your first professional job and to be proactive about them. The amount of worrying I was doing about not having experience was not helping me get experience. I sought out and created the experiences needed to be marketable for a job after my time at Bloomsburg came to an end. The entire job search was still overwhelming.

However, with the support of the student affairs professional staff, I was confident that I did everything over the two years of the College Student Affairs program to gain the experiences needed. Creating my experiences certainly paid off: I just hit my one-month mark of my first professional position within fraternity and sorority life!

— Jill Franklin, M.Ed., college student affairs #EducationalLeadership #ProfessionalU

Hey Dad ... I got a job!

When I decided to apply for graduate programs the last thing on my mind were the feelings I would have upon completion.

Five semesters, hundreds (literally) of days spent in the library, and a handful of emotional breakdowns later, there I was. I stood in front of a filled auditorium with only one person in mind, my dad. My father is a simple man and having never attended college, he does not understand student affairs work. Knowing my dad has absolutely no personal experience with university lingo, imagine him trying to wrap his head around my explanations and descriptions of my classes, assistantships, and overall program.

He did, however, become very adamant to ask me weekly—when and if I would get a real job. A real job, to my dad, means a steady income, job security, and fringe benefits.

He could not fully grasp my daily work so I told him stories about being a first-year graduate assistant with the Living and Learning Communities (LLCs) throughout my first year of the program. I tried to tell him about the planning and facilitating I did and students I worked with each day.  Just when he began to understand, I, of course, switched it up.

I moved onto to my second graduate assistant position working specifically and intensely with the Compass Living and Learning Community, which is dedicated to helping undeclared students navigate their transition from high school to college. As the Compass GA, I was blessed to supervise six upperclass student mentors and 20 first-year students, facilitate trainings and activities, and research and assess the impact of LLCs on first year participants.

Then, just when he started to understand what in the world I was talking about, CURVE BALL: “Dad, I’m moving to Pittsburgh for an unpaid internship!”

I spent the spring of 2016 working with the fraternity and sorority life at the University of Pittsburgh while being supervised by a Bloomsburg faculty member for course-related learning.

Not only did this allow me to work at a different institution size and type but immersing myself in the culture of the city of Pittsburgh was an irreplaceable experience. Even though I know the impact of those three and a half months on my life, it seemed that still, all my dad could ask about was if or when I would find a real job.

So, while in Pittsburgh I took up the hobby of applying for real jobs. I call it a hobby because it took up a LOT of time, and when I say jobs I mean EVERY job.

After five months of applications and phone, Skype, and on campus interviews, I found my match at a small public university in South Carolina with a position in student activities and fraternity and sorority life! I was offered the position three days before graduation and thought, what better way to tell my dad I finally got a real job than at graduation!

In the two years spent in the College Student Affairs program at Bloomsburg University, it was not until I was about to walk onto the auditorium stage that the full understanding of what was about to happen really enter my mind. I was not only a first generation college student and the first person in my home community earn a master’s degree, but I was also about to tell my friends and family, my dad included, life changing news!

The feelings of accomplishment and pride overcame me! So I walked out onto the stage with my head held very high, because in that moment I was finally able to show my dad exactly what he had wanted to know throughout my entire graduate school experience. Now dad, I now have a real job!

I am still pretty positive that he does not fully understand what college student affairs is, what I have done in the last two years, or even what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life, but he can rest assured knowing I am employed! I will be starting this adventure mid-June and cannot wait to share with you, and my dad, my experiences of being a new professional and how impactful the CSA program will be during the beginning my first real job.

— Jill Franklin, M.Ed., college student affairs #EducationalLeadership #ProfessionalU