Tom Parker discusses final preparation for a senior communications student.
3am visits to the library. 6 pack of energy drinks. 2 hours of sleep. Here we have it, that time of the year is approaching once again: the highly anticipated yet always dread finals week. So what does this week mean for students at SRU? The emergence of finals week for the majority of students involves endless studying and preparation throughout the week. Are all students’ preparation for finals the same here at SRU though? Is there a difference, for example, between the sports management major’s preparation for finals and that of the theater major’s? As displayed in the unique programs at the university, this answer without a doubt remains yes, as the various finals throughout the departments differ based off of which skills those specific majors need to highlight.
This week we follow Thomas Parker, a 22 year old Emerging Technology and Multimedia major from Jamestown, PA as he discusses his experience with finals from a communication student’s perspective. What does a final for the typical communications major entail? Projects and speeches compose the typical format of a final examination for this major based on articulation, communication, and synthesis skills. In particular, a final for a senior communications major entails the deliverance of a senior presentation at the end of the spring semester.
The senior presentation is a speech showcasing the culmination of talents and skills learned throughout the comm major’s career at SRU. It serves as a pass/fail test for comm students in their Senior Seminar class. Senior Seminar is a mandatory one credit class that all communication students must take during their senior year in order to graduate. As Professor Strahler, communications faculty member at SRU describes the class, “Senior Seminar may seem like a 1 credit blow-off course to students at first, but then they realize that the synthesizing skills they learn in the class pull all of their knowledge from their various classes together to use.”
Professor Strahler shared insight into the nature of the communication field in relation to finals and examinations
The senior presentation that falls at the end of Senior Seminar serves as the ultimate final for comm majors, as it forces the student to mold their experiences and skills together in a 10-15 minute speech that explains their experience at SRU. The student delivers the speech after the senior dinner, where he or she discusses their experience in front of a 2-3 judge panel in a classroom located in ESB. The judges include knowledgeable professors, alumni, administration, as well as professionals in the communications-related field. The presentation is intended to serve as a reflection by the student of his or her academic and social development, skills, values, ethics, and knowledge gained during the course of study as a communication major at the university. For more info on the course, check this class overview sheet out.
Tom shares a tiny portion of his senior presentation speech.
Thomas Parker, ET major in the comm department, commenced preparation for his senior presentation by first reflecting on his overall experience at SRU – both inside the communication department and out. He stated, “The overall idea for senior presentations is daunting at first. Just to think, you’re putting the entirety of what you’ve learned over the course of 4 years in one little speech, it’s hard to figure out how to fit in all of what you want to say.”
That being said, Parker was excited to begin practicing and rehearsing his speech, of which he stated that he went over about 1-2 times a day the week preceding senior presentations. The following video provides a brief portion of his speech.
Parker proved to not be reluctant in beginning preparation for this major speech, explaining “I never understand why comm students whine about senior presentations. They’re what a student in this major loves to do – communicate to people in the form of a conversational speech. And what’s more, it’s about yourself! How bad can it really be?” Below Tom discusses in more detail the senior presentation.
Parkers’ statements display the appropriateness of the senior presentation as a final examination for a communications student, as a final should adequately test skills that a student in that field will need in the future. The needs of a communications student involve lots of practice in delivering thoughts, explanations, and stories in a concise written and verbal format, and the senior presentation is intended to test just that. Professor Strahler elaborates on this idea, “I think that the senior presentation is a great way to test comm students. After all, speeches are the nature of their field.”
Senior presentations were held on Thursday April 20th, after the formal dinner. Around 25 students from the Senior Seminar course delivered speeches in front of faculty and judges that night.
Stay tuned for next week’s installment of finals preparations, as we follow music thereapy major Liz Biggart as she begins preparation for her finals the music department way.
Kim, 20, is a sophomore at Slippery Rock University.
Could you imagine leaving your apartment at 7:30 in the morning and sometimes not returning until at least 11:00 or later at night? Can you envision this as your daily routine 5 days a week, along with additional work on the weekends as well? Well this scenario serves as a reality for one exceptional student here at Slippery Rock University, and her name is Kimberly Arntz. Kim, a sophomore at SRU, currently holds two majors as well as two minors here at the university. With these different aspects of her degree working together, Kim truly is a quadruple threat. In addition to her academic endeavors, though, Kim participates in a wide array of extracurricular activities both on and off campus. Through the variety of duties that she has taken on in her college life, Kim has set herself apart from the pack of even the most exceptional students here at SRU.
Kim, born on March 28th in 1992, decided to attend Slippery Rock University because she heard that the college maintained a great reputation for dance. This aspect appealed to her because dance was her initial area of interest as a concentration for post-secondary education. She expressed her satisfaction in choosing the university, stating, “As soon as I stepped on campus, I knew it was the right school for me”.
As soon as she was initiated with the introductory aspects of college, Kim immediately immersed herself academically, socially, and mentally into her Slippery Rock life. With two declared majors of Management and Spanish, along with minors of Marketing and Dance, Kim certainly set her expectations for college achievement high, as early as her freshman year.
Once on campus, Kim immediately joined AKPsi,
the professional business fraternity on campus. After serving a full
year, Kim obtained the position of Master of Rituals for the fraternity
during her sophomore year. Kim states, “This is definitely my most
involved activity on campus.” As a side note, Kim recently discovered
that she was accepted to attend the AKPsi Academy
this summer, a leadership convention in Indiana. Only 16 people in the
USA get chosen to attend this prestigious program, and Kim is the first
to be accepted from SRU. If that isn’t a huge accomplishment for a young
adult in her third semester of college, I don’t know what is!
Waiting for the start of an AKPSI meeting, Kim socializes with fellow fraternity members.
Kim is also involved with the Office of the Annual Fund, where she serves as a student supervisor, putting in about 20 hours a week. At the office, Kim supervises calling shifts, in addition to helping with mailings and working on extra campaigns to raise money for the university. The following video shows a fellow supervisor, Hannah Lindsey, discussing her relationship at the call center with Kim.
Kim also participates in the dance department, where she has contributed two pieces for the Senior Synthesis concert, as well as a solo piece for 60X60, a concert that took place in the fall. The following two videos are clips from a hip hop dance that Kim took part in.
Kim is also currently awaiting approval to be inducted into the Spanish National Honor Society. Outside of SRU, Kim works at Hershey Park in her hometown as a Guest Relations Clerk and Sweet Access Concierge, where she works in the customer service department and gives personalized tours to high-end guest when they visit the park. Reflecting on her ambition with all of these activities, Kim states “I am happiest when I am busy and working toward a lot of different goals. I also really like helping and meeting new people so I love being a part of so many different organizations.”
Kim with fellow annual fund supervisors Hannah, Amanda, and Zach.
With all of this persistence and dedication, what exactly does Kim plan to do after she graduates? She states that her primary goal is gaining experience in the business field. She plans on either working for Hershey Entertainment and Resorts or for a university in their advancement department. Eventually, Kim states that her ultimate goal is to open up her own dance studio. She explains, “I have had the dream of owning the dance studio since before I was 10 years old. I even drew a little dancer that I want to be the logo for my business and now I have a tattoo of it on my ankle.” Perhaps the tattoo serves as more than just a catalyst for her aspirations, but as a constant symbol of her determination and persistence as well. Watch Kim discuss her work at the annual fund as well as provide some advice to fellow students in the following video.
Kim puts her dance skills to use by becoming certified to teach Zumba at SRU.
If you’re still not convinced of Kim’s unique nature as an exceptional SRU student, here’s just a few other facts that may peek your interest. On top of her current endeavors, Kim has also helped build a house for Extreme Home Makeover, participated in a marathon last fall, become a certified Zumba instructor, as well as taken dance classes with a dancer from the royal ballet in Paris. If you think that Kim has given back to the university through her dedication and talents enough, she embarks on a new activity where she becomes even more involved than before. Kim truly serves as an inspiration for many students not just throughout the campus, but in her everyday life as well. Wherever Kim goes, she inspires people, and she does so with a friendly and modest demeanor that you just can’t simply find in students of such high merit as her these days.
So what’s next for Kim? She states that she wants to focus on finishing her classes as soon as possible, as she’s aiming for completion of her degrees within the next 3 years. Until then, Kim is off on her next endeavor, where she will be studying abroad in Costa Rica for the summer. Classes taken here will provide Kim with credit for the Spanish aspect of her degree.
Home to the only frozen custard ice cream in the Pittsburgh area, Custard Crossing opened for its spring season this Saturday, April 7th. In its third season and still going strong, Custard Crossing offers a selection of unique dairy treats that satisfies the crowd of the heavily-populated Waterfront area in Homestead, PA. Opening day for Custard Crossing not only marked the relaunching of another successful season, but an introduction to a new element of the store as well.
For the first time, customers of Custard Crossing could purchase their treats at the inside service bar. Buyers were no longer forced to stand outside to wait for their ice cream; they now had the option of walking inside to watch their ice cream being made, or to simply utilize the traditional outside service area and take their ice cream on the go.
Julia Carlson, a 24 year-old entering her second season of service at the Custard Crossing discussed her experience of the day. She stated that she loves when it's the beginning of spring, because so many people become excited when they see that an ice cream shop is finally open for business. "So far, it's been kind of interesting. I didn't think many people would know that we're open now because we don't get out there advertising-wise too much." She continued on, "You'd be surprised though, our store is starting to attract a crowd." Carlson admitted that the 10 specialty ice cream flavors of the store seemed to be the hit of the day - the most requests she received came from customers desiring a diversion from their traditional flavors. In the prior two seasons, Custard Crossing did not sell traditional ice cream; it simply focused on custard, non-fat yogurt, and sorbet selections. With the 2012 season came the decision to include an ice cream bar featuring 10 specialty flavors that without a doubt will generate a larger crowd.
Dave Porter, a regular customer at the Custard Crossing was excited to see Custard Crossing back for another season as well.
Frozen custard is an old-fashioned dessert created in 1919 on Coney Island, New York. It is served at a warmer temperature than ice cream and has very little air whipped in, making it both denser and smoother than traditional ice cream. Custard Crossing's special recipe is made daily and mixed into a controlled temperature barrel to bring out the taste in the frozen custard. Its custard is both gluten-free and lower in calories than competing stores' ice cream treats. Their frozen custard is made fresh the old fashioned way, right on the scene, churned slowly and with no added preservatives. Offerings of the store include a great variety of treats from sundaes, shakes, cones, and whistlers as well. The store is also tackling a new hurdle this year in incorporating smoothies into its list of dairy treats - so far this healthier desert comes in three flavors: strawberry, banana, and mango.
View Custard Crossing at the Waterfront in a larger map
Custard Crossing is open Tues thru Sat from noon to 9pm, Sunday noon to 7pm. The store is located in the heart of the town center at 142 West Bridge St in Homestead PA, right next to Linton's.
