WE ARE... but will you be too?

Do you remember a little over a year ago when you were trying to decide where you would spend your next four years? Well, the time has come for this years high school seniors to make the same decision. Recently, I have been volunteering at Schreyer Accepted Student Days to help these kids out.

The Cause:
For those of you who don't know, Schreyer Honors College is Penn State's honors program. In order to get into the program a student most apply. Once in, the students get honors housing and priority scheduling, among lots of other opportunities. They must maintain a 3.4 GPA and write an Honors Thesis to graduate with honors. The Accepted Students Days are a chance for the incoming class of 2020 to understand a little bit better what Schreyer offers and what it believes its students should stand for, the college's mission. Some of these values include academic excellence, integrity, and civic engagement.

Accepted Students Days include a presentation by Schreyer faculty, a student panel, student run tours, mingling with current students, and an opportunity to buy Schreyer merchandise.

Decision Day and Schreyer Merchandise

What I Did:
To help with the Accepted Students Days, I decided to be a tour guide. To do this I had to be trained, by the person organizing the tours, by pretty much by going on the tour myself. During the tours I show the main lounges and computer lab in the lobby of Atherton to give people an idea of what types of spaces we have available. Then, I show a sample room, almost always my own to give parents and students an idea of what they can expect from a real dorm. Then, we go through the basement and ground floor to show more spaces to study or get assistance from faculty. Finally, we head over to the other honors dorm where I show them a few common spaces and the GLOBE, a global perspective special living option within Schreyer that students can apply to.

My room that I show on tours- it's more decorated now.

My tour group can range from just a handful of people to 15 people. I have done tours both with parents and students and another with just parents. These groups were interesting because in the parent only group they tended to ask more questions and ones their kids may have prevented them from asking in a combined group.

What I Learned:
Giving these tours has given me a different perspective both on Penn State and Schreyer. When asked different questions about the university and honors college I realized how much I truly know about where I am. Whenever I'm asked questions about the negative sides of things here, I have learned to be able to give true answers that show that everything isn't perfect. Having questions asked of me about these negatives has allowed me to truly analyze where I am and how I like it.

The tours and questions that are asked have allowed me to become more reflective, something I tend not to be very good at. I have been able to bring this new and improved ability to reflect to the rest of my life, mostly academically, to understand why things happen the way they do and what I can do to change these things in the future. I also realize what happened, happened and can't be changed.

Giving tours, has allowed me to figure out what the most important points are to present to the groups and how to keep the group engaged throughout the tour. This can be applied to to other aspects of my life when I have to present or convey information or a message in a relatively short amount of time. It's becoming easier for me to choose what is important to include and what is okay to leave out.

Also, this experience has allowed me to connect with current high school seniors and hopefully give them some guidance about if Schreyer and Penn State are the right fit for them. It's important to realize that if you choose to go somewhere you don't fit in or do something you don't truly like, you won't prosper. I really enjoy being able to help seniors figure out if they will prosper here in anyway that I can.

Overall, the tour process and helping seniors has made me realize how much I like Schreyer and Penn State. I had my doubts about coming here, but looking back now I am very happy here and can't imagine myself anywhere else. I'm glad I made the decision I did and ended up here in Happy Valley.

WE ARE... happy we chose Schreyer and Penn State!