Admissions

Another countdown?

I have about a week until I am back on campus... Crazy!! I move in on August 7 with the other Resident Assistants. I didn't realize how soon this all was... I haven't even thought about packing yet, and I'll be in Chicago until Monday at Lollapalooza... that leaves me about 2 days to pack. Yikes =/ It doesn't help that I left a bunch of stuff in storage and don't remember what I left. Note to self: write it down next year.

I am really excited to be going back, though. I've missed school a lot, especially my friends there. I was fortunate to see a few of my friends on Monday when we went to Cedar Point. Luckily a lot of my friends will be coming back early, too, or they are staying in Greensburg for the summer so I don't have to wait quite until school starts to see them all.

Surely the Residence Life staff will be happy to have all the RAs around, though... I can't get over the media attention that SHU is getting for the housing crunch! Obviously it's an issue but it surprises me that the paper would write up an article on it. Maybe the attention will help to get others involved in coming up with a solution. I just hope that students will be understanding and helpful... It's really not that uncommon of a thing to exceed housing, at least at my other friends' schools. At my sister's college in Wisconsin, they have been renting out an entire floor of a hotel for students for the past several years. Well, whatever happens, I'm sure it will be an adventure...!

Last day in BCN

I can´t believe that 5 weeks have gone by already! Today is my last day in Spain... A few days into the trip I remember thinking, `How am I going to do this??´ Obviously, I made it. And I had a blast and learned a LOT in such a short amount of time. My Spanish professor was really impressed with the oral part of my exam, which either means I did really well or my midterm oral part was just that bad. I´d like to think it´s the former, but who really knows. But for never taking Spanish before, ever, I even impressed myself. I learned a lot in my photography class, too, though not what you might expect. I learned the technical aspects, though a lot of that was review for me, and I developed and printed my own pictures in a darkroom, which was such a satisfying experience for me. But our photography professor isn´t a local, he´s only been here for 5 years, so he was really on our level in terms of being confused by the culture here. It was really nice to have someone you could go to when you saw something on the street you didn´t understand or needed a good place to eat that had comfort foods. Experiencing the people and places here firsthand and then having someone who was willing to sort of explain things to you made dealing with the culture shock here a lot easier, I think.

I really did some amazing things here, though. I was constantly surrounded by art, which I loved. I met really interesting people from all over the world. I stayed up all night on the beach during one of the biggest holidays in Spain. I learned how to speak (horrible, broken) Spanish. I saw all the tourist attractions and ate some awesome food. Some things I can´t even put into words. I´m just so happy I came, though.

But it will be nice to go back to the states. I´ve been struggling to figure out how I´m getting from the airport to my friend´s apartment in NYC, and I keep forgetting that when I get to the airport, I´ll have my cell phone and all the attendants and employees will speak English. I think it´s going to be really weird to land in London and see everything in English and be spoken to in English. It will be a nice change, but I will definitely be more sympathetic whenever anyone from another country tries to talk to me! I realize now how difficult it is to be in a place where everything is foreign and you can´t even ask for help. And my cell phone..! Yeah, I am very excited to have that back! I miss texting random things to friends or calling my sister just to see how her weekend was. I feel so out of the loop with American news and everything back home. And Seton Hill! So much is happening and I feel like I´m missing it or something. Katie Fritsch, my good friend from SHU, sent me a letter here with a list at the end of what she misses from school and she also included a copy of the Forward magazine. It was so nice to have a little piece of home, of school, and that made me realize how much I miss it all and how far away from it I really am. I would never complain about my time abroad, but I´m also not complaining about going home!

Well... congratulations if you made it through that entire entry =) Time to prepare for our going away party... I hope no one cries... Myself included!

LECOM at Seton Hill + New Performing Arts Center = Renaissance

Yesterday, the press conference officially announcing the details of LECOM at Seton Hill was held at the University. How exciting this is! The nation's largest medical school has partnered with SHU! This means we will be seeing Seton Hill evolving in many exciting ways. I have lived in the Greensburg area all my life. I remember shopping "Downtown Greensburg" at Troutman's and Royer's with my Grandmother. Since those days,businesses would close one by one as the malls and other large developments would draw business away from town. It was only about 10 years ago that I walked through town and unless you were an attorney or working at the courthouse; downtown was pretty much a ghost town. Recently, under the vision of Barb Ciampini, Greensburg City Planning Director, Karl Eisaman, Mayor , Steve Gifford of GCDC (click to read Steve's vision for Greensburg) and other city officials and committees, there has been a major upswing. A little over a year ago, I looked around at the beginning transformation of the city and predicted that someday soon it would be a extraordinary cultural and arts center. Already home to DV8 Espress Bar and Gallery, Stage Right School and Theater Company, Westmoreland Museum of American Art , Pottery Playhouse, St. Clair Concerts in the Park, and so much more. In addition, the new $21 Million Seton Hill Performing Arts Center will be opening 2009 right in the heart of the Greensburg Cultural District. Due to the increased enrollment in Seton Hill's outstanding art program, Seton Hill will house the art department's painting studio in the Troutman's building. So...this all leads to a renaissance of Downtown Greensburg and Seton Hill University. Who knows...maybe someday, we will refer to "Upper Campus" and "Lower Campus" as we grow and are widely recognized for our exemplary medical programs with our Physician's Assistant Program and LECOM's Medical School, as well as our paramount performing and visual arts programs!

Halfway done =(

For those of you reading this, be honored. I am updating you all on my life rather than being at the beach!

Barcelona is still wonderful as ever, but I took a weekend vacation (ha!) to San Sebastian in northwest Spain. The bus ride there was pretty brutal (7 hours...) but it was way cheaper than flying and traveling with friends always makes the trip easier! The city was a big change from Barcelona, though. San Sebastian is primarily a resort town where all the rich Spaniards come to vacation during August, which is so hot in Spain that most everything shuts down for the month and everyone goes to the beach. It´s early still in summer so we weren´t there during peak travel season but there were still quite a bit of people there. It was odd though because in the mornings only the older people were out and about, during midday and dinner time (which is later than you might think.. 2-5:00 is lunchtime, 8-11:00 is dinner) there are lots of families out shopping and eating, and at night the town is overrun with college-aged students. The first day we were in San Sebastian we were a little put off in the morning because it looked like the median age was around 75...! As the day went on we figured out how the cycle went though! Overall it was a VERY fun weekend though I spent way too much money... =( It was worth it though; San Sebastian is the center for tapas (or pintxos when you´re in northwest Spain) and my 4 friends and I basically ate them nonstop for the two days we were there!

Another weird thing about San Sebastian (and Spain in general...) was the language there. Spain actually has four official languages (FYI: the US has NO official language!): Spanish, Catalan (which is what they speak in Barcelona), Basque, and Galician. In northwest Spain and in San Sebastian, they speak Basque and I was NOT expecting it to sound like it did... Spanish and Catalan are such smooth languages, but then we got to Basque country and their words have so many more Ks, TZs.. all these really hard sounds. And when they speak it all sounds slurred together... It was very shocking when we arrived! It´s very interesting, though, that they have FOUR languages in Spain... and I only know English!

Well, now that I´m back in Barcelona that means I´m back to doing schoolwork... We have one more full week of classes and next week is our last week, so we´re really putting our butts into gear now. Next week I won´t have class on Tuesday, though, for the holiday of San Juan. From what I hear, the entire city pretty much shuts down Monday night (except for the nightlife) and the goal of the evening is to stay up until the sun rises in honor of the summer solstice and to soak up as much sun as possible on the lightest day of the year! I´ll make sure to let you know how that goes =)

I´m off now to do some homework (aka walk around the city and take pictures!) and send off some postcards. Hope all is well back in the states!

Fire Up the Grill...it's time for a SHU BBQ!!

You can almost hear the sizzle of the grill and feel the heat of the the fire with this fun outdoor scene! On Thursday, June 26th, the Admissions Team will be hosting a SHU BBQ at 6:30 PM. This is a great opportunity to learn more information about Seton Hill University and to tour the campus...and of course, there will be plenty of good food! If you are going to be graduating in 2009 or later from high school and are interested in joining us, please call the Admissions Office at 1-800-826-6234, or email us at admit@setonhill.edu

¡Me gusta Barcelona!

Well, I´m alive! I realize it took a while to finally update, but things are hectic here and I have limited access to the internet. As soon as I can get some pictures up online, I promise that I will post them here or at least link to them! Also, ignore the weird apostrophes... I´m typing on a funky spanish keyboard =)

Living in another country is definitely an experience worth having! I´ll admit, I still struggle with the language barrier. Two weeks worth of Spanish classes have helped me tremendously but it is very frustrating when you physically cannot express yourself because you don´t know the correct vocabulary. There are other things that I´ve adjusted to which are significantly less challenging like the weird time schedule here. Everything opens up later in the morning, closes for a few hours in the afternoon, and is closed entirely on Sundays. I don´t eat dinner until at least 10 p.m. every night and most clubs don´t start getting full until around 2 a.m. (I´ve only gone for the sake of cultural immersion). I left my college attire at home, and for good reason; I don´t think I have seen one person wearing sweatpants, ever. I love the style here, though. It´s so put together and the women all look so feminine but not in an overbearing way. Men, too, dress impeccably and I really wish that trend would catch on in the US =) Today I experienced my first nude beach (don´t worry, I don´t have pictures from that) and am looking forward to having a nice tan by the time I get home! The weather has actually been not the best but everyone in the city is happy about it because they have been in a very, very bad drought.

It´s still pretty early here (16:40 aka 4:40 p.m. GMT aka 10:40 a.m EST) and I´m going to head out to do some shopping (or window shopping at least... the exchange rate is killer!). Maybe I´ll stop for some gelato on the way... who knows! Anything goes in Barcelona =)

2008 STARS Award

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes? What goes on during summer break when the SHU students go home for the summer?...dancing, eating and socializing...of course! Well...maybe not everyday, but at least Friday evening, May 23rd, as the staff and faculty of Seton Hill University joined together for the O.S.C.A.R. Awards Ceremony. Awarding 5 outstanding members of the staff and faculty who display "Openness - Service - Community - Amazing - Respect". This year's awards went to Coach John Fogle, Barb Strosko, Carol Billman, Laura Patterson and Lee McClain. Congratulations to all! This was my first O.S.C.A.R. Awards Ceremony at SHU since I have only worked here since last August, and I must admit I was quite impressed! What a wonderful team of individuals make up the culture of this University. Their united passion for our mission and vision for SHU was so evident. The food was phenomenal as usual from Aramark, our dining service! (No wonder I have gained so much weight since I have worked here!). Then, to my surprise, my ALL TIME FAVORITE TEACHER from High School, Dr. Terry Wansor, ended up emceeing the event! I had gone back to high school a few years after graduation to visit him and he no longer taught at the school. He has been teaching here at Seton Hill (I haven't been here long enough to know ALL the faculty yet)! My next surprise was that I won a $30 gift card to Sheetz! GAS! Good food...good dancing (and I had a wonderful new dancing partner - Dr. Jerz's daughter, Carolyn - what fun!)...good friends. The staff and faculty all work very hard during the academic year and are committed to the students. This was a wonderful event to not only congratulate the outstanding individuals, but to celebrate a successful year as we turn to embrace and prepare for the next upcoming school year.

Hello and goodbye - all in one!

So this is the mandatory introduction. You always need something like this whether it’s in an essay or at a job interview, so why not make it formal on my blog, too?

My name is Lara Heinz. No, I’m not related to the condiment franchise (though I always get extra pickle pins at the House of Heinz in Grove City!). I’m working toward my BFA in Graphic Design and BS in Marketing, and I just finished up my first year at Seton Hill. The year went by super fast, but I loved every minute of it! My hometown—Austinburg, Ohio—is about 3 hours away, which was close enough that I made it home when I needed to but far enough that my parents weren’t finding reasons to visit me every weekend. I’m pretty active on campus; I am a Student Ambassador, on the Eye Contact staff, a SHGA Senator, the SAAC treasurer, and I run cross country and track. In addition (to too much already!), I’m going to be a Resident Teaching Assistant (RTA) for the freshmen in Havey Hall next year

That’s really probably MORE than you want/need to know, but it will at least give you some background when you read some of my entries and wonder what I’m talking about. Or if you have any questions about any of those clubs/activities/programs/whatever, feel free to contact me because I would LOVE to answer prospective students’ questions (sounds lame but I’m really that excited about talking to prospective SHU students!).

Also, I’ll be studying abroad from May 22 - June 28 in Barcelona, Spain and I will be updating this from abroad! It’s awesome what we can do with technology… The plan is to put up photos and updates from my trip while I’m there, so you all can feel like you’re there, too (okay, okay, that’s pushing it). This is my first time abroad so it will all be new to me and hopefully my story might inspire some of you to go abroad, too, if you haven’t already!

On that note, I really should stop procrastinating and start packing. Wish me luck!

Reconvening with Blogs from Admissions

No...we didn't vanish...just took a bit of a hiatus (due to writer's strike??) from the blog world. But we are still here, growing and busy in Admissions at Seton Hill. Actually, some of us grew more than others. Our wonderful past blogger, Ashley Hoffman is now MRS. Ashley Ralston and is enjoying her leave with her beautiful new daughter, Belle. (A lot happened around here in a year!)

So, as I step in to pick up where she left off, let me introduce myself. I am Tracey Bartos. I have been working with the Admissions Office here at Seton Hill University since August, 2007. I also am a grad student here in the MBA program. (and a bit of a nerd...I LOVE school, research, studying and the whole gambit!). Before my career change and entrance back into school as a student (my kids like to call it a "midlife crisis", I don't use the word "crisis"...."midlife"; well, that's pushing it too) I had been an elementary teacher and business owner for many years. I loved teaching (remember, I love school!) and I loved the business management, so it was time to combine the two and expand on the experience.

We are expecting approximately 330 deposited freshman for the upcoming 2008 Fall semester and have been dedicated to guiding the new students beyond their application and towards the start of their academic career. I attended my first Graduation Receptions last Friday. Graduation was held Saturday and the receptions were held throughout the school during Friday afternoon to congratulate the graduates and provide the opportunity for graduates, their families and faculty to socialize and celebrate the completion of degrees. Smiles of pride and satisfaction filled the many reception areas. Food was excellent (as always at Seton Hill !) and the enthusiasm, spirit and energy filled the rooms. What an exciting milestone! Some of our counselors actually recruited the students that were graduating and commented on how just 4 years ago, these young adults came in fresh, excited and yet uncertain of all that awaited them. Did they make the right choice of major? Did they pick the right school? Would they like their roommate? Would studying be impossible? Did they go too far (or too close) to home? Now, those questions are answered and exchanged with a new set of uncertainties and excitement. The Admissions Team "reception hopped" as we began in the Greensburg room with the Social Sciences Division, headed upstairs to the parlors for the Visual and Performing Arts, Humanities and Education Divisions, and ended in the library with the Natural and Health Sciences Division. I enjoyed socializing in all the receptions. But, what really impressed me was when we were talking with Sean Garrity, one of our graduating SHUSA members. He was explaining how he already has a great job lined up (accountant) and he was going to be traveling to LA for business ALREADY! How fantastic is that! To be graduating and be walking right into a great career! Now that is exciting!

I will close for today on that note. Our Admissions Team loves recruiting new students, introducing people to Seton Hill and all it has to offer, counseling during the admissions process...but, they don't drop the ball after that. The counselors and staff support the students and are always available along their degree pursuit at SHU and are proud to see their students graduate. So...from the Admissions Team.....CONGRATULATIONS 2008 GRADUATES!!!

Prospective Student-Athletes!

The following applies to all students who are interested in playing a sport at the collegiate level.
Click here to review the NCAA Freshman Eligibility Standards.

Effective immediately, all SAT/ACT scores must be reported directly to the NCAA Clearinghouse by the testing agency (ex: College Board). Previously, test scores that appeared on your high school transcripts were acceptable, but no longer. When registering for the SAT or ACT, us the NCAA Clearinghouse code of 9999.

SHU Will be Traveling to Your Area!

In addition to the Admissions Counselors traveling to make high school visits and attend college fairs, we have joined forces with our Institutional Advancement Office to attend alumni receptions! We are headed to San Diego, Atlanta, Philadelphia and many more places.
When our Admissions Counselors attend these events, we will be sending out invitations to our prospective students who have already shown interest in Seton Hill. This provides prospective students with the great opportunity to mingle with President Boyle, alumni of Seton Hill, and the Admissions team! Come join the fun!
Visit our Alumni and Friends Online Community Page to see event details!

Women in Science

This Wednesday, May 16th, Seton Hill University will host its 19th annual Women in Science Event. Sixty-five local high school students will receive the Women in Science Award. Young women will receive their awards in Mathematics, Science, Biology and Chemistry.

For the first time, the students honored will also be eligible for the new Women in Science Scholarship at Seton Hill University. Each award recipient was nominated by a teacher at her high school. Nominating teachers, as well as the families of the awardees, will also attend Women in Science Day.

The Women in Science Scholarship is valued at $60,000 and is valid the semester following high school graduation for 8 full time consecutive semesters ($15,000/year). The Women in Science Scholarship replaces all other academic scholarships provided by Seton Hill University. Students must make academic progress and maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.5 to renew the scholarship each year.

In addition to the Women in Science Scholarship, the Division of Natural and Health Science offers a full tuition scholarship that is open to all students who apply and are eligible. The requirements are a 1350 or high combined SAT score, a high school grade point average of 3.7 or higher, honors or advanced placement coursework pertinent to the major, demonstration of leadership or community service, an additional letter of recommendation that addresses the student�s ability to excel in the field of study, and an additional essay written by the student describing her/his decision to major in the field chosen.

Still looking? Look no further!

As stated on this posting from AdmissionsAdvice.com, Seton Hill University is still accepting applications. We are members of the Common Application; who will be shutting down as of June 3rd. This is the common application's deadline only.

Seton Hill does not have a deadline (rolling admissions). Get your applications into us soon! There is also a list of other participants with the Common Application. The Common Application is FREE, you can apply on Seton Hill�s website for FREE, and we can also send you an application with a fee waiver. Get in touch with us soon!

FindurU.com!

Try this!
I probably just wasted an hour of my day playing around with this, but this is such a great website to find what college has your interests! www.finduru.com At this site, you can type in anything that you are looking for in a college. Once you find a school that has, NCAA DII for example, it takes you to the area on the website that talks about NCAA DII in depth!
This is so user friendly and you have so many choices to choose from! You can search within public/private schools; suburban, urban, or rural setting; tuition ranges; state; and a choice between 4 year or 2 year institutions.

Have fun!

Education Program at Seton Hill

The education program at Seton Hill University is a bit different than at other universities. One thing to remember is that you cannot major in education at SHU, but�

SHU teacher training programs are designed to prepare teachers for inclusionary teaching practice. The programs are designed to train teachers to be reflective practioners, well-schooled in the theory and practice of teaching, and able to critically evaluate their own teaching performance.
As a liberal arts university, SHU requires all potential teachers to major in a liberal arts content area. Matriculating in one of the teacher certification programs with a strong liberal arts background gives students the advantage of double preparation.

Students graduate with a liberal arts degree PLUS one to three areas of certification (elementary education, special education, secondary education). By enrolling in the education program, you will complete the liberal arts curriculum of the university, an academic major of your choice, the education sequence of courses, a minimum of 30 hours of observation and involvement in area schools, and 15 weeks of student teaching.

For example, if you would like to be a high school history teacher, you would major in history and get your certification in secondary education.

To be an elementary teacher, you will need to have a focus major and then you will get your elementary teaching certification. In this focus, you will take courses such as Social Studies in Elementary Education, Classroom Management and Parent Conferencing, Art in Elementary Education, etc.

Seton Hill also provides graduate level courses in Education; Elementary, Inclusive, and Special Education are all possible choices.

For more information about the education program, visit our online catalogue to see the extensive list of courses.