William Penn Life, 1981 (16. évfolyam, 1-3. szám)
1981-07-01 / 3. szám
Our Scholarship Recipients Write . . . We have requested stories from college students who are scholarship recipients. We shall endeavor to publish all of them in due time in each issue of the William Penn Life. KATHLEEN R. PALLA I am a sophomore majoring in pharmacy at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. I am a member of Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority and reside there. This past fall, I was initiated into Kappa Epsilon, a professional pharmacy fraternity, and initiated into the sisters of Alethia Kai. Kathleen R. Palla 4210 Magoun Avenue East Chicago, IN 46312 DORINDA KISH Dorinda Kish, who was presented with a William Penn Continuing Scholarship in 1977, is a senior Graphic Design major who will be graduating from La Roche College in May of 1981. Dorinda, was the Editor of the 1980 La Roche College yearbook, “The 12 Rock”, and has been employed as the production manager of the Graphic Arts Lab for 2 years, in charge of many of the Colleges’ publications. Dorinda served an internship at the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce designing some of the city’s publications as well as having completed several freelance jobs. Academically, Dorinda has been awarded the Who’s Who Among American College Students Award and has been listed in the National Register of Outstanding College Graduates of 1981. A Springdale resident, Dorinda would like to find employment in the Pittsburgh area working in an art studio or advertising agency and continuing with as much freelance illustration as possible. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness better known as . . . What College Has Taught Me College teaches you all kinds of things. As a senior at Westminster, I’m kinda awed by all the things I now know. The secret is to realize that most learning takes place outside the classroom. I’ve formulated a “Steps to Success” thesis based on the Darwinian survival of the fittest. Step 1: Learning to get along with others: This lesson is grimly forced upon most freshmen as they hover between the choice to live with that obnoxious roommate in the 9x9' cubicle or to move home. Only the hardiest survive. Step 2: Learning to adapt: My greatest test came as a choir member on a 3-week tour to Romania, as I culturally ate cold cuts for breakfast and sold my blue jeans on the black market. Step 3: Learning to conform: I displayed these colors when I valiantly joined the largest sorority on campus, happily performing pledge duties ’til hell day froze over. Step 4: Learning to serve: Again I practically tripped over myself to sign up for as many clubs as were forms available to fill. I quickly learned the Westminster Wendy way of being a slave with a Disneyland smile. Step 5: Becoming aware: My first glimpse of life beyond the bubble of happy valley (As we fondly refer to old WC) came as an exchange student living with a Puerto Rican family in inner-city Philadelphia, working as a volunteer tutor in the schools. There I learned that minority life is not just a pleasant ride on welfare checks. More importantly, I discovered that the same heart lies under different colors of skin, tanned or not. Step 6: Learning to disagree (or think for myself): I was an unsuspecting victim of the dreaded “sophomore slump.” In this disgruntled state, I decided against following the rosy path of Wendy Westminsters and plotted my escape via a Washington Semester. Step 7: Learning to live: My term in D.C. helped me discover the real world. Involved in political seminar discussions, writing a fifty-page research project and working as an intern at the Carter Re-Election Press Office, I learned that there’s more to life than fraternity parties and chugging beer. The pace and diversity of Washington offered a refreshing change to my country-muddied mind. Step 8: Learning to study: Yes, I was actually a junior before I shook myself (though not entirely) of my procrastination fits and started writing my papers the night before they were due (instead of that morning!) And in time to pull off a 3.4 Q.P.A. before graduating. Step 9: Learning to adjust: I wanted to make the transition from liberal arts student to real-world worker less frightening. Working one month as a newspaper reporter (Baba Wawa, here I come) and another as an intern on the editorial staff of a magazine publishing company, I gained great practical skills which have enhanced my liberal arts education. Step 10: Learning to handle responsibility: As resident director of a house, I’m the person who must enforce the rules: No male visitors after 11 p.m., no drinking on campus, and observe quiet hours. I kinda look on it as future motherhood training (Though I claim my ignorance when callenged with a plumbing problem and handed a plunger!) Step 11: Assuming leadership: As managing editor of our school newspaper, I have learned to be a fearless campus leader. Undaunted, I have withstood a cold war with school administrators, the on-slaught of professors, the rumblings of reporters and the general apathy of the student body. It is such stuff which builds character.
