Slippery Rock University

Driven by a passion to protect others and make a real impact in the field, a Slippery Rock University student turned classroom lessons into life-changing experience through a summer internship. Nathan Thompson, an SRU senior safety management major from Sewickley (Moon HS), spent this summer serving as a site safety intern at Blattner Energy in Buckeye, Arizona. A significant portion of Thompson's time in this internship was spent in the field, meeting and checking on crews. "Visibility as a safety professional is important for relationship building," Thompson said. "Blattner values safety and has a really caring company culture. Safety posters aren't just slapped on the walls for show there."

Slippery Rock University senior Alexa Rivero is driven to help people express themselves in ways that words alone cannot. Through an internship with Creative Citizen Studios, Rivero gained hands-on experience and refined her vision of how she can help others by combining art and psychology. Rivero, a senior art major from Uniontown (Laurel Highlands HS), worked one-on-one with adults with disabilities to express themselves through art during her three-month summer internship at CCS. For more than a decade, the Pittsburgh-based art studio has hosted weekly art classes, workshops and exhibits to bring people of all abilities together, primarily working with artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

A Slippery Rock University art major earned an award to have her artwork displayed in SRU President Karen Riley's on-campus residence. Veronica Yeschke, a senior from West View (North Hills HS), earned the President's Student Art Award in Residence for the Fall 2025 semester. Each semester since Fall 2023, an SRU art student has their art selected for display in the president's on-campus residence by a committee of SRU Art Department faculty members. Yeschke's acrylic painting of one of her personal lamps, titled "My Beautiful Lamp," represents warm emotions and symbolism associated with her home. Her ceramics on display, titled "The Bigger Picture," represent the appreciation of a larger image or goal, with the smaller ceramics fitting into a larger, tiered cross-section ceramic.

Audiences will have five chances to experience the powerful theater performances that showcase the talent and passion of Slippery Rock University students, as the SRU Theatre Department presents Caridad Svich's "Red Bike." The play is a poetic journey through the American dream through the lens of an 11-year-old child's world-expanding experience of riding their very own, bright red bike. Shows will be hosted Oct. 17-22 in the Stoner Black Box Theater. Performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 17, 18, 21 and 22 and 2 p.m. on Oct. 19. Tickets are available for $12 for students and $14 for general admission. Tickets can be ordered at sru.edu/tickets or in-person at the ticket counter up to one hour before each performance.

A Slippery Rock University safety management major broke into the oil and gas industry by gaining invaluable real-world experience. Emma Santom, a senior from Grove City (Grove City HS), was a safety and security intern this summer at Range Resources, one of the leading natural gas producers in the eastern United States with operation sites across western Pennsylvania. Santom examined and evaluated contract sites, looking for compliance in accordance with the safety culture of Range Resources. Some days required Santom to work from the Canonsburg office, but others had her on the building pads in person. "Every day was different," Santom said. "I enjoyed how I never really knew what I was in for each day."

For Slippery Rock University senior Bailey Kuhn, a lifelong passion for the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team turned into a career-defining opportunity behind the cameras of one of the NHL's most successful franchises. Kuhn, a strategic communication and media major from Volant (Grove City HS), worked as an onsite video producer and editor intern for the Penguins from May 29 to Aug. 8. Kuhn was tasked with recording and editing practices, press conferences and community events involving the NHL team. Kuhn also gained insight into the daily operations in various departments at the PPG Paints Arena

Aidan Duez took a major step over the summer toward achieving his dream career as a professional actor. By making his professional debut in "STATIC" at the Scranton Fringe Festival, Duez is setting the stage for future success in the acting and theater industry. Duez, a Slippery Rock University junior acting major from Kingwood, Texas (Kingwood HS), joined a professional three-person cast for two weeks of rehearsal before performing July 31 in Scranton. The Scranton Fringe Festival is an annual celebration of the arts that takes over stages in more than a dozen venues in the Scranton area.

Krislyn Green never considered a career in the financial services industry, but after her 10-week internship with BNY this summer, she not only sees the industry as a possibility but as a reality. Green, a Slippery Rock University senior management major from Butler (Butler HS), first connected with BNY from a message on the recruiting and networking app Handshake, where a recruiter encouraged her to apply for the 2025 summer internship program at BNY's Mellon Center office in Pittsburgh. "I never saw myself working in the financial services industry, but I really enjoyed it and made several connections over the summer with professionals in the industry," Green said.

Morgan Woods made the most of her summer to channel professional development. Woods, a Slippery Rock University senior computing major from Pittsburgh (Baldwin HS), spent the summer as a data management intern at the First National Bank Corporation headquarters in Downtown Pittsburgh. FNB gave seasonal interns the responsibility of handling real member data. Woods' first task of the day was routinely merging duplicate records using a series of complex coding instructions, populated into grids. The process pinpointed errors that may have surfaced overnight, leaving the data manager to repair any discontinuities that could hinder company procedures further down the line.

What began as a summer internship turned into a career path for Michael Powell, a Slippery Rock University chemistry major who will graduate next year with a job offer waiting for him in his dream career field. A senior from Mt. Joy (Manheim Central HS), Powell will join Metso as a laboratory operations technician upon graduating in the spring after completing a summer internship as a lab technician. Metso is a Finnish industrial company that provides sustainable technologies for aggregates, mining, recycling and metals refining. Throughout his three-month-long role in Metso's test center in York, Powell worked on projects ranging from sample preparation, laboratory inventory and integrating standard protocols for chemical reactions. Powell's work introduced him to collaborative global experiences, working with labs in Texas, California and even as far as a Finland and Brazil.

Dakharee Mann gained a behind the scenes look into one of golf's biggest tournaments at Oakmont Country Club. Mann, a Slippery Rock University sophomore sport management major from Harrisburg (Susquehanna Township HS), experienced first-hand the inner workings of the U.S. Open tournament through an internship with USGA Pathways. The 10-day internship, on location in Oakmont during the U.S. Open earlier this month, gave college students the opportunity to learn to every facet of the $84 billion golf industry. Mann was one of 24 interns selected from a pool of more than 750 applicants.

The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.