Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

Many college students must work part-time jobs to make ends meet, but few have inspired their employer to give them a paycheck - in the amount and the literal size - that two Slippery Rock University students received from Taco Bell. Cameron Peachock, a graduate student majoring in physical therapy from Slippery Rock, and Charles Frank, a sophomore environmental geoscience major from McMurray, each received Taco Bell Foundation Live Mas Scholarships, given by the fast-food chain's foundation to employees who are pursuing higher education and "using their passion to ignite change in their communities and beyond."

The building of one small microscope is a giant leap for student researchers at Slippery Rock University, and someday their creation might touch the surface of a planet. Seven SRU students are working this summer on a research project led by Sagar Bhandari, assistant professor of physics and engineering, that is being funded by a $25,000 grant from NASA through the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. The research team is working on a portable cryogenic atomic force microscope system that is intended to analyze particles on interplanetary surfaces. A portable microscope is needed because it's much more difficult and expensive to have a spacecraft retrieve samples from space to bring back to Earth and analyze under a big microscope. Instead, the SRU researchers are developing a microscope that is small and resilient enough to be sent to interplanetary surfaces such as Mars or the moon.

Residents of a local community are having their recreational needs met because of the work of Slippery Rock University students. Butler Township officials drew on the expertise of students in a Public Relations and Integrated Marketing Communication Capstone course this spring to help them analyze needs and develop plans for a sports complex that is being built in the Pullman Business Park in Butler.

Only at a place nicknamed "The Rock" could a family of pet rocks find a home and gain national attention. It all started when a student at Slippery Rock University placed a pet rock with googly eyes on campus and shared it on social media. Then he added another pet rock the next day, and another the day after that, and so on. After a month and several creative iterations of the pet rock, a lot of people started to notice, including a television audience.

Twenty-six cadets from Slippery Rock University's U.S. Army ROTC program will become commissioned officers, April 30, in the Smith Student Center Ballroom. Because of COVID-19 safety measures to restrict large indoor gatherings, the commissioning will take place in two private ceremonies at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The event comes one week after SRU's battalion conducted its annual spring awards ceremony via Zoom, recognizing cadets and support staff for their dedication to the program with several awards. The commissioning ceremony is considered the culminating event for cadets that brings a mix of emotions.

Slippery Rock University is stepping outside of its usual routine for commencement ceremonies this year. For the first time since 2008, SRU will confer degrees outdoors as the University will host five individual commencement ceremonies honoring the spring 2021 graduates, April 30-May 1, at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

The use of face masks can be a point of contention, or at least confusion, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Are they really effective? Are surgical masks better than cloth masks? Do they protect you or prevent you from spreading the virus? Although several studies have taken place around the country, a group of Slippery Rock University students decided to investigate for themselves by putting masks to the test as part of a safety management research project.

Slippery Rock University's Office for Student Engagement and Leadership recently announced its 2020-21 Rising Star awards, sponsored by AVI Fresh, SRU's contract food vendor, and the Slippery Rock Student Government Association. The awards, announced during the Rising Star award ceremony, conducted virtually April 21, recognized students, faculty, staff and organizations for their impact on the campus community.

"Physically, it was the most demanding thing I've ever done in my life," said Austin Reep, a Slippery Rock University senior philosophy major from Butler. That's saying a lot coming from the cadet battalion commander of SRU's U.S. Army ROTC program, a group that wakes up every day up at dawn for intense personal training sessions. Reep and 11 other cadets from SRU and Clarion University were part of a Ranger Challenge team that, for the first time in program history, qualified for the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. SRU's battalion was one of only 16 ROTC programs in the country to compete in Sandhurst, April 16-17, joining 25 USMA teams and three U.S. service academies who took part in a rigorous 36-hour course "to test warrior spirit, team cohesion and dedication to mission accomplishment."

Among Slippery Rock University's 8,100 students, no two are just alike. Along those same lines, it is probably a safe bet to assume that there is no typical day for any of them, particularly in the age of COVID. But that does beg the question, "What is life like for an SRU student during the pandemic?" One student who is currently living on campus and enrolled in a major that presents unique challenges -- for in-person safety and for online collaboration -- was invited to share their day at SRU to provide a glimpse of what on-campus life has been like for them during the pandemic.

Slippery Rock University conducted its 2021 Celebration of Achievement awards ceremony, April 19, via Zoom. The annual event recognized faculty and students for their outstanding contributions in the areas of academics, research, scholarship, creative activities and more. The highlight each year is the announcement of SRU's finalist for the Syed R. Ali-Zaidi Award for Academic Excellence, which is given to a graduating senior in Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education who exemplifies academic excellence and involvement. SRU's 2021 finalist is Morgan McIntyre, a senior petroleum and natural gas engineering major from Templeton.

By hosting its Breaker Barriers event, the Slippery Rock University President's Commission for Disability Issues celebrates people who create opportunities for individuals with disabilities at SRU. This year, the Breaking Barriers event will be conducted virtually, 5:30-6:30 p.m., April 22, via Zoom. The event is open to the public. The PCDI will recognize an SRU student and employees with its annual Breaking Barriers Awards. Also, a keynote address will be delivered by Calahan Young, a 2017 SRU graduate with a degree in recreational therapy, who is co-captain of the U.S. men's national goalball team that will compete in the Paralympic Games this summer in Tokyo.

Slippery Rock University's Dance Department will host its BFA Senior Dance concert, "Against All Odds," at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., April 17 via a livestream on the department's YouTube channel. Each concert will feature different performances. "Against All Odds," as the title implies, is meant to represent the perseverance - in the age of COVID - of the dancers who will be featured and the diverse ways in which they express themselves through dance, styles including modern, contemporary, hip-hop and cultural dance.

Computer science students at Slippery Rock University are now adding Pepper to their resumes. But we're not talking about the condiment they would put on their food. Rather, they are becoming "seasoned" programmers by working with Pepper, which is the name of a semi-humanoid, emotional robot manufactured by SoftBank Robotics. SRU's College of Health, Engineering and Science acquired Pepper for use in the Computer Science Department's Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

The ways in which Slippery Rock University students are sharing their scholarly work continues to expand. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019 was the last year SRU's Symposium for Student Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities was an in-person event. This showcase event will once again be live this year, April 13, but in a new, virtual format that offers opportunities to reach wider audiences and enable greater creativity and interaction. More than 80 submissions of SRU students' scholarly work from across all academic disciplines will be presented virtually in some form for this year's symposium. The event will feature 41 poster presentations, 26 live oral presentations and 13 recorded oral presentations, performances and exhibits.

It doesn't take a modern-day Albert Einstein to understand the timeliness or gravity of "The Theory of Relativity," which is the title of a musical that will be performed by the Musical Theatre Society at Slippery Rock University and streamed online, April 15-17. The student-run organization's annual musical, written by composer Neil Bartram and based on the book by author Brian Hill, will be performed virtually and the theme is directly related to what most college students are encountering during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most government benefits and safety-net programs don't recognize diapers as a basic need, but a Slippery Rock University student certainly did while working at a local pediatrics practice. She decided to do something about it. Haley Butrum, a graduate student in the physician assistant studies program from Ocean Pines, Maryland, has organized a diaper drive that in just one week has gathered more than 70 boxes of diapers -- nearly 14,000 diapers -- thanks to public donations at drop-off locations and through financial contributions. The diapers are being donated to families at Next Generation Pediatrics in Butler, where Butrum recently completed her clinical rotation.

Students affectionately call it "The Molly Project." Sure, it is an assignment for Slippery Rock University students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program. But it's much more than that. It's what makes Fridays Molly's favorite day of the week. It's an opportunity for students to think beyond a clinical diagnosis or whatever a professor could put on a syllabus or a PowerPoint slide. It's the human side of physical therapy. Students affectionately call it "The Molly Project." Sure, it is an assignment for Slippery Rock University students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program. But it's much more than that. It's what makes Fridays Molly's favorite day of the week. It's an opportunity for students to think beyond a clinical diagnosis or whatever a professor could put on a syllabus or a PowerPoint slide. It's the human side of physical therapy. "You're not just treating the disease, you're treating the person," said Dan Komoroski, a graduate student majoring in physical therapy from Cranberry Township. "We get to work with a patient who is presented with some of the pathologies and issues that we would see in a clinical setting, as opposed to working with your fellow classmates and simulating the disease." The person is Molly Merhaut, a 26-year-old woman from Gibsonia, who is the daughter of Joe Merhaut, an SRU associate professor of special education. The disease is cerebral palsy, which is a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture. CP is caused by an abnormal development of the brain or damage to the developing brain that occurs before, during or shortly after birth.

When children are thrust into the foster care system, it is often a confusing and scary time as they are left to wonder what happens next. In order to help support children during this transition time, Slippery Rock University's Student Nonprofit Alliance is hosting a "Hug the Kids" campaign to collect care package items, now through April 2. Care packages will be distributed to local nonprofits including the Butler County Alliance for Children and the Bethany Ministries, a Christian outreach organization.

"Hansel and Gretel" is a fairy tale that was adapted for opera, but how would the German siblings adapt to physical distancing to sing a duet? Thanks to a collaboration at Slippery Rock University, the answer is in front of a bright green screen with even brighter faculty and students improvising despite remote learning. Timothi Williams, a first-year music instructor at SRU, reached out to the University's Strategic Communication and Media Department for help producing the performance aspect of her Opera Performance class. The seven students in her class have yet to gather as an entire in-person group this semester because of COVID-19 safety measures. Luckily, Brittany Fleming, an assistant professor in the SCM department, and one of her student workers were able to help bring together not only the music and communication disciplines, but also students singing duets, in a virtual setting.

The work of emerging student artists at Slippery Rock University will be on display now through April 30 via a virtual exhibition, "MOSAIC: Individually Together." Participating student artists are enrolled in the University's professional practices course, Art Seminar, and under the instruction of Heather Hertel, professor of art.

While Slippery Rock University is planning for a more "traditional" and in-person college experience this fall, spring semester activities remain largely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the opportunity for prospective students to tour campus. To help those students get a preview of The Rock before making their final decision on where to attend, SRU's Office of Enrollment Management has partnered with CampusReel to bring the college experience to students' mobile devices. CampusReel, a company focused on "revolutionizing how students tour colleges online" has helped SRU launch a webpage on the platform where campus influencers talk about their personal experiences at SRU. Topics include athletics, academics, dorms, honors and dining.

Through Slippery Rock University's Leadership, Advocacy and Program Development course, students in the SRU College of Education are hosting "Books for Dilworth," a series of book club meetings via Zoom for students and parents at Dilworth Elementary School in Pittsburgh. The program is designed to encourage literacy and foster "a love for learning at home." Each semester, Sara Tours, an SRU assistant professor of elementary and early childhood education, teaches the Leadership, Advocacy and Program Development class, which prepares teacher candidates, who will be teaching children pre-K-4, on the design, development and evaluation of early childhood programs.

Civic engagement at Slippery Rock University has not been diminished during the pandemic -- instead, it has been transformed. Evidence of this is the record number of nominations for the SRU President's Awards for Civic Engagement, recognizing students, employees and community partners for promoting civic engagement through their leadership and innovative practices.

Just as fossils can be found among the rock foundations of buildings, so too can interests and vocations be embedded within families. This comparison certainly applies to a research study at Slippery Rock University involving two students, a professor and a paleontologist whose daughter is one of those said students. This quartet explored the widespread occurrences of fossils and fossiliferous stone found within historic and prehistoric human-made structures, calling attention to unique insights into the human dimensions of paleontology, which is the study of fossils. Brianna Santucci, a junior park and resource management major from Gettysburg, and Carol Moneymaker, a senior park and resource management major from Greenwood, Delaware, spearheaded the research as project in the fall 2019 semester as part of their Cultural Resource Management class taught by John Lisco, associate professor of parks, conservation and recreational therapy.

Ben Troy is like many college students in that he's pulled a few all-nighters and he's awake at ungodly hours compared to the general population. But he's not staying up late to study or party -- instead, he's up early, running. Troy, a senior Slippery Rock University exercise science major from Wilcox, has not only taken up the sport of endurance running, he runs ultramarathons, including 100-mile races that can take more than 24 hours to complete. To fit in his training for these tests of endurance, he wakes up at 3 a.m. ... every morning.

Kara4Kids and Slippery Rock University share more than just the same goal to create lifelong learners, as indicated in both schools' vision statements. SRU has partnered with the Kara4Kids, a system of preschools in India, to provide workshops led by SRU faculty for Kara4Kids teachers, staff and parents, while Kara4Kids is facilitating virtual student-teaching placements for SRU students.

Music teachers and students have had to play to a different tune during the pandemic. Safety measures limiting in-person gatherings have affected students receiving instruction from their teachers, causing members of music ensembles and marching bands to play solo, in smaller groups or in virtual jam sessions. Professors and students in Slippery Rock University's music education program are at the forefront of these changing practices as students prepare to teach music both virtually and in-person while receiving an education that mixes these modes of instruction.

While many students see the beginning of a semester as a fresh start, some issues can continue to linger and affect daily life. One such problem is that of food insecurity. With that in mind, the Slippery Rock Student Government Association, in association with the Macoskey Center and the Office for Community-Engaged Learning, is hosting a food drive to help stock the shelves of the campus food pantry, Bob's Cupboard, now through Feb. 5.

The virtual curtain will soon rise on the Slippery Rock University Theatre Department's premiere of "Making Melrose." The first production of the spring semester will stage online performances Jan. 28-30.