Bowling Green, OHIO?

Name: Amy Hill

Hometown: Nacogdoches, TX/ Sewanee, TN

Undergraduate Institution: The University of the South, Sewanee, TN

Internship Site: The Office of Service-Learning, Bowling Green State University

Having spent the last nine years of my life living and working in a small town in Tennessee, I found myself frequently explaining that I was not moving to Kentucky but instead Bowling Green, Ohio, for graduate school.  To be honest with you, I never thought I would end up in Kentucky much less in Ohio but when it came time to make the final decision on where to attend graduate school, all roads led to the buckeye state.  I am excited to spend the next two years exploring Northwest Ohio but more on that in a second, after I get the rest of my introduction out of the way…

My path to graduate school was a little bit different than the majority of the members of my cohort.  I have been out of college for almost six years now working professionally in undergraduate admissions at my alma mater.  Although I had the epiphany that higher education was my desired career field while still in undergraduate, I wanted to test drive it a bit longer before pursuing my master’s degree.  I also had been told by several of my mentors that a little professional experience under my belt would go a long way in graduate school.  I had no intentions, however, of working for as long as five years before returning to school; once I got into admissions, however, I found myself so fulfilled by my career that I had a hard time committing to returning to the classroom.  Thanks in large part to the urging of several mentors and friends, I began the application process this time last fall and the rest is all history. 

One of the first assignments you will have as a student in the CSP program is to read an article entitled “Don’t Drink the Water” by Elizabeth Whitt.  The gist of the article is that when transitioning from institution to institution you should do your best to be open-minded and to get to know the culture of the institution as best you can before drawing premature conclusions.  Although this might seem like pretty obvious advice, the article offers some great insights and has helped me make the most of my first two months in BG by encouraging me to “experience local color,” “see the sights,” and just have fun. 

One of the nice things about the cohort model is that when moving to a new city you have a built in group of friends with whom to explore your new surroundings.  On one of my first weekends in BG, for example, I convinced Caitlin, another on-offer (meaning we work on BG’s campus but live off campus) to head up to the German American Festival in Oregon, OH.  We had a great time soaking in the sun and German culture and even bumped into a few of our favorite Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) Faculty.

The following weekend was the Black Swamp Arts Festival which is a local street festival highlighting art and music.  During Black Swamp, I hosted a few of the off-offers (CSP students who live and work at partnership institutions within a two hour radius of BG at my apartment so they could spend the weekend exploring the festival as well as spend some quality time my dog, Paco.  As a member of BGSDA, the Bowling Green Student Development Association, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the festival selling beer (not too shabby in terms of volunteer opportunities if you ask me).  It was a great way to get to meet local citizens and other graduate students all while helping a good cause.  During that same weekend, BGSU hosted its first home football game of the year and HESAnation represented our Falcon spirit.

A few fellow CSPers and  local staffing the beer truck 

CSP 2012-2013 Falcon Pride

I would be remiss if I left out my favorite BG experience thus far - the famous Coomes’ Beer Tasting.  Mike Coomes, a HESA Faculty, has a great love of craft beers and each year he hosts several themed beer tasting events.  I remember learning about the beer tastings during I-Days and was pumped that I was able to score a highly sought after ticket.  This year’s first event was in honor of “Talk like a Pirate Day” and featured beers with nautical themes.  In addition to learning about the beers featured, Mike conducts a “pub quiz” to test your knowledge of the event’s theme and shares several jokes with the group.  My favorite joke this go around was, “Why did it take the pirate so long to learn the alphabet? Because he spent years a ‘C!’  Although there are a few more beer tastings between now and then, I am most looking forward to “The End of the World” beer tasting in December which is featuring Mayan beers. Pretty clever if you ask me!

If these past two and a half months are any indication of what the next two years will be like, which I am sure they are, I can’t wait to see what else is in store.