My second year at Penn State York has not exactly gone the way I envisioned it would. I did not expect to be sitting in my bedroom at my desk with my computer in hand doing online learning for all my classes or having to get random COVID tests because Penn State arbitrarily selected me. Nevertheless, I continue to keep a positive attitude, work hard, and succeed academically. All the while keeping in mind that I have been handed an amazing financial backing made possible by the Alan Sondej Memorial Scholarship.
At end of my first year, I received the President’s Freshman Award and medal. This award is given to students who achieve and maintain a 4.0 GPA throughout their first year of college. In the start of my second year, I moved away from the Agricultural Sciences into the Electro-Mechanical Engineering field which has allowed be to discover new and exciting hands-on classes. Moving to this major has certainly made me have to challenge myself more with the type of required classes; one such course being Calculus. I had two engineering courses; one an engineering design class where I built a model plane, a windmill head and a robotic quarterback that throws a ball and the other course was a basic electronics class where I learned to design circuits. Also, I had a strength of materials class where we performed tensile tests on different samples of steel. I thoroughly enjoy the hands-on aspect of this field of study. I continue to make the Dean’s list, excel in my studies, and maintain my current 4.0 GPA.
As I continue to navigate this unpredictable ever-changing time, I find devoting more of my time to reading about local history and expanding my collection of local history memorabilia helps keep me grounded. Likewise, I enjoy wood working and I have built signs, benches, tables and barn doors for family and friends. I like to go to public auctions, flea markets, gun, tractor, and car shows. I continue to work for Brown Croft Farm part-time and volunteer with Citizen’s Volunteer Fire Company in Fawn Grove, PA.
It has become apparent now that both my sister and I are in college just how important additional financial support can be. If I were granted a renewal of the Alan Sondej Scholarship for the 2021-2022 academic year, I will continue to strive to succeed and represent the NFFF proudly. It is my hope that going into my third year, the world will start to come back to some form of normalcy and that my college campus experience will resume once again.
