Hi everyone. My name is Kayla McGann. I'm from Sarasota, Florida.
I'm a junior here at Duquesne and I am majoring in nursing.
I am the 2020-2021 Gussin Spiritian Division Student of the Year and I would
love to welcome you guys to Acceptance Day.
I remember sitting where you guys were sitting about three years ago, afraid,
nervous,
and mostly bummed that I had to spend the next six weeks of summer vacation here
at Duquesne doing school work.
My summer experience will be different from what you guys will experience due to
that we're in a pandemic at the moment,
but I would still like to inform you guys of what I went through so it can
somewhat prepare you of what you're about to go through.
My summer experience at Duquesne, I remember the first day
we went to a camp and we did a lot of trust building exercises and obstacle
courses where
we got to know each other and basically we got to know the people that we were
going to be spending the next six weeks with in class,
in dining halls,
in field trips and stuff like that.
My summer classes, I want to say I took about five classes,
I could be wrong it was three years ago,
but I took about five classes and two or three of them counted as
a Duquesne credit.
So basically we were steps ahead of the people
that will be coming in, the freshmen that'll be coming in
fall of this school year.
I took a Thinking and Writing class which counted as a writing credit for
Duquesne but I also had a seminar class where we would
focus on that Thinking and Writing, our Thinking and Writing essays,
and we would basically get critiqued by a professional
who knew what they were doing.
My first year here at Duquesne I was an introvert.
I was afraid to meet more new people so I
kind of stayed in my room a lot, but I also got out a lot due to,
we had to do tutoring with Dr. Griggs.
I had to meet with Ms. Bush with schedule purposes,
but we also had to get tutored,
I think twice a week, it was mandatory,
but it was the best thing that could've ever happened.
Getting tutored at the Gussin Spiritian Division Office helped
me with my school work and it was mandatory so we had to go,
but it made me keep going the years after my sophomore, my junior year.
The Gussin Spiritian Division helped me because they're such a close-knit family.
I never had to worry about someone
not caring about me or caring about my school work,
caring about me and my school work within the facility. I mean faculty,
sorry. They were all loving,
they were all caring and they were all like open arms with all of the students.
They understood everything that we would go through as freshmen students
and they helped us with everything that we were going through as freshmen
students.
So my advice to you guys will be never be afraid
of going to them, asking them any questions. Believe me,
everyone can tell you I was the queen of asking questions because I was always
so curious of what was going on, but ask your questions. Interact
with the faculty. They are awesome. Dr. Griggs, Ms. Bush,
Ms. Rizzo, Mr. R,
Ms. Wade and everybody else there,
but those were the five that I got to have
classes with and that I got to meet personally and up close but
have a great semester at Duquesne, your summer semester.
Don't think about it being, "Oh, this is lame.
I have to be in school during my summer break." Think of it as
a step forward. We're in college now. No one here to hold our hand,
but the Gussin Spiritian Division definitely holds hands and they will help
guide you through anything that you are going through. Bye you guys,
everybody stay safe, wear your mask and stay healthy.
Nice meeting you guys!
Hi everyone! My name is Gabrielle Lapointe and I'm a senior at Duquesne,
double majoring in Accounting and Information Systems Management.
I went through the Gussin Spiritian Division or the GSD in the summer leading
up to my freshman year in 2017.
The summer experience for me was definitely a lot of hard work and it challenged me
but it was also a lot of fun and I learned how the college experience would
be specifically with class and workload and then also the campus
and dorm side of it.
So looking back on it now that I'm a senior and I'm about to graduate and have a
full-time job lined up with EY,
I attribute a lot of my collegiate success to the GSD.
In high school, I definitely was not the best student and looking back,
I'll say I was definitely lazy and I did not like to do homework,
but I knew coming to college I needed to step up my game,
but I wasn't exactly sure how I would do that.
So the GSD was the push or was the motivation for me.
They helped me to get my feet on the ground running and I ended the
summer semester with a 3.9 and six credits under my belt. And the GSD,
the faculty there are so supportive and they will help
you along the way.
Like I still talk to some of them and they ask me how I'm doing,
if I'm ready for the real world, you know, all of that kind of stuff.
It's just not like, "How are your grades?" It's like,
"How are you as a person?" So they're really supportive and
it's nice to know that there are people behind you that want you to
succeed. So I would say the GSD as a whole,
even though it challenged me and when
I was sitting in your seat where you are now,
I was not overly enthusiastic about giving
up my summer, but looking back on it,
I would not trade it for the world and I know that was the push I needed.
So I'm sorry,
I could not be there today to meet you guys or meet you virtually,
but if you guys have any questions feel free to reach
out to me and I really hope you guys come to Duquesne and I wish you
the best of luck. Thank you!
Hi everyone. I'm Brandon. I'm from Sarasota, Florida.
I'm currently a junior Psych major, Business Management minor,
and yeah I'm excited to hopefully answer some of your questions and give a bit
more insight into my summer experience with GSD.
So Brandon, I have a question to start us off with. You know,
why did you choose Duquesne?
You probably were directly admitted to many other colleges that you
applied to but with Duquesne, you know,
it was the mandatory summer session so why did you choose Duquesne?
Yeah, definitely, so outside of just the GSD program being structured just
the way that I personally was looking for enticed me
initially, but also being from Florida all my life,
I definitely wanted to venture out of the state and immerse myself into a
new environment, into a new city,
and I thought Duquesne was like the best place for that because you kind of get
the best of both worlds.
The city just feet away from you and also having
a physical enclosed campus at Duquesne itself and being
able to feel like you're actually, you know,
at a university and in your own sort of space where
you feel safe and comfortable. So I definitely think that one,
just the academic program that GSD had offered,
and also just the location for me was definitely
two checks for me and definitely are the factors that brought me here.
Thank you. And one other question here,
how do you feel that the summer program changed your life?
Changed the way you look at education? What did it do for you?
Yeah, definitely. So I think for me going into the GSD program,
I had a sense of my academic ability and I knew
that I was a good student,
but that there was also still something in me that
I could do a bit more and I knew that I had a lot more potential.
And I think for me,
the GSD program really allowed me to challenge myself and to
really see what I was capable of and I think it's that push that now
allows me to, you know,
walk into the classroom or nowadays enter the Zoom
call with a lot more confidence in what I can bring to the table and what I can
bring to the discussion,
so I think now I feel a lot more confident in
just, you know, my academic ability and my strengths,
identifying my weaknesses and areas that I can improve.
So I think overall, it's given me a lot of insight into just,
you know, what I am capable of.
Thank you.
And were you able to join into clubs and different organizations and what do you
belong to?
Yeah so I was really involved with the Student Government Association freshmen
and sophomore year and sophomore year,
I was actually the president of Lambda Sigma,
which is a sophomore honor society on campus,
so that was a really great experience being able to build my leadership skills,
work with the team and essentially
work with a lot of really bright sophomore students.
So I really enjoyed that and now being a junior and psych major
apart of Psi Chi, which is the psychology
club on campus and psychology honor society as well so
yeah, a lot of really great on clubs and organizations on campus.
I know the Center for Student Involvement is really great. Mark Rendillo,
he and I worked really close together in my role with Lambda
Sigma and I definitely was able to get more insight into just like
the workings of events on campus and how there is a lot of collaboration among
organizations and different centers on campus,
so there's a lot of really great things to do and to keep you busy so
it's just a matter of finding and identifying what you like and there's
definitely a club out there for you.
Thank you.
We heard from a lot of people today about moving into
the different programs because when you start,
you're just really in the Spiritian Division.
Can you talk about how easy it was for you to move over into psychology?
Yeah so I think the transition was really smooth from GSD to
the Liberal Arts College and
I think what really prepared me most,
just because like a lot of my classes now are a lot of writing intensives
especially taking that writing class over the summer
was really helpful in being able to bolster my
writing capabilities and I think prepared me for a lot of the writing
that I was to do in my psychology curriculum.
But also being able to take a lot of those
different core classes really helped as well,
so being able to knock those out early and being able to
then dive right into a lot of my core major classes was really
helpful. So I think that that definitely helped with
just completing my psychology program and just not feeling
behind and kind of being ahead of the curve.
Thank you. And let's talk a little bit about choosing roommates.
Can you talk about how you choose a roommate, if you did for the summer,
and then how did you choose a roommate for the fall?
Yeah so there's a lot of different ways that you can choose roommates at Duquesne.
So whether you liked your roommate over the summer,
there's a chance for you to then apply and
room with them for the upcoming semester.
But I also know that there's an online sort of room
selection kind of program that the University puts together so you're connected
with a lot of the other incoming class members and you can kind of
create like your own profile of just like your interests, who you are,
where you're from,
and it can help you find someone to room with if you don't already
know someone prior to the fall semester.
So for me, what I did, I used that like portal,
that online sort of room selection that the University put
together and I was able to find a roommate and it was great. Yeah,
so I think that there's a lot of opportunity for you to find someone to room
with and I think that,
especially if you connect with your roommate over the summer,
they could be really great to room with for the following semester.
Sure and as I understand that roommates are assigned for the
summer program,
you actually don't choose your roommate for the summer and that's why you're
saying, you know, maybe you hit it off great, you know,
but it's a nice way to meet a lot of different people and you might choose
another roommate from the people that you meet over the summer or
for the fall, sure.
Are there any other last minute things you'd like to tell someone and you know,
these students are maybe in your shoes, you know,
from last year or a couple of years ago and they're thinking about,
"Should I come to Duquesne?" So is there any last minute words you'd like to
tell someone and encourage them to be a Duquesne student?
Yeah, so I would say just take a leap of faith.
I think that the people here at Duquesne are really on your side.
They really want to help you, you know,
see your potential and to grow as an individual.
Duquesne as an institution really allowed me to see my potential and
it can certainly help you do the same.
Being able to navigate my classes and to be
working at companies for internships are all
possible because of the support at Duquesne,
so there's a lot ahead of you.
It might be hard to see that now,
but there's a lot in store and I think I've definitely been able to reap
the benefits of being able to participate in the GSD program and to be a student
at Duquesne and to be connected with a whole network of
individuals here. So I think that I made the right decision,
zero regrets,
and I am almost certain that you will feel the same
choosing Duquesne and committing to the GSD program and coming here this summer.