This was one of my favorite days that I spent with the members of my cohort because I feel that we bonded when off-campus, instead of discussing a topic in a classroom. Going out in the field allowed us to learn relevant information regarding our topic, plus information about our lives in Meadville.
When I first committed to Allegheny and joined the Global Citizens Scholars Program (GCS), I did not know what to expect other than what Dr. Roncolato had previously explained to me during the interview process.
But, as soon as I met the members of my cohort on our GCS ice cream outing and our faculty leaders, Professors Rachel O’Brien (Geology) and Byron Rich (Art & Innovation), I knew that being a part of GCS was the right decision!
One of my favorite memories was during our last class this Spring 2020 semester. My entire cohort was outside of our classroom thinking that we were going to have a normal class, but that was not the case.
Rachel (Prof. O'Brien) then told us to look out the window where two vans were parked – we were going on an adventure! The goals of this adventure were to explore the sites around Meadville that connect with our cohort’s topic of global climate change and to make sure that we knew about all of the “hip spots” throughout Meadville.
Regarding our topic, we visited the Fifth Ward, which is one of the poorer areas of Meadville that is separated from downtown by French Creek. The Fifth Ward is related because of its location – on a flood plain along French Creek. This means that it is prone to flooding as French Creeks’ water level rises, particularly after rainfalls, which has happened several times in the past.
Our second related location was the Meadville Area Water Authority to see Allegheny’s and Meadville’s main source of water. We learned that Meadville’s water supply is groundwater and comes from seven, 80-foot deep wells. Each of these seven wells can produce a maximum of 1,000,000 gallons of water per day, which is an amount of water that I can’t even fathom.
Following these two sites, we drove along French Creek, which eventually brought us to some of Meadville’s sites, beginning with the Boot Box, which is a store where you can get any outdoor or hunting gear and see creepy taxidermy.
Then we saw the recycled traffic sign art (above) that was created as a senior comp a couple of years ago.
After that, we headed back downtown where we explored Chestnut Street, Diamond Park, and Market Street. As we drove through downtown, Rachel, who was driving my van, was pointing out all of the best places including Julian’s, Mannino’s, the Market House, some stores that we should visit, and some bars that we should go to when we are 21.
With a few minutes to spare in our class period, Rachel and Byron decided to drive us to Greendale cemetery, which has some awesome hiking trails.
This is a Cemetery: Greendale (made by Prof. Michael Keeley, in the Communication Arts Department). A moving and curious story about the living who take care of the dead.
This was one of my favorite days that I spent with the members of my cohort because I feel that we bonded when off-campus, instead of discussing a topic in a classroom. Going out in the field allowed us to learn relevant information regarding our topic, plus information about our lives in Meadville. I definitely do not regret joining GCS was one of the best decisions I have made since committing to Allegheny!
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