Alexandra Collins Instead of spending spring break 2011 lounging on a beach or visiting her family, Alexandra Collins, a senior in secondary education-mathematics, taught English to children in the Dominican Republic. The work was part of a service trip organized by the Penn State Clown Nose Club, which challenges people to take positive social risks. Collins was the club’s social chair in 2010. “I was inspired by the eagerness the kids had toward learning,” she said. “The experience taught me how fortunate I am to study at such a fine institution, something these kids may never do.” Collins credits the John Gilmartin Trustee Scholarship with helping her to achieve this educational goal and for enabling her to pursue extracurricular activities. “The extra time I have that
I might otherwise have spent working at a job after class to pay for my tuition has allowed me to devote more time to helping others,” she said. In addition to working with the Clown Nose Club, Collins served as the external vice president of the Penn State Chapter of the Student Pennsylvania State Education Association (SPSEA). Among her duties was to arrange for educational speakers to visit campus. One of them was Rebecca Snyder, the 2009 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year. “I saw her talk at a conference and was inspired,” said Collins. “I wanted to share that inspiration with my fellow education majors.” Collins’s other recent activities have included serving as a captain for THON 2011; as the secretary of the Penn State Math Club; and as the
treasurer of the Penn State Performing Magician’s club, which often performs for charities. Next spring, she will participate in the College’s student teaching abroad program, student teaching for twelve weeks in Pittsburgh and then for nine weeks in Dublin, Ireland. Among her long-term goals is to become a mathematics teacher. She also hopes to serve as an advisor to a club that will give students an opportunity to participate in service trips abroad similar to the one she took to the Dominican Republic. “I enjoy being involved because it allows me to help others, something I am extremely passionate about doing,” said Collins. “I love motivating and inspiring others to reach their fullest potential. It is the main reason I wanted to go into education.”
Bret Plavchak
The desire to recapture a lost love and to change one’s past—that’s what Bret Plavchak finds so fascinating about the novel The Great Gatsby. “I think it’s something we can all relate to,” said Plavchak, who has read the book five or six times, “the wish to change a mistake you have made in the past and the pain that comes with knowing you can’t.” Plavchak said it is his love of reading and writing—along with his desire to help educate children—that made him decide to become a high school English teacher. With help from the John Gilmartin Trustee Scholarship, he has been able to attend Penn
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Resolving to Reach Higher
State, where he is a senior majoring in secondary education. Plavchak noted that he has seen his tuition go up roughly $400 a year. In addition, the cost of on-campus housing, textbooks, and food has increased. “This situation is especially painful for someone like me since my parents are not able to pay for any of my college education and, instead, I must take out student loans,” he said. “Although my family has had its struggles, I’ve always worked extremely hard in school because I knew that education was a way for me to overcome my disadvantages.”
Indeed, Plavchak’s hard work is paying off—he has made the dean’s list four semesters in a row. “When I saw that I had been awarded the John Gilmartin Trustee Scholarship, I felt a deep sense of pride. I saw that my many years of hard work were not going unnoticed.” Plavchak, who hopes to pursue a master’s degree in education policy once he graduates from Penn State, said he looks forward to the day when he can help inspire high-school students to work as hard as he has. “Just like in Gatsby, many of the choices we make in life are irreversible,” he said. “I hope I can help students make decisions that they won’t regret.”