Week Four - Penn State - Discovered Fireflies

This week flew by even faster than the last, so I'm just going to get right into this blog. Don't want to miss anything! 

Thursday – This fun and busy day began with a talk about diversity and culture with Curt Marshall. We learned how stereotypes and ideas ingrained by environmental, social, and other influences about others can affect people in a very negative way. We took quizzes as a group to see how we each perceive different images and words. Curt read a story aloud and afterwards asked us questions about our perception of the story. It was very interesting to see how, even though we all heard the same story, we filled in the gaps with our imagination to create a whole different picture. It was also interesting to think about how some people may find words/phrases to be derogatory, while others may find those same words acceptable and even comforting (such as a woman being called “girl”).

            After the diversity meeting we met with Melissa Hendricks and her assistant Meghan to talk about their roles as Registered Dietitians and Nutritionists at Penn State. We talked about food allergies, purchasing, FoodPro (Penn State’s system for food ordering and recipe/menu planning), and other fun stuff they deal with. It sounds like Meghan and Melissa definitely have their hands full, but they do everything they can to provide the safest, tastiest, highest quality food to students. They talked about the challenges and rewards of their roles, and we agreed that they are extremely valuable assets to the foodservice team at Penn State.

SLAM = Sarah, Leah, Aimme, Marissa 

If you look close enough you can see Penn State behind us.

            After all that, Mr. Hopey, the assistant managers, and we interns traversed up Mt. Nittany for a beautiful and sweat-producing hike! For some reason Mr. Hopey wanted me to take the lead, but I didn’t do a very good job at hiking at a speed that everyone could match. I’ll do a better job next time, I promise. The first few hundred feet were very steep and strenuous, but after that the trail leveled off and was a very enjoyable walk to two outlooks where we could see Penn State and the surrounding communities. Momma Maria twerked her way up that mountain like you wouldn’t believe! Don’t let the cute wedges fool you, Maria knows how to hike! I am already planning on hiking Mt. Nittany again on Sunday for a longer, slightly quicker-paced hike.

            Friday – After our hike yesterday we were all very ready for the weekend! TGIF for sure! We got to tour the mushroom lab and got to see how shikate, crimini, and oyster mushrooms are cultivated. It was awesome to see how large-scale mushroom-production works at such a small location. These beautiful mushrooms grow in the most nutrient-packed compost in the most controlled environment, and they look dee-licious!!

           

Beautiful bags of mushrooms.

Another few days and they'll be ready for harvest!

After the tour we had a scrumptious lunch at the Penn Stater (one of the two on-campus hotels) with three members of the Human Resources staff. (If you’re ever there, get the baked brie! SO GOOD!) We met two of the members back at the HFS building to talk more in-depth about the HR “Green Book”, hiring/firing employees, legalities, union conflicts, and other work/personal/social/etc. aspects of human resources…and that was then end of our third week! Now to the fun stuff!

Baked Brie and the Penn Stater...YUM!!

            Weekend Fun – After all of our meetings and planned arrangements on Friday we got to bathe in the perfect sunshine. After getting a little tan we took a bus to the movie theater and watched Jurassic World 2, came back, went to the Creamery, and strolled around campus taking fun pictures and eating mint ice cream. Saturday we checked out the nearby mall, came back and started playing card and board games. It is now 1am, but I’m still wide awake having fun, so I guess I’ll tell you about our plans for…today (Sunday). Sleep in, get brunch at Pollock, walk? To Mt. Nittany, take the longest path (6-8 miles), then get back in time for dinner. That’s my kind of day! Oh and lastly, today we discovered….FIREFLIES! All over the lawns on campus! As if the chipmunks and bunnies and squirrels weren’t cool enough, we now have fireflies to entertain us in the evening. Loving Penn State. J