Stephanie Hajicek

The quality that we most valued when Colten was considering Penn College was the hands-on approach the school has for its students. The ability for the students to participate in real-life scenarios versus sitting in a lecture hall is what drew us to the school.

We had visited several other college campuses, but with Penn College we were specifically invited to do a college tour by Coach Williams (head lacrosse coach). Prior to us arriving, Coach Williams scheduled an hour-long meeting for us with the head of the Emergency Management and Homeland Security department and a 30-minute meeting with the Paramedic Sciences department head so that Colten could see what the programs were all about.

Each department head took us into one of the classrooms to show us around and told us what Colten was going to experience/learn during his coursework. Inside the Paramedic Science department, we entered a classroom with a full-size ambulance (that the welding students had cut in half to get into the classroom and then reassembled inside the classroom and the electrical students had rewired to make all the lights, sirens, and medical equipment work again). The classroom also had the cab of a car on a rotating lift that would flip the car upside down so the students could work on extracting and tending to victims in a rolled over vehicle. The Emergency Management and Homeland Security classroom was set up in a real world-disaster scenario in terms of how each section would lead the recovery process.

These classrooms were amazing!

Colten knew he wanted to help others since the ninth grade when he took a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) course at school. He just wasn’t sure how. He soon got involved in Fire and EMS classes through his high school. That's when he realized he wanted to become a paramedic and work in the fire department. As he worked towards that goal, he started looking at colleges that had paramedicine or nursing degrees. He also wanted to play lacrosse in college, so his school options were limited.

When he looked at Penn College and realized they had both a Paramedic Sciences degree as well as lacrosse he started doing more in-depth research into the school. He found that Penn College had an Emergency Management and Homeland Security and Paramedic Sciences dual degree. So he enrolled in the dual degree. As he has taken his college courses in Emergency Management and Homeland Security, he has discovered the “other side” to his career goal. As a wildland firefighter he is acutely aware of the responder side of an emergency. As an Emergency Management student, he has honed in on the “management” side of an emergency. We believe having the training of a “responder” and the education of the “management,” he will be able to combine the two to develop an amazing career.

There are so many amazing aspects of Colten being a Wildcat and my appreciation for them changes as time goes on. In those first days of him heading off to college I think the most appreciative aspect was his friendships. Honestly, being 18 and going to college across the country away from everyone you know, with no friends or family nearby is a tough thing to do.

Being a part of the lacrosse team gave him a built-in set of friends. It made him part of something before he even arrived. Coach Williams had designated "mentors" to all the incoming freshman and Colten had been texting with his mentor prior to the beginning of school. His mentor (Graham) invited Colten to go places the first few weeks of school, introduced him to other players, made him feel included, and provided Colten with that "family" atmosphere to help fight off the loneliness of not knowing anyone and being 2,500 miles away from his family and friends. Those friendships didn't stop or phase out after a month or so. They have grown over the past year and developed into Colten's "family away from family".

Coach Williams has been wonderful since the day Colten became interested in Penn College. Obviously while coaches are in the recruiting process they communicate a lot with the prospective athletes. However, after Colten officially committed to Penn College, Coach Williams continued to check in on him. He would text and ask how his senior year was going and how his lacrosse season was going.

Unfortunately, Colten broke his foot at the beginning of the season and was unable to play lacrosse his senior year, but Coach Williams continued to text with him, encourage him, and maintain that he was so excited for Colten to come play at Penn College once he healed. Even after Colten arrived on campus and started school, Coach would sit down and meet with him to ask how he was doing, how things were going being so far away from family, and if he was going to be able to fly home for the holidays. Coach Williams cares about his athletes and he constantly reminds them they are important and can be successful in whatever endeavor they take on.

As a student-athlete, you learn several important characteristics like teamwork, commitment, and work ethic. However, we think one of the most valuable characteristics is the ability to learn time management. This is a characteristic that is not an easy concept for teenagers and high schoolers. But one that is required for a student-athlete in college. Attending five classes, going to lacrosse practice six days a week, completing your homework and still finding time to attend parties (as we all know college kids do after moving out of their parents’ house) is hard. I found that the coach, at least in lacrosse, and the professors work together to help the students with time management by laying the initial groundwork. The coach checks in with the professors regarding grades and a mandatory study hall is put in place for athletes to complete their homework. Professors understand that athletes may miss class to travel to a game and work with the student to give them time to complete missed work. The students learn to work hard, put the time in on the homework so they can play in the game, and then head to the party when all is complete.

There are so many proud parent moments! Just to name a few, as a freshman this past year, Colten has been on the Dean’s List both semesters with a 4.0 and 3.8 GPA respectively. He was a starter on the lacrosse team and even scored his first goal as a freshman. He was put in charge as the Operations Section Chief for Penn College’s first Rotorfest (an amazing event where black hawk helicopters, medivacs, police, and military landed in the field at Penn College). But I think our most proud moment is the phone call we get when these things happen. To hear the excitement in his voice, how proud he is, and the success he is having both in school and on the field makes us so proud.

From the outside, Penn College is like many other colleges. The grounds are beautiful and well-maintained. The campus is clean. They have large pieces of artwork throughout campus. The students are hustling from one class to the next. But what draws you in is what the inside of the classrooms are like. They are not a lecture hall. The classrooms are a hospital, or a car wreck scene, or a natural disaster, or an autobody shop, or a restaurant, or a welding factory. They are real-world scenarios that the students must create, problem solve, and participate in. Those beautiful grounds you saw while walking on campus were tended to by the landscaping students. Those pieces of steel artwork you passed were welded together by your future classmates. That lunch you ate at Le Jeune Chef was prepared by the culinary arts students. Penn College is about the students, not the lectures, the grades, or the money. It’s the students, from the hands-on classrooms, to the welded artwork, to the food, and to the events like RotorFest. It's all about the students.