In the Jungle; Amanda Trout

Thank you for joining us for In The Jungle, where you stay connected to the current students at Pittsburgh State University. Now, here's your host, Howard Smith. Welcome to In The Jungle, where we meet the gorillas of Pittsburgh State University. I'm your host, Howard Smith, and today we are joined by Amanda Trapp. Hi, Amanda. Hello. Hey, we're really happy to have you on the program today. Tell us where you're from and a little bit about your hometown, if you would. So I'm from Independence, Kansas, and it's a really fun small town. We actually compete with Pittsburgh in a lot of sports, high school sports, especially. We're also super famous for our Neowalla Halloween festival. Wow, and that's coming up this month, actually. Yes. So that's pretty cool. Tell me a little bit about the program that you're in here and why you chose it. So I'm in English Creative Writing, which I chose because ever since I was in the fourth grade, I have loved writing stories and poetry. And I've heard that the English program here is a very, very good program. So that's part of the reason why I came here. Did you make a campus visit, or how did you study up to decide that you wanted to come here?

So I did make a campus visit, but a large part of it was the fact that a lot of my family has gone to Pittsburgh State, both of my parents, both of my grandparents, and then I also got heavily involved in the Honors College. And so getting a scholarship from there was probably the deciding factor of coming here. That's what made the decision. Yes. Tell me about Honors College. What are you doing in there? So in the Honors College, we've been getting ready to do a lot of community service type activities. I know they're heavily involved in natural ties and in an ESO well reading program at the schools. What's natural ties? I'm not specifically in it. I believe it's where people from the Honors College go and work with people either older elderly people or people with disabilities. Well, that's cool. Well, that's a nice activity. Now, I know that's not the only thing that you're involved in. What else are you involved in? So I'm involved in the Creative Writing Club, also known as blank page.

There's the Cal Creek Review, which is the literary magazine on campus. I recently applied to be an editor for that. I'm involved with Christian Challenge, which is a college youth group that takes place at Trinity Church every Wednesday nights. And of course, I'm involved in the Honors College Association. So it's just more than going to classes for you then? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. So far, you're a freshman. Yes. So how do you feel about your decision so far? I feel very good about my decision, especially going to Christian Challenge because I've never really been involved in a good Christian youth group. My church at home doesn't have a lot of youth in it. So it's, but that's, especially, it's been a very good experience for me. So you're getting a nice, broad experience here. Not only your academic, but some more life experiences to go with it. Yes. So are you living in the dorms or? Yes, I am. I live in Nation Hall. Okay, how's that? That's really fun. I like, especially since I'm on the LLC Honors Cluster. So a lot of the girls are also in the Honors College, and we get along really well.

That's the living, learning community, is that right? Yes. Okay, so you get an opportunity not only to probably be in certain classes together, but then also reside in an area where you're going to run into one another, let's say. Okay, well, that's cool. What do you like best about Pitt State so far? I like the very friendly atmosphere here. That's another reason why I picked Pitt State because it's a little bit of a smaller school while still being a four year state university. So unlike KU or K State, you get a lot closer with your professors and with the other students here. What about the workloads so far? How do you find the classes and the amount of homework or tests in relation to high school? Right now it's been fairly easy. Then again, I've always had a love for learning. Right. So I like to think that school has been relatively easy for me. And I know it probably will get harder later once I get into the higher level classes, but right now it's not too bad. So what kind of goals do you have for yourself then upon graduation?

I know you're going to school and you want to graduate. I know that's a goal. But pass that. What are you thinking about doing? So my plan is to become a professional writer. Okay. And I want to publish a novel. I'm trying to write one before I graduate. I don't know if that's going to happen, but I'm trying. And besides that, since I know I'll, it'll take some time until I'm able to support myself with that. So I'm looking into either being an editor or a librarian. Are there particular writers that you enjoy more than others? So it depends like what kind of genre. But like in poetry, there's this writer that post a lot of her poems on Pinterest. Her names are Erin Hansen. And her poems are really good. I've also been really influenced by Garth Nyx, who wrote one of my favorite series when I was in high school. The keys to the kingdom. And then G.K. Chesterton writes a lot of really good mystery stories that I really like. What's your most challenging class so far?

Probably meteorology. Don't get me wrong. I really like it. Yeah. I've never been that good with science and math. But the teacher, Dr. Hobson, makes meteorology really fun. So it's the hardest one, but I like it a lot. Well, that's cool. Why are you taking meteorology and creative writing? Well, because as it, for your gen eds, you have to have one physical science and one life science. So the other options for physical science are physics, chemistry, and astronomy. I don't like fire. So I'd stay away from chemistry. I took physics my senior year of high school, like not as a dual credit class or anything. And I figured out it's really, really hard. Even harder than meteorology. So I stayed away from that. And then astronomy, since I'm a Christian, it kind of gets a little touchy. So meteorology was the best pick there. That's interesting. You had a process that you arrived at that. That's pretty cool.

What's your favorite part of campus? Favorite part of campus is probably this little room that it's not really a room because it doesn't have a door. But there's a bunch of tables and stuff on the third floor of grubs. Third floor grubs. Okay. Yeah, that has little windows and it has one of the displays for the Cal Creek review up there. It's usually fairly quiet and it's just a nice place to go sit. That's cool. You know what? It's amazing because there's spots on campus many of us never go to. But people find them like that and they're special places. So that's really, really neat that you've found there. Hey, what advice would you give to somebody that was thinking about coming to Pitt State? What would you tell them as to why they ought to give us a consideration? So I would say that Pitt State itself is a very nice, relatively relaxed campus. So especially if you feel that you're not as good at your studies as you think you should be to go to one of the bigger universities. That Pitt State is a really good place where the teachers will help you along in your studies. Hey, that proves why you belong to Pittsburgh State University.

Amanda, we want to thank you for joining us in the jungle today. Join us for in the jungle Wednesday afternoons at 350 and Friday mornings at 850 here on KRPS.