In the Jungle; Molly Dugan

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 grill of Pittsburgh State University. I'm your host, Howard Smith, and today we are joined by Molly Dugan. Hi, Molly. Hi. Hey, it's glad to have you on the show today. What high school did you go to? I went to Bishop Carroll Catholic High School in Wichita, Kansas. And is that pretty good size school? Yeah, it's a 5A school, so. So it is a larger high school, then? Yeah, it's a pretty good size. Feel well prepared to come pick? Absolutely. So what about living in Wichita in the, you know, Pittsburgh's not exactly the size of Wichita? Yeah, not quite. How's that adjustment been? Honestly, it hasn't been as bad as I had expected it to be. I expected it to come here and kind of be culture-shocked by a small town. But whenever I got here, it really wasn't that bad. So you find things to do outside of going to school then here in Pittsburgh?

Oh, yeah. What kinds of things do you do? Well, my absolute favorite restaurant in Pittsburgh, the mall deli. Oh. You cannot go wrong there. I also love going bowling on Tuesday nights. I think they have some sort of deal where you bowl for about $3. It's amazing. It's so fun. Well, yeah, there's not a lot of places where the hors d'oeuvres are crackers and dressing. Oh, no, but they do it right there. It is very special. That's a great place. I love to eat lunch there as well. So you're an English education major. Yes. So you're going to teach? Mm-hmm. Why? Why do I want to teach? Wow. Okay. Bear with me here. That's fun. Well, I decided to go into the education profession first before English. That's through my past experiences and jobs. I kind of realized after working in like a daycare and whatnot that my personality feels most comfortable around children. So I decided to go into education. Then I was asked if I wanted to go into elementary or high school. Well, I decided to go into high school because I think there's a lot of growth and development there.

At least that's what I realized through my time in high school. So I think if I could be a positive influencer in that time, that would be a great thing. So have you had a chance to be out in schools working yet? Yeah, I have. I got to go to the Pittsburgh Middle School and observe an eighth grade English class. The teacher was phenomenal. And it was a great time. This semester, I will soon be going out into a high school. I don't have a placement yet, but I'm looking forward to that experience. So is that a semester long experience? Or will that be? Yeah. Okay. You know, being English education. What's been your most challenging course today? Oh, no. In English, I think that my most challenging course was advanced composition. Yeah. Professor Judd really likes to, you know, make your work for your grade. But he was successful. He's a great teacher and knows what he's doing. It would seem like in English education, you're going to have to grade a lot. Yeah. I've been told that a time or two. I honestly am kind of looking forward to it, though. I like to say that I don't really like writing my own papers, but I can grade one all day long. So.

Well, I'll be exciting when you get that opportunity. I also understand that you've been a part of ambassadors, student ambassadors through the admission office. Yeah. But what exactly is an ambassador? What do you do? A student ambassador is somebody who represents the school. I give a lot of tours. So I really try to like give people the opportunity to see the potential of pit state and the opportunities that it has to offer. I would say that's one of our biggest proponents is just to represent pit state in a positive way. To everybody we meet whenever we're in the ambassador uniform and never we're out. What about questions on those tours? What kind of questions do you get? I don't know. I get a range of questions. Some tours they don't like to give you any questions. So you have to really rock your brain for a lot of things to say. Some tours, it's like they can't get enough questions out. I think that one time I got asked, you know, anything to what's safety like on campus. I get a variety of questions about majors. I got asked one time if we were going to go to a frapp party that day. And I mean, I'm telling you this tour was at 8 a.m.

Yeah. So we get a variety of questions on those tours. Do you see it? Do you notice anything different from the parents to the students? The parents don't always seem more excited than the students. Really? Yeah. I don't know if they're trying to relive their glory days or what, but they love walking around the campus and whatnot. Tell me the tour sequence. What do you do? Let's see, I start out at the admissions office. And I make my way west towards Kels and just around campus from there and whatnot. Obviously, I don't walk them all the way down to the KTC building in the wreck. But I like to talk those up considering how great those facilities are and whatnot. This year, I tried to always mention that, you know, we beat Northwestern football and whatnot. And then I make my way back to the admissions office. So it's kind of around the oval or what thing you might call the heart of campus. Exactly. Yeah. Pitcares is a big piece of being an ambassador and pitcares is where the admitted students come to enroll, actually. Yeah.

And you've been a part of that. What was your role in it? Pitcares. I was a pitcares leader. So this summer at every pitcares event, I would lead a small group where we, with just the students. And we'd give them a lot of information about student life on campus and whatnot. That maybe, and give them the opportunity to ask questions that maybe they don't want to ask in front of their parents or whatnot, you know. Just give them an opportunity to give them kind of advice about what it's like to be in college considering that this is a big transition. I also take students to their enrollment, which can be a nerve wracking thing because I remember as a freshman, I had no idea what was going on. So I take them to that and just kind of get them oriented with college life before they come up and move in. Any surprises about going to college? Surprisingly. No. Actually, I think that, like you had asked earlier, I think my high school prepared me really well for the academic part. And I guess life and my parents prepared me well for being on my own and being independent. I went through the normal, you know, withdrawals of having to make my own doctors appointments and, you know, the hard stuff.

But. Oh, you had to grow up. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No. No, college has treated me well so far. Hey, what advice would you give a prospective student, I mean, about what would you tell a student? I mean, now you've been talking to folks, families and so on. Yeah. Why should they consider us? I think Pitt State is a place where everybody can find their niche. I think that academically, it is a great size for students, especially students coming in to college. Classes aren't too big, but they're not too small. I mean, I, facilities are fantastic, and I felt like I was going to a big school, getting that big college experience. But I, it took me five months to walk across campus. As far as the community, it may be considered a small town, but we're very developed in the spirit of it. It is incredible. My favorite thing is Christmas time driving through Main Street, and it's a truly a place where after I go home for Christmas, I feel like I'm still coming home for the second semester of school. And that's something I got a sense of since the day I moved into the dorms.

Hey, that proves why you belong at Pittsburgh State University. Thank you for joining us in the jungle. Molly, thanks for me and with us. Thank you. I'm your host, Howard Smith, have a great day. Join us for in the jungle, Wednesday afternoons at 350, and Friday mornings at 850, here on KRPS.