Nya Griffin, Staff

I am Nya Griffin and I am a member of the class of 2023. I studied full time in La Salle’s communication program. After joining the education department during my freshman year, I began to find another passion leading me towards interpersonal communication. This is the story of my life, obstacles I overcame and the path that La Salle University offered me to catapult me into the next chapter of my life.

I am a Philadelphia native, the second oldest child of five siblings. I am also a fraternal twin. Unfortunately, my father became incarcerated shortly after birth and my mother was found unfit to raise me and my twin sister, which later led to in-family adoption. My twin sister, and I were taken in by our then 77-year-old great-grandmother, named Emily Darby. Shortly after, my great aunt, Esther Darby came to Philadelphia from Atlanta, Georgia. Later after moving in temporarily, I began helping alongside in the raising process of my sister and me. Now, I had gained two mother figures who were there for the long haul. In spite of financial barriers, I learned to love learning from her great-aunt who would do art projects, formulate summer learning packets, visit the free library and go to museums for educational growth. Darby never allowed me or my twin sister to feel like we were held back due to circumstances but instilled in them the principles to see beyond what they could be. I went to Thomas Holmes Elementary, later transitioned to John B. Kelly for a short time and then moved to Holmesburg Christian Academy, which was a pivotal moment in my educational journey. I later attended Samuel Fels High School and graduated from Martin Luther King Jr. High School. In between my time at Fels High School and King High School, I attended Abraham Lincoln High school, where I met La Salle ADP former recruiter, Chappelle Washington through my counselor, Dawn Seeger.

I heard of the opportunities that La Salle had to offer at the time but wasn’t sure about my options and desired awareness. About a year later, I contacted Washington and wanted to hear more about the program’s offer. I later applied to La Salle University and was accepted. Coming into one of the most valued programs at  La Salle, the Academic Discovery Program (ADP) was a game changer in my journey. I started in Summer 2019 and began to build my roots to soar. During the rigorous summer experience used to challenge incoming scholars of the ADP program, it caused me to be grounded in college readiness and prepare for the Lasallian values that I would learn to be accustomed with. Starting off Freshman year, I declared to be an education major and double majoring in English. I lost my desire for English but not for learning and looked deeper into my passion and received additional help from former Academic Success Coach, Karen McFadden. McFadden encouraged me by saying, “check out all of the majors that we offer and see what best fits you.” I later decided to switch my major to Communications and added a minor in Human Services.

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

Being a student at La Salle has taught me perseverance, that even when the going gets tough it’s best to lean in on the community around you. Having faculty that supports you from the provost office, ADP program, Communications Dept., Graduate Education Dept., AASL, SGA, and so many more had a huge mark on why I am still thriving. I faced many obstacles in my life. A few semesters ago, My great aunt was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Around late October 2022, my aunt’s cancer progressed, and she transitioned. For me, this curveball in life struck hard. At times, I felt demotivated, unsure of graduating, and hopeless. If it wasn’t for the ADP faculty, my friends, and close family in my ear continuing to push and support me I don’t know if I would have made it this far. I want to express that there were many times when I felt like giving up but kept my aunt’s memory and conversation of me finishing strong in the forefront.

Though life’s adversities tried to knock me down, it has been my resilience that has held me together. It wasn’t easy, but I’m doing it and when I heard from my other ADP fellows, I understood that I wasn’t in this alone, we are all dealing with something.  Hearing those experiences caused me to gain my momentum to finish the race and finish it strong. I will be pursuing my masters at American University to gain a degree in teaching. The impact that people have made on me as a student has propelled me to want to pay it forward to students just like me. I am ready to turn that tassel as a La Salle undergraduate alum and walk across that stage holding power in my hands and the dignity and memory of what my great aunt told me. I have triumphed and conquered many tough seasons. Though I know there will be many more ahead, I will be ready. I offer my thank you to the entire La Salle community for thoughts, uplifting words and prayers expressed on my behalf during my time of bereavement. I will always remember the support and presence felt by the La Salle community for many years to come. I encourage other scholars to persevere through any obstacle because I say, “You can do it”.

Sean Bradley, Writer

Greetings. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sean Bradley and I’m a student and avid naturalist at La Salle. Throughout my time here, I’ve been documenting the species of plants and animals that call the university’s campus home. In a new series for the Collegian titled “Nature at La Salle,” I will showcase my findings in nature on campus throughout the seasons. For the series’ debut article, we will look at five, early spring flowers that you can find on campus in March and early April. 

1. Daffodil 

The first flower we’ll look at is the bright and cheerful daffodil. These hardy perennials are among the first flowers to bloom every year at the end of winter. Daffodils are members of the amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae) and grow from underground bulbs that store nutrients for the plants’ stems and flowers. The flowers are easily recognized by their central trumpet-shaped coronas that are surrounded by six floral leaves known as a perianth. Originally native to Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia and the Mediterranean, daffodils have been cultivated throughout history and are now found throughout the world. Today, there are about 13,000 distinct cultivars, coming in a variety of colors like white, yellow and orange. Here on campus, you can find daffodils blooming on a sunny day in the Hansen Quad. 

2. Hyacinth 

Blooming around the same time as daffodils, hyacinths are another lovely, early spring flower that you can find on campus. Like daffodils, these perennials also grow from underground bulbs. Hyacinths are found in the family Asparagaceae (which includes asparagus), and each year they produce spikes of small, tubular flowers that grow from leafless stems in the center of four to six leaves. Known for their sweet fragrance, the flowers come in many colors, including blue, pink, purple and white, depending on the cultivar. Today, there are about 50 cultivars, which are all derived from the wild species, Hyacinthus orientalis, which is native to southwestern Asia and the Middle East. Here on campus, hyacinths can be found along the pathway towards the baseball field in the flower bed next to the lawn by the Union Building. 

3. Snow Fountain Weeping Cherry 

Another early spring flower that blooms every year on campus is the snow fountain weeping cherry blossom. Often regarded as one of the finest weeping cherry blossoms, these snow-white flowers emerge from pink buds and cover the tree’s bare, cascading branches. The result is a stunning display of white blossoms from gracefully swaying branches that give the tree a lovely, fountain-like appearance. Not only are the flowers visually pleasing to people, but they’re also a source of nectar for pollinators, such as butterflies. Like all cherries, snow fountain weeping cherries are found in the genus Prunus and the family Rosaceae (rose family). The snow fountain weeping cherry is a cultivar of a hybrid cherry tree, Prunus x subhirtella, which is a cross between two Japanese cherry species, P. incisa and P. itosakura. La Salle is fortunate to have two specimens to grace the campus, with one by the entrance next to College Hall and the other in the lawn by Holroyd Hall. 

4. Saucer Magnolia

The saucer magnolia is another tree that produces pretty flowers each spring on campus. Like the snow fountain weeping cherry, the saucer magnolia, or Magnolia ×soulangeana is also a hybrid plant, with it being a cross between two Chinese magnolia species, Magnolia denudata and Magnolia liliiflora. The flowers start as fuzzy, green buds that eventually bloom into large, saucer-shaped flowers that come in shades of pink and white. While pretty, the flowers are also susceptible to late frosts, which unfortunately results in the flowers dying. But, in a good year with warm weather, you can find these beautiful flowers blooming by the benches near the grotto on the Hansen Quad. 

5. Red Maple 

Finally, the last flower that we’ll look at comes from one of our local, native trees, the red maple. While known for their brilliant, red fall foliage, red maples are one of the first native trees to bloom as temperatures warm in late winter and early spring. The flowers consist of tiny, hanging clusters of red blossoms that appear when the leaves form. Most trees bear either exclusively male or female flowers. Male flowers can be identified by their long stamens that extend beyond their petals and yellow pollen that covers the tips of their stamens. On the other hand, female flowers can be identified by their stigmas that extend past their petals to catch pollen from male flowers. Once pollinated, the female flowers produce double samaras, or winged seeds that eventually disperse before the leaves form and germinate into new trees. Red maples are quite common on campus and can be found in good numbers especially in the Hansen Quad and near St. Basil Court. On a sunny day, one can appreciate the bright red blossoms of the tree. 

And that wraps up our look at early spring flowers on La Salle’s campus. As the weather gets warmer, there will be more flowers to find on campus. It’s been a pleasure sharing this article with you as I hope you enjoyed reading it. I look forward to hopefully writing more in the near future. Thank you.

Nya Griffin, Staff

The LaSalle Academic Discovery Program (ADP) is accelerating, as Teresa McKnight is now the new ADP Director, and Anyae Broomer is the Assistant Director for student success. Their mission in leadership is to make sure they reach every student to help them grow through this process. The Academic Discovery Program is designed to help economically impacted students prosper through their collegiate career.

The Academic Discovery Program is more than just your average collegiate student success program. The faculty and staff are there for when students feel like their backs are up against the wall. McKnight and Broomer help us to see the light at the end of every semester. Sometimes just by being empathetic and telling us to take “one day at a time,” or reassuring students that “everything is going to be alright” is what gets us through those difficult patches in the semester.

Having McKnight and Broomer as a support system and academic cheerleaders throughout our college journey helps us to see the college experience beyond the classroom. Yes, academics are highly important; however, our mental health is just as important. Having a licensed clinical worker like Broomer in our presence to bridge the gap from health disparity to mental health awareness is empowering. Broomer helps us find out our personal social determinants of health to provide us with what we need to succeed mentally, physically, academically as students. The goal of ADP is to provide us with the necessary resources, strategies, and connections that will help propel us into academic success beyond undergraduate education. Sometimes we must remember that everyone has a story and understand that we have the power as college students to change the narrative and exceed our own expectations.

When asked, “What is one word that comes to your mind when you think of ADP?” Broomer said, “perseverance because lots of students have weights but this program is about helping students to attend class and preserve in spite of the circumstances faced.” 

McKnight also replied, “unlimited possibilities since the program is designed for success.”She continued to share that “if you work on your academic success, you’ll have yielded unlimited possibilities.” 

While interviewing McKnight and Broomer, I asked what were their expectations for the program and what will they be implementing to help students continue to excel? McKnight said, “accountability within the students’ culture in making sure they meet requirements for the program as well as bringing back an immense community atmosphere that was prevalent pre-pandemic.” Broomer replied, “engagement and more involvement in campus community.” She said that after listening to students’ feelings and their feedback they hope to expand the active peer mentoring program and strengthen it for years to come.

Overall, La Salle’s Academic Discovery Program is off to a great start with some fresh changes, familiar faces, and eager support. McKnight and Broomer’s goals for the program is to continue to focus on assisting each student in understanding them as an individual and being intentional about getting them to reach some SMART goals. Broomer shared that sometimes behind the scenes work can involve sleepless nights but it’s her passion for changing lives that’s worth it all. McKnight also expressed that stepping into this new role reveals her passion in seeing all students succeed not only in undergrad but help them prepare for graduate and beyond. McKnight concluded that, “although ADP seems to be the well-kept secret, good things do come out of it.”

To the entire La Salle Community, we’d like to give a warm welcome to the new director and assistant director as they are immersed in their new roles in teaching and learning.

Claire Ortiz and Luke Szyszkiewicz, Staff Writers

Long ago in the semester, a friend of ours, Andrew Plunkett, suggested a bagel place that he frequented over the summer due to his work commitments in the city. He told us that we just HAD to try it, and that we wouldn’t regret it. Having taken his advice, Claire and I, along with a large group of friends, made our way down to Rittenhouse Square where one of a few locations of Spread Bagelry exist within city limits. The other two are on South Street and in University City. 

The first thing we noticed about this place on the frigid Saturday morning was just how bustling it was. Other places we had been to have been busy, but none quite like this. When we arrived, there were only a few types of bagels left from the menu, with everything, sesame, and blueberry lemon being the only that had survived the busy morning. Sad news! Claire couldn’t get her poppy seed bagel this week. Not to worry. She ordered a sausage egg and cheese on a sesame bagel, while I ordered a sesame bagel with maple bacon cream cheese. 

The amount of cream cheese on this bagel was delectable. I really enjoyed it. The seeding of the bagel was also quite nice, with enough seeds for everyone to be satisfied. Claire really enjoyed her bagel sandwich this week. Stealing a bite, I could see why. The eggs were perfectly fluffy, even though they were scrambled, the sausage was delicious, and the cheese was melted just right. The coolest thing about this bagel place was its exposed wood fire oven, where we saw the bagels being made in front of our eyes in real time. 

This is unlike any place we had been to before, and really elevated its whole vibe for us. Overall, between the ratings, we would give it a 3.5/5. Some things it could improve on were the bagel selection (not entirely their fault, Saturdays are the busiest day) and in making slightly larger bagels. We did really enjoy it and thank you to Andrew Plunkett for the recommendation!

Donald Argoe, Staff 

After two years, La Salle University’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) is back up and running.

 Like manyany sports and clubs, PRSSA was negatively affected by COVID-19. Starting with a year of online school and another year of safety restrictions, there weren’t enough students to get the club going. On Sept. 22, the group met for the second time to select the new board members best fit to help rebuild.  

         After a long break, the communication students of La Salle are getting back together with hopes to rebuild the chapter back to what it used to be, giving students even more opportunities to succeed. PRSSA Vice President Madeline Geyer said, “COVID-19 took away the opportunity to really congregate as a team last year, it was also difficult to spark student interest.” Then the first year back on campus, students found that they “couldn’t really establish [themselves] in such limiting circumstances,” Geyer said.

         Before the pandemic hit in 2020, Geyer said “Previous La Salle PRSSA chapters were highly successful and feigned a lot of interest with students and took on nationals multiple times, we hope to be just like that.”

         PRSSA, established by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), is a society of over 9,000 college students nationwide who are provided with professional development opportunities to help them in their career path. PRSSA is  designed to help communication students connect with others in their field of interest for a wide variety of learning and career opportunities.

         The group is working hard to become a well-established chapter once again in the national organization. Geyer said that they’re excited to welcome their new Chapter Advisor, former PRSSA President Ryan Wall. With his help Geyer said they “plan on getting involved with lots of off-campus events to help students gain as much experience as possible.”

         Now that the plan is in motion, PRSSA Director of Publicity Keri Marable said she plans to expand the club by “reestablishing ourselves as an official chapter in good standing with PRSA to take part in their various awards and competitions by gaining new members, building a repertoire of chapter newsletters and social media campaigns, and creating new programming on and off campus.”

         Geyer said the group “plans on recruiting new members through word of mouth, and visual flyers from our Director of Publicity.”

         The club’s main student goals are to enhance education on the subject of public relations, expand networks with like-minded professionals, and develop skills to help students become a leader in the field of public relations or communication. In other words, PRSSA’s focus is to help communication majors learn, connect and grow.

         Along with knowledge and connections, PRSSA offers students desired benefits like scholarships, access to internships, becoming a leader, planning events and meetings, and  finding jobs after graduation.

         Now that COVID-19 restrictions are easing up, Geyer and Marable agree that the PRSSA chapter is ready to start recruiting even more new members from the communication department and rebuild its reputation in the world of public relations.

Claire Ortiz and Luke Szyszkiewicz, Staff Writers

This week, Claire and I took a train ride down to Fishtown, one of the trendiest neighborhoods in the city. A popular spot for millennials, Fishtown has coffee shops and bagels aplenty, but I truly think Kismet Bagels takes the cake for the best bagel spot in the neighborhood. Located just minutes from the Girard stop on the Market-Frankford line, we met our guest reviewer (and Luke’s brother) Steve Szyszkiewicz, ’14, to try the most in-demand bagel in town.

Looking at the menu, Claire was immediately disappointed in the lack of sausage options, with the only meat being offered was bacon. What they lacked in meat variety, they made up for in other varieties of spreads, with many different options of cream cheese available as well as some interesting veggie options. The bagels themselves are exquisite: fluffy yet crispy and wonderfully seeded. I ordered “The Egg,” which includes scrambled eggs, Cooper sharp cheese, zhug (a Yemeni hot sauce), I added bacon to it, and of course an everything bagel. Claire ordered a poppy seed bagel with cream cheese, which they call ‘schmear.’ Steve ordered “The Veg,” which includes tomato, cucumbers, red onion, microgreens, veggie schmear, extra virgin olive oil, and salt & pepper on an everything bagel. Although scrambled eggs typically lose points on our rating, they were fluffy and tasty, so they won’t detract here. 

To the ratings; this is personally my favorite. I think it really has everything I could want in a bagel place. The only downside is that the sandwiches are messy and not the easiest to eat. Claire and Steve both said similar things regarding the messiness of the sandwich. For Claire, the downside was the lack of sausage on the menu, although the bagel itself was delicious. For Steve, the messiness was a major portion, as his fell apart toward the end. Overall, we’d give this a 4/5 Gritty’s. Come back next week as we explore another bagel place in Philadelphia!