“I started as a Psychology major and didn’t end up liking it as much as I wanted to.”
Getting your diploma after four, or more, years at college and getting a job straight after college is every student’s dream. Chuck Brace, an alumnus who studied Public Relations at Slippery Rock, is a recent graduate who got a job working for the University Village of Slippery Rock as a Marketing Assistant.
Some of us have the fear of never truly using our degree once we graduate, making all of those years only about a piece of paper, instead of what you learned and how you can utilize it in the workforce. Luckily for Chuck, his degree has certainly helped him, as he put it, “My degree for sure helped me after I graduated college. Even now I do fully marketing based jobs.”
“I had a different job at the time, but I figured, ‘I’m living there, I know the people in the office, I’m gonna give it a shot and actually reach out.’” Taking advantage of every opportunity to utilize your skills is what creates a driven and passionate employee. When Chuck saw the job posting for a Marketing Assistant position at the University Village of Slippery Rock, he took a chance and applied for the job.
Image taken by Ron McNerney: This is the clubhouse at UVSR where Chuck Brace works.
As Chuck developed his skills working at UVSR, he was also in charge of hiring employees such as Brendan Balara who is also a current Communication student at Slippery Rock University. “I first got to meet him [Chuck] at the Comm Department at school and to work with him after was a nice experience."
As your skills develop in any large corporation, you may have to transfer to other locations in order to evolve your skill set. That is what happened to Chuck whenever he had to transfer to a sister company which had two locations. The locations were named “University Orchard” and “The Gathering” and is located in Maryland. Chuck spoke on his position as an Area Marketing Manager, saying that it was “fully marketing based, I did not do any leasing, I planned the events as I do now. I was much more involved with residents.”
“I missed the company and the family sense that they [Campus First] had.” Chuck also talked about his time transferring to State College and his experience working there. He was offered the opportunity to transfer from State College to Slippery Rock and as he puts it, “things fall into place very quickly.”
Image taken by Ron McNerney: The flagpole is at the center of the apartment complex and gives a great view of the residential area.
Brendan Balara spoke on when Chuck came back to Slippery Rock, taking the position as the, “Marketing Manager at University Village, where he managed me as a Marketing Assistant.” While working for University Village Brendan’s job was to hand out flyers to students and try to get as many students as he could sign leases.
Now that he is back at Slippery Rock and once again working for the University Village, he is very thankful for where he is. “The relationship I have with our residents” is what Chuck is most thankful for. “I do the events, I set up with leasing consultants, I go shopping for the events.” Since Chuck lives at Slippery Rock and has had previous experience working with events, he knows what students want out of certain events that the apartment complex offers. By also building personal relationships with residents, it opens up the opportunity to become friends with them to create a more friendly and home-like environment.
These images were provided to me by Chuck Brace and these pictures were all posted to the University Village's social media pages.