Name: Sarah Pike
Year: Senior
Major: Communication Minor: English
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nev.
Clubs and Organizations: Resident Advisor, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Westminster Alumni Mentoring Program

Sarah Pike discovered Westminster College through a college-match survey. Intrigued, she requested more information and took a campus tour. “It [Westminster] felt like a natural fit,” she said. Sarah was considering several other universities, but none of them jumped out the way Westminster did.

After being admitted, Sarah took the opportunity to stay overnight with a campus resident. Sarah was captivated by Westminster—the campus life, tight-knit community, location. “It’s one thing to come on campus and take a tour, and then it’s another to actually get to know the students,” she says.

Now a senior, Sarah is finishing her degree in communication. She considered other courses of study, but “leaned toward communication because of the possibilities within the public relations and writing fields.”

There are many courses Sarah has enjoyed during her time at Westminster. Her favorite though, is Communication Theory and Persuasion. The course was intense, but it focused on one her greatest passions—writing. “We got to dive into these different rhetorical topics and theories,” she says. “I wrote one paper on Barack Obama—how and why he won over America and what caused people to like him—the rhetoric of it all.”

Praised for her paper, Sarah was encouraged by her professor to enter the Undergraduate Research Fair. “I always had it in my head that it was for science students,” she laughs. But as it turns out, it’s open to all departments. The event celebrates and recognizes the academic achievement of students engaged in high-level research and allows them to present their work to the campus community.

In addition to the traditional semester-long courses, Westminster offers May Term, a month-long semester offering a variety of fun, non-traditional courses and trips. Sarah’s best May Term experience, thus far, was a trip to Europe. She, and a few of her roommates, spent three weeks exploring Greece, Italy, Spain—and Turkey for a day.

Still experiencing a case of the travel bug, Sarah is putting all her energy into planning a May Term trip for 2010. Alongside three communication professors, Sarah is planning a trip to the British Isles focused on writing, film, and photography. The process of organizing such a trip requires professors willing to chaperone, a proposal to the school, and finding students interested in going. “It has been great to work with professors one-on-one,” she says.

Sarah is currently a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, a Resident Advisor, and was recently accepted into the Westminster Alumni Mentoring Program. “I’m really excited about it because you actually get matched up with a mentor, a Westminster alumni within your area of study,” she says. Sarah’s mentor is the PR Director for the Salt Lake Downtown Alliance.

Westminster has been a great fit for Sarah. The experiences and opportunities are unbeatable. There are a variety of involvement opportunities with clubs and organizations. “Because it’s a lot smaller than other schools, you don’t get lost in a sea of students,” she says. “It’s a small campus, but has a big atmosphere. It has a big spirit,” she says. “I think it’s the best choice I probably ever made.”

Check out Sarah's blog.