Senior to Senior Series: Liz Ruszkoski
Hello! My name is Eliza Moore, and I am a senior at Chatham University. In my years here at Chatham, I have seen many people come and go, with each being on their own unique college journey. In this senior interview, I am extremely excited to introduce someone that I am so glad joined the Chatham community: Liz Ruszkoski! The moment Liz transferred in, she wasted no time getting involved and became a huge asset to student life and success at Chatham University. Everyone that knows Liz can attest that we are so glad she is a member of the Class of 2023!
Name: Liz Ruszkoski (she/her/hers)
Major: Psychology & Criminology with a Forensic Social Work Certificate
Hometown: Johnstown, PA
As a transfer student, what led you to choose Chatham?
For me the most important thing was the size of the campus. I enjoyed that it was a small campus, but it was also in the city. I wanted to be close to the city but not directly in it; I don’t think I would succeed somewhere like Pitt with the large brick buildings and limited grass. I really like Chatham because it is such a private campus, but you can still access all of the things the city has to offer. The small class sizes were also a huge plus; it felt similar to the community college I transferred from, but a step higher. I knew it would be a good atmosphere for me.
Being as you’re relatively new to campus, what led you to become so involved so quickly?
Even while I was at community college I immediately got involved. I am the kind of person who needs to be busy in order to succeed because I love to procrastinate so being involved forces me to get my work done. I wanted to be an RA in the LLC [Living Learning Community] at Laughlin because they share a lot of my values, which I love. I am the executive VP of Communications for Chatham Student Government (CSG), where I get to communicate with campus, which is great because I’m a talker. Overall, holding leadership positions on this campus is very important to me because I share a lot of values with Chatham and want to promote those however I can.
What was the hardest part about transferring to Chatham?
I got very comfortable at my community college. I went to a very small school called Pennsylvania Highlands in Johnstown and they became a family to me. I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to find that here at Chatham as the campus was larger than what I was used to. At community college, I would see the same people multiple times a week without fail so it was a bit challenging coming to Chatham. Additionally, it was my first time not living at home, so living in the dorms was definitely new. I’m also a lot older than the traditional college student, I just turned 24 [Happy belated birthday, Liz!] so it was hard coming into a place where most first-years are about 18 years old. Even with all of those difficulties, I had no issue finding my community here at Chatham and have a group of people I would call my close friends and family now.
What helped you to establish your place here at Chatham?
A lot of it had to do with the majors I am in. Psychology and Criminology are two of the largest majors here at Chatham and they are two of the most forward-thinking majors as far as mental health goes. This allowed me to bond with a lot of my classmates and I got to outsource from there. Additionally, I made friends through my job at University Advancement, which is where I met Eliza [<3] and go to a lot of sports games where I met people as well. I really just networked throughout the campus.
What are your plans for after graduation?
Graduation is a little less scary for me than other students because I am going straight into grad school. I can’t do exactly what I want to in Psychology without a graduate degree, so I have always planned on this. Right now, I am applying at grad schools and looking at clinical hours and places I could work during. I’ve looked also looking into Chatham’s graduate programs because I would be interested in staying here. My big change is that I will be moving off campus.
Editor’s Note: Interested in pursuing a graduate degree in Psychology at ChathamU? We offer a Master of Arts in Psychology (MAP), a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology (MSCP), and a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) in Counseling Psychology program, as well as Integrated Degree Programs that allow qualified first-year students preferred admission to Chatham's MAP and MSCP programs.
Did your plans change at all throughout your college experience?
I know for many students it is not uncommon to come into college and switch your major around a few times, but for me I have known what I wanted to do since around 8th grade. I always knew I wanted to go into mental health work and when I got into high school, I built my plan around psychology and grad school. The only change I made was adding a Criminology major while in my junior year here at Chatham. My professors here, specifically Dr. Christine Sarteschi, pushed me into the Criminology direction, which was amazing because it showed me how much I want to work within mental health in the criminal justice system.
What inspired you to pursue mental health?
Based upon my own mental health journey, I knew I never wanted any young person to be stuck in the spot that I was. I think mental health is such a big issue for the younger generation and adolescents specifically, which is who I want to work with, and I think there needs to be more mental health care now than ever before. This is especially true in Pennsylvania that has so many rural areas with no access to mental health services.
Do you have any advice for current or future Chatham Students?
My biggest piece of advice is to get involved. I think there is something so great about being on a smaller campus and having the opportunity to be involved in so many things. Not only do we have so many clubs, but we also have a process where you can create any club we don’t currently have. There are also always athletics that you can join or support and so many political groups and student government you can join too. Not to mention work study jobs you can get involved with too. Getting involved is how you will find your community. I personally believe that the most successful students are the ones that you see involved in everything. It definitely says something that we have such a large number of student leaders here at Chatham.
If you or a friend would like to participate in the Senior to Senior series, please reach out to Eliza.Moore@chatham.edu. We want to hear about your journey at Chatham University!