Connect with Katie

Class:
Sophomore
Hometown:
Springfield, Missouri
Majors:
Marketing & Management

How is Drury preparing you for life after college?

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Student Spotlight: Meet Katie Battalia

Finding Balance. Giving Back. Achieving Academic Success.

Sophomore Katie Battalia knows a thing or two about balancing the stress and rigors of college life. As a marketing and management major, a member of a Summit Park Leadership Community, and a Judge Warren White Scholar, Katie Battalia says learning to balance academics and a social life are keys to success for any student.

Still, she makes sure to find time to pursue her passion for volunteer, and has found plenty of opportunities to do so at Drury. Katie cites her participation in the Drury Smart Mob as one of her college highlights so far. Through that project, a group of Drury students traveled to Joplin, Missouri, to assist with the rebuilding project sponsored by Extreme Makeover: Home Edition following the major tornado that struck the city.

"… It was really fun to be part of such a big project that our school was involved in, and I really feel like everyone appreciated our help." Katie says about the experience.

Re-living freshman experiences

Katie realized very early that she'd made the right decision to choose to attend college at Drury. In fact, it hit her as she sat on the lawn near Sunderland Field watching fireworks during the last evening of freshman orientation.

"I remember as a freshman after orientation sitting there for the fireworks show and I thought, 'I definitely picked the right school. This is so amazing and I think it's going to be a great four years after this,'" she recalls.  

During her freshman year, Katie lived in Sunderland Hall and was part of the "Into the Ozarks" Living Learning Community. Because that experience allowed her not only to attend her classes with the LLC but also to live with her classmates, making friends during freshman year was easy. As she recalls late night group studies and movie parties hosted by her Resident Assistant, Katie says she's very glad that she applied for the Living Learning Community.

Achieving Academic Success

In addition to getting to know her classmates, Katie says that her Alpha class (now CORE 101) helped prepare her for college. As a freshman, her Alpha professor Dr. John Taylor assigned a 15 page paper, something Katie had never done before. While the paper was difficult, it helped her gain experience and prepared her for assignments that she would need to be prepared to write in the future.

"Your professors here want you to succeed; they don't want you to fail their classes," Katie says. "They want you to do well. If you choose that that's what you want, then Drury can make that happen."

But there's more to college than studying, something Katie has had to learn since her freshman year. With classes, and involvement on campus and in the community, she's has learned over time to take the time to relex – a lesson that came into play during the 2011 World Series.

Despite having a test the next day, Katie decided take a break from studying to watch the sixth game of the World Series. She did fine on the test, and realized that while getting good grades is important, "sometimes it's OK to have fun and put studying aside for a bit."

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