Wow – what an opportunity to share as part of the 150 year anniversary in the same year we’re also celebrating 250 years as a Free Nation!
Grove City has demonstrated the ultimate experience of being a Free College when it comes to not allowing the government or any outside forces to control its destiny.
I am a 1987 graduate so the case that was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court was a part of my first experience with GCC.
I was blessed to go to GCC and have the guardrails that were and still are in place for many of the students. As a student athlete who “thought” being an athlete was maybe more important than being a student (even at a DIII school) I learned early on that GCC was much more than that.
Coach Smith was a big part of helping set me straight along with other professors and many, many other lifelong friends that were both teammates and in most cases Fraternity brothers of Epsilon Pi.
My story and what I learned at GCC set me up for having the blessed life that I’ve had, many mistakes and even regrets exist from my early days and time there for me personally, BUT through the foundation it created and the saving grace of Christ, my life flourished!
My wife (Traci) and I were blessed to adopt 4 of our 5 children and through that process founded an Adoption / Foster Care non profit that still today continues to provide much needed services to families and children in need.
The blessing that kept on giving was my youngest of my 5 kids, my son Kane making the decision to go to GCC. This decision for him and the opportunities GCC gave him are some of the very same blessings it did for me, with one that’s even greater than any of mine, he found and met his life long partner Olivia there and today as a young married couple they’ve welcomed what hopefully will be another Grover in the future, their daughter Elsie.
Kane’s relationship with Christ and his faith grew stronger during his time there and that was in large part the group of young men he connected with and his future wife.
The Story continues with a Bible study that a group of EP’s have monthly that for many of us has solidified the value and why GCC meant so much in the end to all of us!
Jeff Mateer ‘87