June 6, 2025 • 34 mins
Dr. Ralph Ford, chancellor of Penn State Behrend, talks with Sophia DiPlacido, a 2025 graduate of the college, about her student experience, including a semester abroad in France. Originally recorded on May 7, 2025.
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Ralph Ford (00:00):
I'm Dr Ralph Ford, chancellor of Penn State Behrend
, and you are listening toBehrend Talks.
My guest today is SophiaDiPlacido, a new graduate of our
Marketing and Psychologyprograms and a Schreyer Scholar
here at Penn State Behrend.
Sophia is a well-known oncampus, highly engaged student,
both here at Behrend and she hasalso gone abroad.
(00:21):
We're going to talk a lot aboutthat, about your semester in
France.
We have much to discuss today.
Welcome to the show, Sophia.
Sophia DiPlacido (00:27):
Thank you, Chancellor Ford.
Ralph Ford (00:28):
Well, you know, as I said, you work in our
Development and Alumni RelationsOffice, involved in a lot of
student clubs and organizations.
But let's go back.
Why did you end up here at PennState, Behrend?
Sophia DiPlacido (00:39):
Yeah, so my initial college search was
really broad.
I applied to schools up anddown the East Coast probably 12
different schools and then inthe later half of my high school
career, the pandemic hit and itbrought a ton of uncertainty to
higher education and to whatthat would look like, and so I
started to reconsider goingfurther away and thought it
(01:00):
might be better to stay closerto home.
So then I started looking a bitmore at the local schools that
Erie had, and when I visitedBehrend I was just really in
love with the culture that ithad.
I found people to betransparent about their
experiences and supportive ofnew students and of current
students, and I just found it tobe a really good fit for me.
Ralph Ford (01:19):
Did you have that feeling when you walked on
campus?
A lot of students do like theywalk on campus and they know
it's the place for them.
Sophia DiPlacido (01:25):
Yeah, I don't know if it was that sudden, but
I would say by the time I wasleaving I did.
Ralph Ford (01:29):
But you grew up in Erie.
Had you ever been to campushere before that?
Sophia DiPlacido (01:32):
Yeah, I did a lot on campus growing up.
I attended college for kids asan elementary schooler.
I went to the PennsylvaniaJunior Academy of Science in
middle school and then everyyear in high school Academy of
Science.
In middle school and then everyyear in high school I went to
the McDowell and MercyhurstSpeech Innovate Competition
which is hosted on campus.
So I would say I had beenaround periodically throughout
my life.
Do?
Ralph Ford (01:51):
you remember what you took in college for kids.
Sophia DiPlacido (01:53):
I did an art camp and a theater camp.
Ralph Ford (01:55):
Okay, no rocket camp , huh.
Sophia DiPlacido (01:57):
No rocket camp , no rocket camp Art and theater
camp.
Ralph Ford (02:00):
So you already knew what you wanted to do back then
with art and theater.
Sophia DiPlacido (02:03):
Kind of.
Ralph Ford (02:03):
Did you get involved in art and theater here on
campus?
Sophia DiPlacido (02:05):
I did lights for one of the shows my freshman
year.
I did not really take any artclasses at Behrend, but when I
was in France I took one and Ireally liked it.
So what made Behrend the rightfit for you when you came here
and you looked around, I thinkthat that community aspect was
really important to me, but Ialso think that balancing that
community with connections to abroader university network was
(02:26):
something that really setBehrend apart, and I really
liked that there were so manyopportunities but that you also
had the people and the supporthere to get you to those
opportunities, and I think thatthat was really helpful for me
throughout my time at Behrend.
Ralph Ford (02:40):
Now, did you live on campus?
Sophia DiPlacido (02:41):
I did.
I lived on campus for my firstthree years.
I became a residence assistantthe second semester of my
freshman year through the end ofmy junior year, and then I
moved off campus for my lastyear.
Ralph Ford (02:52):
So would you recommend to students that they
live on campus when they comehere?
Sophia DiPlacido (02:55):
I do.
I think it really helped,especially with being local, to
integrate into the community,because it can be hard when
you're leaving campus daily.
Even my first year I workedworked off campus and even that
was a little bit of a struggleand that removal from everything
that's here, the physicaldistance, can make it hard to
stay intact.
I think if it's financiallyfeasible, it's a great thing to
(03:17):
be able to do.
I would also recommend being aresidence assistant or an RA to
help offset the financials ifthat's a challenge for students.
Ralph Ford (03:25):
Now it's a really great way to do it is to be an
RA, but not every student canafford.
So some students do commute andwe do try to have a number of
support services for them aswell, and we can talk about that
later as well.
So I don't want to tellstudents who don't live on
campus they shouldn't be here,but it certainly adds to the
experience.
Now you ended up studying twomajors.
(03:46):
What was the thought processbehind?
Sophia DiPlacido (03:48):
that I think I've always been drawn to a lot
of different areas of learningand I think at the end of the
day, I just really love learning.
And in my high school I took anAP psych class and I really,
really loved psychology.
But it's such a competitivefield I didn't know if I had the
fortitude to really succeed init, and so I was really scared
(04:08):
at the prospect of majoring init.
And the ability to double majorwith psychology and something a
bit more specialized likemarketing was super appealing to
me.
I feel like I got a reallystrong empirical knowledge
through my psych degree and alot of industry knowledge
through my marketing degree, soI think that it allowed me to be
really well-rounded and thatdrew me to my double major.
Ralph Ford (04:31):
Some people might say that it's a really dangerous
combination.
Right, Because the idea thatyou understand psychology and
marketing makes you even morethat dangerous in figuring out
how to market to people.
Did that go through yourthought?
Sophia DiPlacido (04:45):
It didn't when I was declaring my major, but
it has been echoed to me as adeadly combination by many
people throughout my four yearsat Behrend.
I think marketing has a lot ofways to be impactful for people
that are not simply consumerismand selling people things.
I think that being explicitabout a brand and what a company
(05:07):
stands for is something thathas an aspect of community in it
, and so I do not have plans tobecome an evil marketer.
Ralph Ford (05:17):
So you want to be an ethical marketer or are you
going to focus more on thepsychology side?
Sophia DiPlacido (05:23):
I think if I had to choose tomorrow, I would
probably pick the psychologyside.
I think my marketing degree hasgiven me a lot of professional
knowledge that will be helpfulin psychology too.
Psychologists, at the end ofthe day, are still employees,
and the Black School of Businesshas really prepared me for the
professional etiquette thatcomes with that.
But I still think I might needsome time to figure it out and
(05:46):
go from there.
But it's nice to have theoptions.
Ralph Ford (05:48):
Well, you have a long time to figure it out.
There's no rush and you can domultiple things, of course.
Well, many of our psychologystudents you know they plan to
work in a treatment setting orin a research field.
Did that interest you?
Did you get involved in thatwhile you were here as a student
?
Sophia DiPlacido (06:02):
Yes, it did I.
Actually, when I got to Behrend, I thought I would be a biology
major because I wanted to workin a medical setting, and I
think that the clinical elementof that has always been
something that's reallyfascinating to me.
Both my parents worked in themedical field for a long time,
and so I think that it wassomething that was sort of a
part of my life.
And then, as I got to Behrendand got involved in
(06:23):
undergraduate research, I reallystarted to love the systematic
thinking that goes into it andusing this research to answer
everyday questions, and so Ithink, yeah, it's a huge draw
for me.
Ralph Ford (06:34):
So, Sophia, one of the things is you've been
featured in something known asour Behrend blog and you shared
one of your stories about thetransition from high school to
college, and you said thatwasn't all that seamless.
Could you tell us a bit aboutthat?
Sophia DiPlacido (06:47):
Yeah, I think when I first got to Behrend I
had all of these expectationsfor what college would entail
and I thought that I wouldimmediately make a bunch of
friends and immediately bereally acquainted with my
professors and just reallymature into an adult overnight
and these were not realisticexpectations.
But I think that some studentshave that sort of immediate
(07:10):
expectation and navigating thatwas really challenging for me in
balancing the distinction andthe time that it would take to
become acquainted with school.
And I think one of thechallenges with that is you're
in this new environment so thesupport that you would usually
have isn't as immediate as itwould have been if you faced a
(07:30):
challenge before coming toschool.
So I remember I sort of had amoment where I called my sister
and I was just so lonely and Iremember telling her like nobody
wants to hang out with me, andshe asked me have you asked
anyone to hang out?
And I was like well, no, and itwas sort of just a reset for me
that even with this transitionthere's still a sense of agency
(07:54):
and students need to take theinitiative to become a part of
that community.
And once you get there, all theresources are there, and so I
sort of took that as a steppingpoint and started asking people
to hang out.
We did game nights in my dormmy freshman year, got involved
in some clubs on campus and justreally tried to approach
Behrend with a little more of anopen mind than I did with those
(08:15):
first few weeks.
Ralph Ford (08:16):
See, all it took was asking.
But you got here during COVID,didn't you?
Sophia DiPlacido (08:20):
I did so.
Campus was still in atransition period when I got
here.
Ralph Ford (08:24):
What year may I ask?
Sophia DiPlacido (08:25):
2021, fall of 2021.
Ralph Ford (08:31):
So we were still wearing masks.
Many students reported for along time that finally, once
they came off, they felt likethey made a whole lot more
friends, definitely.
It was hard to make friends inthat environment, but you did so
.
Once you leaned in, you gotpretty busy very quickly.
You were a Lion Ambassador, aLion Scout, a Business
Ambassador, Teaching Assistant.
So what sort of experienceswere you looking for?
Sophia DiPlacido (08:51):
I think in my early years at Behrend I was
really drawn to opportunitiesthat would connect me with other
students and sort of start toincrease that personal network
and meet new friends and newpeople.
And so I think that in thefirst half of my experience a
lot of my out-of-classinvolvement was focused around
that.
Once I went to France and cameback I realized that I sort of
(09:14):
had built that network and Ifelt really comfortable with the
community on campus.
So I started to shift myattention more towards
professional experiences andresearch experiences that were a
bit more individual but allowedme to become prepared for the
professional world after Behrend.
Ralph Ford (09:33):
And as you got more involved.
I mean, when you do all thosethings, how do you manage your
time?
I mean, you're working here oncampus.
How do you manage it?
Sophia DiPlacido (09:41):
I think a big component of my time management
journey, I guess, would beself-awareness and being
realistic about what you canachieve in a day or a semester
and what you can't.
I think that finding thatbalance can be really
challenging at first, because somany of these experiences are
(10:01):
new and you're not entirely surewhat will be expected of you.
So with that, it's reallyimportant to communicate, ask
questions, set expectationsabout what you should be doing
and then communicate if you cantake on more, if you have to
draw back, and I think thatthose two things are really
important to balancing a busystudent schedule.
Ralph Ford (10:22):
What advice do you have for other students coming
in?
Do you use a planner or do youwrite things down?
How did you go about it?
Sophia DiPlacido (10:28):
I use my Outlook calendar pretty
consistently, even like personalthings.
If I know that I have somethinggoing on, I'll put it in there.
I also am a big fan of justgood old-fashioned to-do lists,
like when you wake up, these arethe things that you're going to
do before you go to bed again,and that just helps set some
little goals for your day and, Ithink, keeps people on track.
Ralph Ford (10:48):
Did you actually time block on your calendar?
Sophia DiPlacido (10:58):
So put in there like I'm going to study
from this time to that time.
I tried, I did try that in thebeginning.
I sort of shifted more to likea rewards incentive where it was
like I am going to study untilthis social commitment that I
have and I know I'm not going towant to do it after, so I
better be prepared by the time Ileave.
So I think that being strategicabout where fun things fall in
your day can make it a biteasier to encourage yourself to
do.
Ralph Ford (11:16):
That's a great way to think about it.
I've got to get this work done.
I should do that more oftenmyself.
I can go have some fun right.
Sophia DiPlacido (11:22):
Yeah.
Ralph Ford (11:22):
And it's really you know it works, it absolutely
works.
Well, you also.
You know, as we said earlier,you were a resident assistant.
You know how did thatexperience change you?
Sophia DiPlacido (11:33):
I think the first thing that it did with the
most immediate impact was itallowed me to meet a lot of
students that I really probablyotherwise would not have met.
My first year as an RA I wasplaced in the engineering
special living option.
I'm a psychology and marketingmajor, so I wouldn't have had
classes with those studentsmarketing major so I wouldn't
(11:54):
have had classes with thosestudents.
So I think that that reallyhelped me see all of the
students that Behrin has tooffer and sort of connect with
them in that way.
I think in the larger scale,being an RA made me a lot more
adaptable, particularly inuncertain environments.
I think that there are a lot ofthings where you can train and
you can be prepared, but whenyou're faced with a challenge
(12:15):
there's something that has toclick and you have to feel
confident and ready to navigatethat and I think being an RA
really instilled that capabilityin me to adapt in the face of
uncertain things.
Ralph Ford (12:28):
Are there any things that happened when you were RA
that you can talk about?
That really challenged you,that maybe you didn't expect or
was a really difficult situation?
Sophia DiPlacido (12:37):
There were some that were really difficult,
but there were some that werejust fun.
Ralph Ford (12:42):
You can talk about those too.
Sophia DiPlacido (12:44):
I know, my first year some people dragged a
big tree branch up into thebathroom on the third floor of
Niagara and there's not anelevator in Niagara, so how
people got it in there withoutbeing noticed is kind of insane
to me.
But it stretched across allthree of the shower stalls and
(13:04):
so when I got that call I had noidea what to do.
But it was kind of funny too.
Ralph Ford (13:10):
How did you resolve that prank?
Did they end up coming in withchainsaws to cut it out, or
something like this?
Sophia DiPlacido (13:14):
I actually don't know, because the rule as
an RA is, if you don't know, youcall up, and so that escalated
to the RLC and I didn't hearanything after that.
Ralph Ford (13:23):
They came in.
Did you ever catch who did it?
Sophia DiPlacido (13:25):
I don't think so you don't have to name names.
Yeah, I don't think so.
So Although I will say, a fewyears later I was talking to one
of my old residents and theymentioned that they knew who did
it, and then they said the nameand I didn't know them.
Ralph Ford (13:37):
So Maybe it was someone from a different floor.
Maybe, Well, also, you were insomething known as the Shryers
Honors College, and for thosewho know Penn State, that's a
big deal.
Shryers Honors College isdifficult to get into.
It requires that you completean undergraduate thesis, so you
have to do a lot of research.
Tell us, you know what was thethesis work that you looked at.
(13:59):
What problem did you look at?
Let's hear about this.
You know research that you did.
Sophia DiPlacido (14:03):
So I grew up in Erie, love the Erie area and
I would say for a long time Iwas sort of peripherally aware
of the changes that arehappening in downtown Erie and I
wanted to learn more aboutthose for my thesis, and so I
started looking at what had beendone before, what is currently
going on, and I noticed thatthere might be an area that
(14:24):
could be expanded on in therealm of food access in downtown
Erie.
So I started looking at thecurrent literature that's
available and noticed thatthere's sort of an empirical gap
that aligns with that, which isthat food insecurity is really
heavily studied at the nationallevel, but there's a desire to
learn more about how local foodsystems impact food access, and
(14:45):
then, additionally, there is aninterest in exploring how
changes to the food environmentcan impact food access.
And so, between those factors, Idecided to focus my
undergraduate thesis onexploring food insecurity, which
I guess I should say is a lackof physical, economic or social
access to food, and specificinto the 16501 zip code, which
(15:08):
is located squarely in downtownErie, and my results found that
there really is some conflictbetween the national findings
and the local findings.
My findings were verypreliminary, so I think more
research would have to be done,but in the national literature
the Supplemental NutritionAssistance Program is found to
be the most effective.
(15:29):
In my study that was the leasteffective intervention for food
insecurity.
So I think that there are localmechanisms that would be
important to study in the futureand I really enjoyed learning
about the intricacies of Erie'sfood system through my thesis.
Ralph Ford (15:45):
So what did you find was the most impactful way to
address food insecurity?
Sophia DiPlacido (15:50):
People really gravitated towards community
food services.
So that would be like the soupkitchens that Erie has and it
was a mixed method survey sopeople had the opportunity to
share why they felt a specificintervention was helpful or not
helpful.
And it was really interestingPeople who were either really
satisfied with localinterventions or really not
satisfied both mentioned, likethe people that work at the
(16:13):
place and the generalenvironment as a factor in their
consideration, and so sort ofthat emotional element or that
human element is something thathasn't been addressed within the
national literature but mightbe impacting the Erie food
system.
Ralph Ford (16:28):
So how did you collect the data?
Sophia DiPlacido (16:31):
So I originally wanted to do
semi-structured interviews butwith the Human Research Board
approval, it was just going tobe too much of a time crunch.
So I developed asemi-structured survey or, sorry
, a mixed method survey that hadLikert scale ratings for each
of my research questions andthen open-ended questions for
people to expand on theiranswers.
Open-ended questions for peopleto expand on their answers, and
(16:54):
then I went to a homelessshelter, a soup kitchen and a
food bank and distributed mysurvey in person.
People were incentivized with a$10 Amazon gift card, so it was
really nice that I didn't feellike I was asking for too much.
And so, yeah, I think thatface-to-face contact and being
there and recruiting in personafter I started doing that, I
saw a huge increase inrespondents.
So I think that was-to-facecontact and being there and
recruiting in person after Istarted doing that, I saw a huge
increase in respondents, so Ithink that was really helpful.
Ralph Ford (17:16):
Wow, what was that experience like?
Sophia DiPlacido (17:18):
It was really interesting.
I remember in my thesis defense, someone asked if people were
hesitant for me to be there, andI actually found it to be the
exact opposite experience.
People were really welcomingand also a few people were like,
oh my gosh, you must feel soout of place here.
Thank you for being here, andso I felt like there was a level
(17:41):
of awareness that people hadthat was really helpful.
People were eager to sharetheir thoughts about this and
were really incentivized by thegift card and felt that there
was a shared benefit there, andso I found it to be a really
worthwhile experience.
Ralph Ford (17:57):
Well, that's really awesome and I will give you
kudos, because that takes a lotof courage to go out and do that
.
And a really amazing story.
So who was you?
Talked about your thesis, butbefore we get there, who was
your faculty advisor?
Sophia DiPlacido (18:08):
Dr Melanie Hetzel-Riggin.
Ralph Ford (18:09):
Okay, and she's interested in this as well.
Sophia DiPlacido (18:12):
This is actually a bit outside of her
area of expertise.
With the way that Schreier isset up, your thesis advisor has
to be someone within your major,but there wasn't anyone within
psychology or marketing that wasexplicitly studying food
systems.
Dr Hetzel-Riggin wasdisgracious enough to allow me
to pursue a project that wassort of outside of her expertise
(18:33):
, but she has a lot ofexperience in community impact
research.
That was really helpfulthroughout the process.
Ralph Ford (18:39):
Yeah, she's really engaged in our community.
For those listening, Dr MelanieHutzel-Riggin is the director
of the School of Humanities andSocial Sciences and also a
professor of psychology, Anyway.
So how does that workingrelationship go between you and
your advisor?
Sophia DiPlacido (18:56):
Yeah, I think that is something where it is a
huge benefit to be a SchreyerScholar at Behrend, because you
almost definitely have a goodworking relationship with your
thesis advisor before you startyour thesis.
And so Dr Hetzel-Riggin wasactually my academic advisor my
first year at Behrend and then,before I worked in development,
I worked in humanities andsocial sciences, so I got to
(19:17):
work with her a little bit thereand then I did research with
her for an independent study fora semester.
So by the time I was gettingready to do my thesis, I knew
how the working relationshipwould be.
I knew how the workingrelationship would be.
She was really helpful innavigating the literature and
(19:38):
also in helping me navigate thechanges that students don't
expect in research.
So when my response rate waslow, she was helpful in helping
me create a plan that was ableto collect data.
She helped me navigate theintricacies of ethical approval
for doing human research.
So I think that she was reallysupportive throughout the entire
process and it was a reallygreat relationship.
Ralph Ford (19:59):
That is not surprising, knowing the two of
you.
How's that so glad it workedout?
Well, one more question on that.
You talked about your thesisdefense.
How did that work?
Sophia DiPlacido (20:08):
So the thesis defense was essentially an
opportunity to share my researchwith my thesis committee, which
consisted of my advisor, whichwas Dr Hetzel-Riggin, my thesis
reader, who was Dr Mike Rutter,who was actually in the School
of Science and I'm very gratefulthat he was willing to be
involved on this project, andthen Dr Dawood, who was my
(20:28):
honors advisor, and so the threeof them came and sort of
watched the defense.
But then I was also reallyprivileged to have a lot of
cheerleaders who also came andjust were hearing about my
thesis throughout the last twoyears and decided to come and
sort of see what I had beenworking on.
So essentially I gave a30-minute presentation on my
research and there was anotherhalf hour allocated to questions
(20:51):
and discussion.
Ralph Ford (20:52):
And were you nervous going in?
Sophia DiPlacido (20:54):
Yep.
Ralph Ford (20:55):
Felt pretty good coming out though huh Yep.
Good for you.
That's always the way it worksand that's the way it should be.
And, for the record, we have inthe room with us today Carol
Nicotra, who works in thedevelopment office, and you
looked at her and so I think shewas there during your thesis.
Sophia DiPlacido (21:10):
Yes, she was.
Ralph Ford (21:17):
All right.
Well, she's here during yourinterview as well, and that's
great, and we're going to moveto that next.
That's why I say that you werean intern in the Office of
Development and Alumni Relationsfor a number of years.
What did you do there?
Sophia DiPlacido (21:24):
I think one of my biggest responsibilities was
managing our social media andensuring that we were
communicating properly with ouralumni base via social media
channels.
But then I would also help withevent logistics and planning
and sort of offered a studentperspective to events that had
students who were attending, andthen just the logistics of
(21:46):
running an event, soregistration and sending out
emails or drafting emails.
And then I think my final dutywas, on occasion I would either
meet with donors or communicatewith alumni when they came to
visit to campus, and that wasreally fun to just sort of
provide that student perspectiveand see what had changed since
they had last visited.
Ralph Ford (22:07):
What did you learn most in being in development?
Sophia DiPlacido (22:10):
I think when I came into development, I had an
expectation for what it wouldlook like.
Similarly to when people hearabout me being a psychology and
marketing major, there's sort ofthis underlying like she's
going to be an evil marketer.
I think development gets alittle bit of a bad rap, and so
it was really nice to sort ofsee the philanthropic aspect of
it and the passion that peoplehave for Penn State and for
(22:33):
sustaining Penn State, and so Ithink that that was a big
takeaway was just learning moreabout the development industry
and sort of unraveling some ofthe assumptions there.
Ralph Ford (22:44):
Not only did you work in development, you were
the beneficiary of developmentwork in that you had multiple
scholarships, and I mean thelist is impressive.
You were awarded the Lawrenceand Elizabeth Held Scholarship,
the John Mark and GeraldineMills Lilly Scholarship, the
Harriet Behrend Nino MemorialScholarship and the Behrend
Leadership Scholarship.
So that's a lot.
(23:04):
How important was that funding?
Sophia DiPlacido (23:06):
It was absolutely imperative to me
coming to Behrend and alsosucceeding at Behrend.
I knew, with my family'sfinancial situation, that
pursuing higher education wouldbe a challenge, and so
scholarships were really helpfulin making that an attainable
goal for me.
What I didn't anticipate was,once I got here, how much more
(23:27):
mental space I would have to beable to focus on my studies and
enjoy all that Behrend had tooffer, because I wasn't worrying
about the financial aspects ofcollege.
So I think that, in addition tobeing a huge physical factor in
getting me to Behrend, myscholarships were also really
impactful in creating the mentalspace for me to succeed at
(23:48):
Behrend.
Ralph Ford (23:49):
Well it's, you know it's really important and
obviously funding helps.
Did you?
Did you feel like you had towork harder because you got
those?
Sophia DiPlacido (23:56):
Yeah, I would say in some ways, especially at
times when I didn't want to work, I think when that motivation
is low, it was really helpful tobring it back up and say like
there are people who haveinvested firsthand into your
success and the best way torepay them for that and to thank
them for that is to do what isexpected of you.
Ralph Ford (24:17):
Show them you're successful.
Well, not only that, you earneda really big award, something
known as the Benjamin A GilmanInternational Scholarship for
Study Abroad, and I know aboutthis one.
It is an award that is aprestigious national scholarship
that has supported students inmore than 170 countries, and
we've had a few students get inhere just a handful, not a lot.
(24:39):
You ended up choosing to studyin France, so what was the
process to get that?
What was it like living inFrance?
Sophia DiPlacido (24:47):
So I first heard about the Gilman from Ruth
Pfluger over in the LearningResource Center when I was first
approaching this idea ofstudying abroad and I know Ruth
has helped plenty of studentswith fellowships and scholarship
applications and so she sort ofthought that I might be a good
fit for it and encouraged me towrite a few drafts for it and I
(25:07):
thought that that would sort ofbe the end of the support that I
got with the application.
But when I sent Ruth my firstdrafts she asked me to come back
and probably over the course ofa few weeks spent close to 20,
maybe more hours walking methrough the edits that she was
making and helping me just get areally strong application
together, and so I was able toreally focus my writing a lot in
(25:33):
a way that I think helped menot only get the Gilman but with
future fellowship applicationsand with future academic writing
.
So I really attribute a lot ofmy Gilman to Ruth and her
guidance.
And then with figuring out thecountry to apply my Gilman to,
it was really more of a processof elimination.
Apply my Gilman II it wasreally more of a process of
(25:57):
elimination.
So I took two semesters ofSpanish back in my freshman and
sophomore years of high school.
So I didn't really have alanguage proficiency I would say
coming into Penn State andgetting ready to study abroad.
So on Penn State Global thereare plenty of different program
options, but once you filter bythe ones that don't have a
language requirement you're leftwith about 12.
So that was really helpful forme to sort of hone down where I
(26:18):
wanted to be and then from thereI knew that I really didn't
have the desire to live in acapital city.
I figured if I was goingsomewhere I'd rather it be a
place that I might not visit.
So then I looked at the onesthat were left and
Aix-en-Provence just reallyspoke to me because it looked
like a beautiful town, it wasclose by to the Marseille
(26:41):
Airport, which was reallyhelpful to me eventually because
I knew I might want to do sometraveling once I got there and
the school was established, andso I just felt like it was a
really good fit.
Ralph Ford (26:53):
What was it like studying in the school there in
the university?
Sophia DiPlacido (26:55):
It was different than here for sure.
For starters, I didn't haveclass on Fridays, which was
pretty nice.
Their approach to academics isa bit more hands-off than I was
used to.
For example, the professorsdon't have office hours, so that
was a bit challenging.
If you had a question, youreally had to try to find a way
to ask that during orimmediately after class.
(27:16):
The other thing that wasinteresting was I did not really
get to see my grades throughoutthe semester, and, as a pretty
high achieving student, that wasreally stressful, because it's
hard to gauge your success andgauge your growth if you're not
sure where you stand, and sothat was something that was a
little bit intimidating to me.
Ralph Ford (27:36):
Well, I taught in Europe for a while.
In some courses the professorsonly give like a midterm or a
final, and sometimes only afinal.
Is that what you saw?
Sophia DiPlacido (27:43):
Yes, I think most of my classes did a midterm
and a final, but one just did afinal.
Ralph Ford (27:47):
Yeah, that is an awful lot of pressure, but you
passed your classes, I'massuming.
Sophia DiPlacido (27:50):
I did.
Ralph Ford (27:51):
With flying colors.
Sophia DiPlacido (27:52):
For the most part.
Ralph Ford (27:53):
For the most part, we're going to take that as all
A's and B's.
Sophia DiPlacido (27:56):
Yes.
Ralph Ford (28:01):
You don't have to tell the audience that you also
lived with a host family there.
Sophia DiPlacido (28:03):
What was that experience like?
It was a really, really amazingexperience.
I was really nervous before Ileft about what that would look
like and to do it was a hugepush.
But it was something that whenRuth and I were talking about
what my study abroad would looklike, she had said that any
student who had gone and livedwith a host family and sort of
took that risk really just lovedit.
And so I was sort of supportedby that and decided to live with
(28:25):
a host family and I think Ikind of got the best of both
worlds, because it was myselfand then three other American
students who were studying atthe same university, and then my
host parents, and then they hada daughter who was a year below
me, so she was probably 18 atthe time and so it was really
nice because there was someonemy age to connect with and that
(28:46):
was nice.
And then I think when I gotthere, I wouldn't say it was
awkward, I would just sayeveryone was adjusting to each
other and it's your first timemeeting and all of a sudden
you're sleeping in thesepeople's house.
But then, once you got overthat and with time throughout
the four months.
They really became such a corepart of my experience.
They taught me a lot aboutFrench culture, and they asked
(29:10):
questions about American culturethat you couldn't ask someone
if you had just met them.
So I like to think that my hostfamily was really a great way
to cultivate like a meaningfulimmersion in France, and so I
really enjoyed that experience.
Ralph Ford (29:24):
I assume you keep in touch with them.
Sophia DiPlacido (29:26):
Sometimes, yeah, it's hard with the time
difference.
And then, immediately after weleft, my host mom.
She's a teacher and she went toteach in Cairo for two years,
so very exciting to see whatshe's up to.
Ralph Ford (29:40):
Well, what did you learn about yourself through the
experience?
Sophia DiPlacido (29:42):
I think the big takeaway was just sometimes
you're more equipped for riskand uncertainty than you think
you are.
When I left, I was so nervousabout being away from home for
the first time being in acountry where I really did not
speak the language, living withthese new people, adapting to
this social change, especiallybecause that was something that
(30:05):
I struggled with a lot when Igot to Behrend.
But I did it and I think it was, all in all, a very good
experience, and even when itwasn't fun, it was a growth
process, and so I think thathaving that experience really
matured me and allowed me tosort of recognize that there's a
confidence that comes fromdealing with uncertainties, and
(30:26):
so that was a big takeaway forme.
Ralph Ford (30:28):
That's where you learn the most when you were put
outside of your comfort zone.
Did the experience change yourview of America, or how do you
look at the US?
When I came back after a longperiod, it was just amazing to
see the US in different eyes.
Sophia DiPlacido (30:41):
It really is, and I think prior to going
abroad, my only context for theworld was through an American
lens, and so my perception ofAmerica sort of changed once I
was able to account for what isuniversal versus what is
American specific, and so sortof having that understanding and
experiencing it firsthand wasreally helpful for me.
(31:04):
One of the big things that Inoticed and that I had learned
about in my classes was thisidea of like an individualist
culture versus a morecollectivist culture, and
America is very individualist inits approach, and so sort of
seeing how a family unit inFrance functioned and the way
that French people cultivatetheir communities is a little
bit different, and so it wasjust interesting to sort of
(31:28):
broaden my understanding ofthings that I had learned about.
Ralph Ford (31:32):
Well, we're getting close to the end.
A few more questions as youleave Behrend, as you graduate,
what advice would you have forstudents coming here?
Sophia DiPlacido (31:39):
I think the biggest thing is be patient, be
brave and be grateful.
I think those okay.
So that's three things, but Iwould say all three are
important.
Ralph Ford (31:48):
You can say as many as you like.
Sophia DiPlacido (31:49):
Perfect.
So I think, like I mentioned,my transition was not seamless
and it took more time than I wasanticipating, and I think
that's true for a lot ofstudents and to get the benefits
of being a part of thiscommunity, there's a level of
consistency and patience that'srequired.
So I would say, just keep thatin mind when you're here.
(32:11):
Who you are at the first day offreshman year is not who you're
gonna be by the time yougraduate senior year.
So just keeping that in mind ishelpful.
Being brave is really important.
You're gonna be in sort ofuncomfortable situations in some
capacity throughout your fouryears here, and it's okay to do
things even when you're scared,and that that can be really
helpful and provide a lot of newopportunities.
(32:32):
And then the third is just tobe grateful.
It's really.
Higher education is such aprivilege and keeping that in
mind can be something that canhelp propel you through those
harder times too.
Ralph Ford (32:44):
That's great advice.
As you leave, what's next foryou?
Sophia DiPlacido (32:48):
So I am currently a semifinalist for a,
a Fulbright English teachingassistantship in the Czech
Republic.
So if everyone wants to keeptheir fingers crossed for that,
I would really appreciate it.
I am continuing my internshipwith development through the
summer, so I have a few moremonths to figure out a more
long-term move.
So plan A is the Fulbright.
(33:08):
Plan B would be applying forjobs and hoping that I can find
something and then hopefullyapplying to grad schools next
year.
I just think I need a littlebit more time to digest my
education at Behrend and reallythink about what area I'd like
to pursue next.
Ralph Ford (33:25):
Well, we know all of those plans will work out well
for you, but we are reallypushing for Plan A, where you
get the Fulbright and you go tothe Czech Republic.
You'd have a wonderfulexperience.
Sophia DiPlacido (33:35):
Thank you.
Ralph Ford (33:36):
Well, you have been listening to Behrend Talks.
I am Dr Ralph Ford, and myguest today is a new graduate of
our college's marketing andpsychology program.
It's a pleasure having you here.
Sophia DiPlacido (33:45):
Thank you, chancellor Ford, thank you.
I'm Dr Ralph Ford, chancellor of Penn State Behrend
, and you are listening toBehrend Talks.
My guest today is SophiaDiPlacido, a new graduate of our
Marketing and Psychologyprograms and a Schreyer Scholar
here at Penn State Behrend.
Sophia is a well-known oncampus, highly engaged student,
both here at Behrend and she hasalso gone abroad.
(00:21):
We're going to talk a lot aboutthat, about your semester in
France.
We have much to discuss today.
Welcome to the show, Sophia.
Sophia DiPlacido (00:27):
Thank you, Chancellor Ford.
Ralph Ford (00:28):
Well, you know, as I said, you work in our
Development and Alumni RelationsOffice, involved in a lot of
student clubs and organizations.
But let's go back.
Why did you end up here at PennState, Behrend?
Sophia DiPlacido (00:39):
Yeah, so my initial college search was
really broad.
I applied to schools up anddown the East Coast probably 12
different schools and then inthe later half of my high school
career, the pandemic hit and itbrought a ton of uncertainty to
higher education and to whatthat would look like, and so I
started to reconsider goingfurther away and thought it
(01:00):
might be better to stay closerto home.
So then I started looking a bitmore at the local schools that
Erie had, and when I visitedBehrend I was just really in
love with the culture that ithad.
I found people to betransparent about their
experiences and supportive ofnew students and of current
students, and I just found it tobe a really good fit for me.
Ralph Ford (01:19):
Did you have that feeling when you walked on
campus?
A lot of students do like theywalk on campus and they know
it's the place for them.
Sophia DiPlacido (01:25):
Yeah, I don't know if it was that sudden, but
I would say by the time I wasleaving I did.
Ralph Ford (01:29):
But you grew up in Erie.
Had you ever been to campushere before that?
Sophia DiPlacido (01:32):
Yeah, I did a lot on campus growing up.
I attended college for kids asan elementary schooler.
I went to the PennsylvaniaJunior Academy of Science in
middle school and then everyyear in high school Academy of
Science.
In middle school and then everyyear in high school I went to
the McDowell and MercyhurstSpeech Innovate Competition
which is hosted on campus.
So I would say I had beenaround periodically throughout
my life.
Do?
Ralph Ford (01:51):
you remember what you took in college for kids.
Sophia DiPlacido (01:53):
I did an art camp and a theater camp.
Ralph Ford (01:55):
Okay, no rocket camp , huh.
Sophia DiPlacido (01:57):
No rocket camp , no rocket camp Art and theater
camp.
Ralph Ford (02:00):
So you already knew what you wanted to do back then
with art and theater.
Sophia DiPlacido (02:03):
Kind of.
Ralph Ford (02:03):
Did you get involved in art and theater here on
campus?
Sophia DiPlacido (02:05):
I did lights for one of the shows my freshman
year.
I did not really take any artclasses at Behrend, but when I
was in France I took one and Ireally liked it.
So what made Behrend the rightfit for you when you came here
and you looked around, I thinkthat that community aspect was
really important to me, but Ialso think that balancing that
community with connections to abroader university network was
(02:26):
something that really setBehrend apart, and I really
liked that there were so manyopportunities but that you also
had the people and the supporthere to get you to those
opportunities, and I think thatthat was really helpful for me
throughout my time at Behrend.
Ralph Ford (02:40):
Now, did you live on campus?
Sophia DiPlacido (02:41):
I did.
I lived on campus for my firstthree years.
I became a residence assistantthe second semester of my
freshman year through the end ofmy junior year, and then I
moved off campus for my lastyear.
Ralph Ford (02:52):
So would you recommend to students that they
live on campus when they comehere?
Sophia DiPlacido (02:55):
I do.
I think it really helped,especially with being local, to
integrate into the community,because it can be hard when
you're leaving campus daily.
Even my first year I workedworked off campus and even that
was a little bit of a struggleand that removal from everything
that's here, the physicaldistance, can make it hard to
stay intact.
I think if it's financiallyfeasible, it's a great thing to
(03:17):
be able to do.
I would also recommend being aresidence assistant or an RA to
help offset the financials ifthat's a challenge for students.
Ralph Ford (03:25):
Now it's a really great way to do it is to be an
RA, but not every student canafford.
So some students do commute andwe do try to have a number of
support services for them aswell, and we can talk about that
later as well.
So I don't want to tellstudents who don't live on
campus they shouldn't be here,but it certainly adds to the
experience.
Now you ended up studying twomajors.
(03:46):
What was the thought processbehind?
Sophia DiPlacido (03:48):
that I think I've always been drawn to a lot
of different areas of learningand I think at the end of the
day, I just really love learning.
And in my high school I took anAP psych class and I really,
really loved psychology.
But it's such a competitivefield I didn't know if I had the
fortitude to really succeed init, and so I was really scared
(04:08):
at the prospect of majoring init.
And the ability to double majorwith psychology and something a
bit more specialized likemarketing was super appealing to
me.
I feel like I got a reallystrong empirical knowledge
through my psych degree and alot of industry knowledge
through my marketing degree, soI think that it allowed me to be
really well-rounded and thatdrew me to my double major.
Ralph Ford (04:31):
Some people might say that it's a really dangerous
combination.
Right, Because the idea thatyou understand psychology and
marketing makes you even morethat dangerous in figuring out
how to market to people.
Did that go through yourthought?
Sophia DiPlacido (04:45):
It didn't when I was declaring my major, but
it has been echoed to me as adeadly combination by many
people throughout my four yearsat Behrend.
I think marketing has a lot ofways to be impactful for people
that are not simply consumerismand selling people things.
I think that being explicitabout a brand and what a company
(05:07):
stands for is something thathas an aspect of community in it
, and so I do not have plans tobecome an evil marketer.
Ralph Ford (05:17):
So you want to be an ethical marketer or are you
going to focus more on thepsychology side?
Sophia DiPlacido (05:23):
I think if I had to choose tomorrow, I would
probably pick the psychologyside.
I think my marketing degree hasgiven me a lot of professional
knowledge that will be helpfulin psychology too.
Psychologists, at the end ofthe day, are still employees,
and the Black School of Businesshas really prepared me for the
professional etiquette thatcomes with that.
But I still think I might needsome time to figure it out and
(05:46):
go from there.
But it's nice to have theoptions.
Ralph Ford (05:48):
Well, you have a long time to figure it out.
There's no rush and you can domultiple things, of course.
Well, many of our psychologystudents you know they plan to
work in a treatment setting orin a research field.
Did that interest you?
Did you get involved in thatwhile you were here as a student
?
Sophia DiPlacido (06:02):
Yes, it did I.
Actually, when I got to Behrend, I thought I would be a biology
major because I wanted to workin a medical setting, and I
think that the clinical elementof that has always been
something that's reallyfascinating to me.
Both my parents worked in themedical field for a long time,
and so I think that it wassomething that was sort of a
part of my life.
And then, as I got to Behrendand got involved in
(06:23):
undergraduate research, I reallystarted to love the systematic
thinking that goes into it andusing this research to answer
everyday questions, and so Ithink, yeah, it's a huge draw
for me.
Ralph Ford (06:34):
So, Sophia, one of the things is you've been
featured in something known asour Behrend blog and you shared
one of your stories about thetransition from high school to
college, and you said thatwasn't all that seamless.
Could you tell us a bit aboutthat?
Sophia DiPlacido (06:47):
Yeah, I think when I first got to Behrend I
had all of these expectationsfor what college would entail
and I thought that I wouldimmediately make a bunch of
friends and immediately bereally acquainted with my
professors and just reallymature into an adult overnight
and these were not realisticexpectations.
But I think that some studentshave that sort of immediate
(07:10):
expectation and navigating thatwas really challenging for me in
balancing the distinction andthe time that it would take to
become acquainted with school.
And I think one of thechallenges with that is you're
in this new environment so thesupport that you would usually
have isn't as immediate as itwould have been if you faced a
(07:30):
challenge before coming toschool.
So I remember I sort of had amoment where I called my sister
and I was just so lonely and Iremember telling her like nobody
wants to hang out with me, andshe asked me have you asked
anyone to hang out?
And I was like well, no, and itwas sort of just a reset for me
that even with this transitionthere's still a sense of agency
(07:54):
and students need to take theinitiative to become a part of
that community.
And once you get there, all theresources are there, and so I
sort of took that as a steppingpoint and started asking people
to hang out.
We did game nights in my dormmy freshman year, got involved
in some clubs on campus and justreally tried to approach
Behrend with a little more of anopen mind than I did with those
(08:15):
first few weeks.
Ralph Ford (08:16):
See, all it took was asking.
But you got here during COVID,didn't you?
Sophia DiPlacido (08:20):
I did so.
Campus was still in atransition period when I got
here.
Ralph Ford (08:24):
What year may I ask?
Sophia DiPlacido (08:25):
2021, fall of 2021.
Ralph Ford (08:31):
So we were still wearing masks.
Many students reported for along time that finally, once
they came off, they felt likethey made a whole lot more
friends, definitely.
It was hard to make friends inthat environment, but you did so
.
Once you leaned in, you gotpretty busy very quickly.
You were a Lion Ambassador, aLion Scout, a Business
Ambassador, Teaching Assistant.
So what sort of experienceswere you looking for?
Sophia DiPlacido (08:51):
I think in my early years at Behrend I was
really drawn to opportunitiesthat would connect me with other
students and sort of start toincrease that personal network
and meet new friends and newpeople.
And so I think that in thefirst half of my experience a
lot of my out-of-classinvolvement was focused around
that.
Once I went to France and cameback I realized that I sort of
(09:14):
had built that network and Ifelt really comfortable with the
community on campus.
So I started to shift myattention more towards
professional experiences andresearch experiences that were a
bit more individual but allowedme to become prepared for the
professional world after Behrend.
Ralph Ford (09:33):
And as you got more involved.
I mean, when you do all thosethings, how do you manage your
time?
I mean, you're working here oncampus.
How do you manage it?
Sophia DiPlacido (09:41):
I think a big component of my time management
journey, I guess, would beself-awareness and being
realistic about what you canachieve in a day or a semester
and what you can't.
I think that finding thatbalance can be really
challenging at first, because somany of these experiences are
(10:01):
new and you're not entirely surewhat will be expected of you.
So with that, it's reallyimportant to communicate, ask
questions, set expectationsabout what you should be doing
and then communicate if you cantake on more, if you have to
draw back, and I think thatthose two things are really
important to balancing a busystudent schedule.
Ralph Ford (10:22):
What advice do you have for other students coming
in?
Do you use a planner or do youwrite things down?
How did you go about it?
Sophia DiPlacido (10:28):
I use my Outlook calendar pretty
consistently, even like personalthings.
If I know that I have somethinggoing on, I'll put it in there.
I also am a big fan of justgood old-fashioned to-do lists,
like when you wake up, these arethe things that you're going to
do before you go to bed again,and that just helps set some
little goals for your day and, Ithink, keeps people on track.
Ralph Ford (10:48):
Did you actually time block on your calendar?
Sophia DiPlacido (10:58):
So put in there like I'm going to study
from this time to that time.
I tried, I did try that in thebeginning.
I sort of shifted more to likea rewards incentive where it was
like I am going to study untilthis social commitment that I
have and I know I'm not going towant to do it after, so I
better be prepared by the time Ileave.
So I think that being strategicabout where fun things fall in
your day can make it a biteasier to encourage yourself to
do.
Ralph Ford (11:16):
That's a great way to think about it.
I've got to get this work done.
I should do that more oftenmyself.
I can go have some fun right.
Sophia DiPlacido (11:22):
Yeah.
Ralph Ford (11:22):
And it's really you know it works, it absolutely
works.
Well, you also.
You know, as we said earlier,you were a resident assistant.
You know how did thatexperience change you?
Sophia DiPlacido (11:33):
I think the first thing that it did with the
most immediate impact was itallowed me to meet a lot of
students that I really probablyotherwise would not have met.
My first year as an RA I wasplaced in the engineering
special living option.
I'm a psychology and marketingmajor, so I wouldn't have had
classes with those studentsmarketing major so I wouldn't
(11:54):
have had classes with thosestudents.
So I think that that reallyhelped me see all of the
students that Behrin has tooffer and sort of connect with
them in that way.
I think in the larger scale,being an RA made me a lot more
adaptable, particularly inuncertain environments.
I think that there are a lot ofthings where you can train and
you can be prepared, but whenyou're faced with a challenge
(12:15):
there's something that has toclick and you have to feel
confident and ready to navigatethat and I think being an RA
really instilled that capabilityin me to adapt in the face of
uncertain things.
Ralph Ford (12:28):
Are there any things that happened when you were RA
that you can talk about?
That really challenged you,that maybe you didn't expect or
was a really difficult situation?
Sophia DiPlacido (12:37):
There were some that were really difficult,
but there were some that werejust fun.
Ralph Ford (12:42):
You can talk about those too.
Sophia DiPlacido (12:44):
I know, my first year some people dragged a
big tree branch up into thebathroom on the third floor of
Niagara and there's not anelevator in Niagara, so how
people got it in there withoutbeing noticed is kind of insane
to me.
But it stretched across allthree of the shower stalls and
(13:04):
so when I got that call I had noidea what to do.
But it was kind of funny too.
Ralph Ford (13:10):
How did you resolve that prank?
Did they end up coming in withchainsaws to cut it out, or
something like this?
Sophia DiPlacido (13:14):
I actually don't know, because the rule as
an RA is, if you don't know, youcall up, and so that escalated
to the RLC and I didn't hearanything after that.
Ralph Ford (13:23):
They came in.
Did you ever catch who did it?
Sophia DiPlacido (13:25):
I don't think so you don't have to name names.
Yeah, I don't think so.
So Although I will say, a fewyears later I was talking to one
of my old residents and theymentioned that they knew who did
it, and then they said the nameand I didn't know them.
Ralph Ford (13:37):
So Maybe it was someone from a different floor.
Maybe, Well, also, you were insomething known as the Shryers
Honors College, and for thosewho know Penn State, that's a
big deal.
Shryers Honors College isdifficult to get into.
It requires that you completean undergraduate thesis, so you
have to do a lot of research.
Tell us, you know what was thethesis work that you looked at.
(13:59):
What problem did you look at?
Let's hear about this.
You know research that you did.
Sophia DiPlacido (14:03):
So I grew up in Erie, love the Erie area and
I would say for a long time Iwas sort of peripherally aware
of the changes that arehappening in downtown Erie and I
wanted to learn more aboutthose for my thesis, and so I
started looking at what had beendone before, what is currently
going on, and I noticed thatthere might be an area that
(14:24):
could be expanded on in therealm of food access in downtown
Erie.
So I started looking at thecurrent literature that's
available and noticed thatthere's sort of an empirical gap
that aligns with that, which isthat food insecurity is really
heavily studied at the nationallevel, but there's a desire to
learn more about how local foodsystems impact food access, and
(14:45):
then, additionally, there is aninterest in exploring how
changes to the food environmentcan impact food access.
And so, between those factors, Idecided to focus my
undergraduate thesis onexploring food insecurity, which
I guess I should say is a lackof physical, economic or social
access to food, and specificinto the 16501 zip code, which
(15:08):
is located squarely in downtownErie, and my results found that
there really is some conflictbetween the national findings
and the local findings.
My findings were verypreliminary, so I think more
research would have to be done,but in the national literature
the Supplemental NutritionAssistance Program is found to
be the most effective.
(15:29):
In my study that was the leasteffective intervention for food
insecurity.
So I think that there are localmechanisms that would be
important to study in the futureand I really enjoyed learning
about the intricacies of Erie'sfood system through my thesis.
Ralph Ford (15:45):
So what did you find was the most impactful way to
address food insecurity?
Sophia DiPlacido (15:50):
People really gravitated towards community
food services.
So that would be like the soupkitchens that Erie has and it
was a mixed method survey sopeople had the opportunity to
share why they felt a specificintervention was helpful or not
helpful.
And it was really interestingPeople who were either really
satisfied with localinterventions or really not
satisfied both mentioned, likethe people that work at the
(16:13):
place and the generalenvironment as a factor in their
consideration, and so sort ofthat emotional element or that
human element is something thathasn't been addressed within the
national literature but mightbe impacting the Erie food
system.
Ralph Ford (16:28):
So how did you collect the data?
Sophia DiPlacido (16:31):
So I originally wanted to do
semi-structured interviews butwith the Human Research Board
approval, it was just going tobe too much of a time crunch.
So I developed asemi-structured survey or, sorry
, a mixed method survey that hadLikert scale ratings for each
of my research questions andthen open-ended questions for
people to expand on theiranswers.
Open-ended questions for peopleto expand on their answers, and
(16:54):
then I went to a homelessshelter, a soup kitchen and a
food bank and distributed mysurvey in person.
People were incentivized with a$10 Amazon gift card, so it was
really nice that I didn't feellike I was asking for too much.
And so, yeah, I think thatface-to-face contact and being
there and recruiting in personafter I started doing that, I
saw a huge increase inrespondents.
So I think that was-to-facecontact and being there and
recruiting in person after Istarted doing that, I saw a huge
increase in respondents, so Ithink that was really helpful.
Ralph Ford (17:16):
Wow, what was that experience like?
Sophia DiPlacido (17:18):
It was really interesting.
I remember in my thesis defense, someone asked if people were
hesitant for me to be there, andI actually found it to be the
exact opposite experience.
People were really welcomingand also a few people were like,
oh my gosh, you must feel soout of place here.
Thank you for being here, andso I felt like there was a level
(17:41):
of awareness that people hadthat was really helpful.
People were eager to sharetheir thoughts about this and
were really incentivized by thegift card and felt that there
was a shared benefit there, andso I found it to be a really
worthwhile experience.
Ralph Ford (17:57):
Well, that's really awesome and I will give you
kudos, because that takes a lotof courage to go out and do that
.
And a really amazing story.
So who was you?
Talked about your thesis, butbefore we get there, who was
your faculty advisor?
Sophia DiPlacido (18:08):
Dr Melanie Hetzel-Riggin.
Ralph Ford (18:09):
Okay, and she's interested in this as well.
Sophia DiPlacido (18:12):
This is actually a bit outside of her
area of expertise.
With the way that Schreier isset up, your thesis advisor has
to be someone within your major,but there wasn't anyone within
psychology or marketing that wasexplicitly studying food
systems.
Dr Hetzel-Riggin wasdisgracious enough to allow me
to pursue a project that wassort of outside of her expertise
(18:33):
, but she has a lot ofexperience in community impact
research.
That was really helpfulthroughout the process.
Ralph Ford (18:39):
Yeah, she's really engaged in our community.
For those listening, Dr MelanieHutzel-Riggin is the director
of the School of Humanities andSocial Sciences and also a
professor of psychology, Anyway.
So how does that workingrelationship go between you and
your advisor?
Sophia DiPlacido (18:56):
Yeah, I think that is something where it is a
huge benefit to be a SchreyerScholar at Behrend, because you
almost definitely have a goodworking relationship with your
thesis advisor before you startyour thesis.
And so Dr Hetzel-Riggin wasactually my academic advisor my
first year at Behrend and then,before I worked in development,
I worked in humanities andsocial sciences, so I got to
(19:17):
work with her a little bit thereand then I did research with
her for an independent study fora semester.
So by the time I was gettingready to do my thesis, I knew
how the working relationshipwould be.
I knew how the workingrelationship would be.
She was really helpful innavigating the literature and
(19:38):
also in helping me navigate thechanges that students don't
expect in research.
So when my response rate waslow, she was helpful in helping
me create a plan that was ableto collect data.
She helped me navigate theintricacies of ethical approval
for doing human research.
So I think that she was reallysupportive throughout the entire
process and it was a reallygreat relationship.
Ralph Ford (19:59):
That is not surprising, knowing the two of
you.
How's that so glad it workedout?
Well, one more question on that.
You talked about your thesisdefense.
How did that work?
Sophia DiPlacido (20:08):
So the thesis defense was essentially an
opportunity to share my researchwith my thesis committee, which
consisted of my advisor, whichwas Dr Hetzel-Riggin, my thesis
reader, who was Dr Mike Rutter,who was actually in the School
of Science and I'm very gratefulthat he was willing to be
involved on this project, andthen Dr Dawood, who was my
(20:28):
honors advisor, and so the threeof them came and sort of
watched the defense.
But then I was also reallyprivileged to have a lot of
cheerleaders who also came andjust were hearing about my
thesis throughout the last twoyears and decided to come and
sort of see what I had beenworking on.
So essentially I gave a30-minute presentation on my
research and there was anotherhalf hour allocated to questions
(20:51):
and discussion.
Ralph Ford (20:52):
And were you nervous going in?
Sophia DiPlacido (20:54):
Yep.
Ralph Ford (20:55):
Felt pretty good coming out though huh Yep.
Good for you.
That's always the way it worksand that's the way it should be.
And, for the record, we have inthe room with us today Carol
Nicotra, who works in thedevelopment office, and you
looked at her and so I think shewas there during your thesis.
Sophia DiPlacido (21:10):
Yes, she was.
Ralph Ford (21:17):
All right.
Well, she's here during yourinterview as well, and that's
great, and we're going to moveto that next.
That's why I say that you werean intern in the Office of
Development and Alumni Relationsfor a number of years.
What did you do there?
Sophia DiPlacido (21:24):
I think one of my biggest responsibilities was
managing our social media andensuring that we were
communicating properly with ouralumni base via social media
channels.
But then I would also help withevent logistics and planning
and sort of offered a studentperspective to events that had
students who were attending, andthen just the logistics of
(21:46):
running an event, soregistration and sending out
emails or drafting emails.
And then I think my final dutywas, on occasion I would either
meet with donors or communicatewith alumni when they came to
visit to campus, and that wasreally fun to just sort of
provide that student perspectiveand see what had changed since
they had last visited.
Ralph Ford (22:07):
What did you learn most in being in development?
Sophia DiPlacido (22:10):
I think when I came into development, I had an
expectation for what it wouldlook like.
Similarly to when people hearabout me being a psychology and
marketing major, there's sort ofthis underlying like she's
going to be an evil marketer.
I think development gets alittle bit of a bad rap, and so
it was really nice to sort ofsee the philanthropic aspect of
it and the passion that peoplehave for Penn State and for
(22:33):
sustaining Penn State, and so Ithink that that was a big
takeaway was just learning moreabout the development industry
and sort of unraveling some ofthe assumptions there.
Ralph Ford (22:44):
Not only did you work in development, you were
the beneficiary of developmentwork in that you had multiple
scholarships, and I mean thelist is impressive.
You were awarded the Lawrenceand Elizabeth Held Scholarship,
the John Mark and GeraldineMills Lilly Scholarship, the
Harriet Behrend Nino MemorialScholarship and the Behrend
Leadership Scholarship.
So that's a lot.
(23:04):
How important was that funding?
Sophia DiPlacido (23:06):
It was absolutely imperative to me
coming to Behrend and alsosucceeding at Behrend.
I knew, with my family'sfinancial situation, that
pursuing higher education wouldbe a challenge, and so
scholarships were really helpfulin making that an attainable
goal for me.
What I didn't anticipate was,once I got here, how much more
(23:27):
mental space I would have to beable to focus on my studies and
enjoy all that Behrend had tooffer, because I wasn't worrying
about the financial aspects ofcollege.
So I think that, in addition tobeing a huge physical factor in
getting me to Behrend, myscholarships were also really
impactful in creating the mentalspace for me to succeed at
(23:48):
Behrend.
Ralph Ford (23:49):
Well it's, you know it's really important and
obviously funding helps.
Did you?
Did you feel like you had towork harder because you got
those?
Sophia DiPlacido (23:56):
Yeah, I would say in some ways, especially at
times when I didn't want to work, I think when that motivation
is low, it was really helpful tobring it back up and say like
there are people who haveinvested firsthand into your
success and the best way torepay them for that and to thank
them for that is to do what isexpected of you.
Ralph Ford (24:17):
Show them you're successful.
Well, not only that, you earneda really big award, something
known as the Benjamin A GilmanInternational Scholarship for
Study Abroad, and I know aboutthis one.
It is an award that is aprestigious national scholarship
that has supported students inmore than 170 countries, and
we've had a few students get inhere just a handful, not a lot.
(24:39):
You ended up choosing to studyin France, so what was the
process to get that?
What was it like living inFrance?
Sophia DiPlacido (24:47):
So I first heard about the Gilman from Ruth
Pfluger over in the LearningResource Center when I was first
approaching this idea ofstudying abroad and I know Ruth
has helped plenty of studentswith fellowships and scholarship
applications and so she sort ofthought that I might be a good
fit for it and encouraged me towrite a few drafts for it and I
(25:07):
thought that that would sort ofbe the end of the support that I
got with the application.
But when I sent Ruth my firstdrafts she asked me to come back
and probably over the course ofa few weeks spent close to 20,
maybe more hours walking methrough the edits that she was
making and helping me just get areally strong application
together, and so I was able toreally focus my writing a lot in
(25:33):
a way that I think helped menot only get the Gilman but with
future fellowship applicationsand with future academic writing
.
So I really attribute a lot ofmy Gilman to Ruth and her
guidance.
And then with figuring out thecountry to apply my Gilman to,
it was really more of a processof elimination.
Apply my Gilman II it wasreally more of a process of
(25:57):
elimination.
So I took two semesters ofSpanish back in my freshman and
sophomore years of high school.
So I didn't really have alanguage proficiency I would say
coming into Penn State andgetting ready to study abroad.
So on Penn State Global thereare plenty of different program
options, but once you filter bythe ones that don't have a
language requirement you're leftwith about 12.
So that was really helpful forme to sort of hone down where I
(26:18):
wanted to be and then from thereI knew that I really didn't
have the desire to live in acapital city.
I figured if I was goingsomewhere I'd rather it be a
place that I might not visit.
So then I looked at the onesthat were left and
Aix-en-Provence just reallyspoke to me because it looked
like a beautiful town, it wasclose by to the Marseille
(26:41):
Airport, which was reallyhelpful to me eventually because
I knew I might want to do sometraveling once I got there and
the school was established, andso I just felt like it was a
really good fit.
Ralph Ford (26:53):
What was it like studying in the school there in
the university?
Sophia DiPlacido (26:55):
It was different than here for sure.
For starters, I didn't haveclass on Fridays, which was
pretty nice.
Their approach to academics isa bit more hands-off than I was
used to.
For example, the professorsdon't have office hours, so that
was a bit challenging.
If you had a question, youreally had to try to find a way
to ask that during orimmediately after class.
(27:16):
The other thing that wasinteresting was I did not really
get to see my grades throughoutthe semester, and, as a pretty
high achieving student, that wasreally stressful, because it's
hard to gauge your success andgauge your growth if you're not
sure where you stand, and sothat was something that was a
little bit intimidating to me.
Ralph Ford (27:36):
Well, I taught in Europe for a while.
In some courses the professorsonly give like a midterm or a
final, and sometimes only afinal.
Is that what you saw?
Sophia DiPlacido (27:43):
Yes, I think most of my classes did a midterm
and a final, but one just did afinal.
Ralph Ford (27:47):
Yeah, that is an awful lot of pressure, but you
passed your classes, I'massuming.
Sophia DiPlacido (27:50):
I did.
Ralph Ford (27:51):
With flying colors.
Sophia DiPlacido (27:52):
For the most part.
Ralph Ford (27:53):
For the most part, we're going to take that as all
A's and B's.
Sophia DiPlacido (27:56):
Yes.
Ralph Ford (28:01):
You don't have to tell the audience that you also
lived with a host family there.
Sophia DiPlacido (28:03):
What was that experience like?
It was a really, really amazingexperience.
I was really nervous before Ileft about what that would look
like and to do it was a hugepush.
But it was something that whenRuth and I were talking about
what my study abroad would looklike, she had said that any
student who had gone and livedwith a host family and sort of
took that risk really just lovedit.
And so I was sort of supportedby that and decided to live with
(28:25):
a host family and I think Ikind of got the best of both
worlds, because it was myselfand then three other American
students who were studying atthe same university, and then my
host parents, and then they hada daughter who was a year below
me, so she was probably 18 atthe time and so it was really
nice because there was someonemy age to connect with and that
(28:46):
was nice.
And then I think when I gotthere, I wouldn't say it was
awkward, I would just sayeveryone was adjusting to each
other and it's your first timemeeting and all of a sudden
you're sleeping in thesepeople's house.
But then, once you got overthat and with time throughout
the four months.
They really became such a corepart of my experience.
They taught me a lot aboutFrench culture, and they asked
(29:10):
questions about American culturethat you couldn't ask someone
if you had just met them.
So I like to think that my hostfamily was really a great way
to cultivate like a meaningfulimmersion in France, and so I
really enjoyed that experience.
Ralph Ford (29:24):
I assume you keep in touch with them.
Sophia DiPlacido (29:26):
Sometimes, yeah, it's hard with the time
difference.
And then, immediately after weleft, my host mom.
She's a teacher and she went toteach in Cairo for two years,
so very exciting to see whatshe's up to.
Ralph Ford (29:40):
Well, what did you learn about yourself through the
experience?
Sophia DiPlacido (29:42):
I think the big takeaway was just sometimes
you're more equipped for riskand uncertainty than you think
you are.
When I left, I was so nervousabout being away from home for
the first time being in acountry where I really did not
speak the language, living withthese new people, adapting to
this social change, especiallybecause that was something that
(30:05):
I struggled with a lot when Igot to Behrend.
But I did it and I think it was, all in all, a very good
experience, and even when itwasn't fun, it was a growth
process, and so I think thathaving that experience really
matured me and allowed me tosort of recognize that there's a
confidence that comes fromdealing with uncertainties, and
(30:26):
so that was a big takeaway forme.
Ralph Ford (30:28):
That's where you learn the most when you were put
outside of your comfort zone.
Did the experience change yourview of America, or how do you
look at the US?
When I came back after a longperiod, it was just amazing to
see the US in different eyes.
Sophia DiPlacido (30:41):
It really is, and I think prior to going
abroad, my only context for theworld was through an American
lens, and so my perception ofAmerica sort of changed once I
was able to account for what isuniversal versus what is
American specific, and so sortof having that understanding and
experiencing it firsthand wasreally helpful for me.
(31:04):
One of the big things that Inoticed and that I had learned
about in my classes was thisidea of like an individualist
culture versus a morecollectivist culture, and
America is very individualist inits approach, and so sort of
seeing how a family unit inFrance functioned and the way
that French people cultivatetheir communities is a little
bit different, and so it wasjust interesting to sort of
(31:28):
broaden my understanding ofthings that I had learned about.
Ralph Ford (31:32):
Well, we're getting close to the end.
A few more questions as youleave Behrend, as you graduate,
what advice would you have forstudents coming here?
Sophia DiPlacido (31:39):
I think the biggest thing is be patient, be
brave and be grateful.
I think those okay.
So that's three things, but Iwould say all three are
important.
Ralph Ford (31:48):
You can say as many as you like.
Sophia DiPlacido (31:49):
Perfect.
So I think, like I mentioned,my transition was not seamless
and it took more time than I wasanticipating, and I think
that's true for a lot ofstudents and to get the benefits
of being a part of thiscommunity, there's a level of
consistency and patience that'srequired.
So I would say, just keep thatin mind when you're here.
(32:11):
Who you are at the first day offreshman year is not who you're
gonna be by the time yougraduate senior year.
So just keeping that in mind ishelpful.
Being brave is really important.
You're gonna be in sort ofuncomfortable situations in some
capacity throughout your fouryears here, and it's okay to do
things even when you're scared,and that that can be really
helpful and provide a lot of newopportunities.
(32:32):
And then the third is just tobe grateful.
It's really.
Higher education is such aprivilege and keeping that in
mind can be something that canhelp propel you through those
harder times too.
Ralph Ford (32:44):
That's great advice.
As you leave, what's next foryou?
Sophia DiPlacido (32:48):
So I am currently a semifinalist for a,
a Fulbright English teachingassistantship in the Czech
Republic.
So if everyone wants to keeptheir fingers crossed for that,
I would really appreciate it.
I am continuing my internshipwith development through the
summer, so I have a few moremonths to figure out a more
long-term move.
So plan A is the Fulbright.
(33:08):
Plan B would be applying forjobs and hoping that I can find
something and then hopefullyapplying to grad schools next
year.
I just think I need a littlebit more time to digest my
education at Behrend and reallythink about what area I'd like
to pursue next.
Ralph Ford (33:25):
Well, we know all of those plans will work out well
for you, but we are reallypushing for Plan A, where you
get the Fulbright and you go tothe Czech Republic.
You'd have a wonderfulexperience.
Sophia DiPlacido (33:35):
Thank you.
Ralph Ford (33:36):
Well, you have been listening to Behrend Talks.
I am Dr Ralph Ford, and myguest today is a new graduate of
our college's marketing andpsychology program.
It's a pleasure having you here.
Sophia DiPlacido (33:45):
Thank you, chancellor Ford, thank you.
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