A Not So Typical College Life

            Alex Truman graduated Butler Area High School in 2009. Truman then went on to further his education at Slippery Rock University, where he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology in May 2013. The time Truman spent at Slippery Rock University shaped his life and helped him become the person he is today.

            Truman came to Slippery Rock University in August 2009 as an All American Strength Athlete, winning the International Powerlifting Pennsylvania State Championships his junior year of high school and the North American Strongman Teenage National Championship just weeks before the start of his freshman year at Slippery Rock University. 

            During his freshman year at Slippery Rock University, Truman became very involved in campus life. Becoming a member of the Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity and the Body Building and Fitness Club. They kept Truman busy throughout his first year at Slippery Rock University. Truman promoted, organized, and officiated the 2009 “Strongest Man in the Rock", a strongman competition held in Slippery Rock, which all proceeds were donated to a Slippery Rock University athletic scholarship. Pulling a plane weighing over 100,000lbs with one of his mentors, Mary Jacobson, also helped Truman and Jacobson donate over $10,000 to the Special Olympic event. Even with all of his activities, Truman still maintained grades that landed him on the Dean's list.

            Throughout the summer following his freshman year of college, Truman completed over 400 volunteer hours at a local park and worked as much as possible. During this same time Truman also won the 2010 North American Strongman Teenage National Championship. 

            As summer ended, Truman was back to taking classes, training at the ARC, and working at Ginger Hill Tavern as a security guard. Truman began training over 25 hours a week for strongman and powerlifting, as he had big plans for the following year. Throughout his sophomore year, Truman won multiple National Strongman Championship qualifying events.

            Junior year at Slippery Rock University came quite quickly for Truman. He had decided to become a Criminal Justice and Criminology major, apply for a Professional Card through the International Powerlifting Association, compete in The World’s Strongest Man, and continued working to pay for his education. On November 19^th and 20^th Truman competed in the 2011 International Powerlifting Association National Championships, winning the Professional division at 220lbs and proving he deserved the Pro Card.

As junior year concluded for Truman, he was working at Y.E.S. Academy counseling overly aggressive youths. Truman had planned to compete at Worlds Strongest Man in the upcoming year. Events occurred that caused the International World Championships to be held in York, PA in 2012. Although Truman was focusing on his upcoming strongman events, he could not pass up the opportunity to compete for a professional world title in powerlifting in his home state. Truman won the 242lbs men’s open professional division, and the Overall Best Lifter award for the men’s professional division.



Entering into his senior year at Slippery Rock University, Truman had decided to go after the title of Mr. SRU, which had been a goal for him since first hearing of the event as a freshman. Truman also decided he wanted to become President of Sigma Tau Gamma before he finished his Bachelors Degree. In typical Truman fashion, he became the President of his fraternity and went on to win the 2013 Mr. SRU bodybuilding show.

After graduation, Truman continued to work at Y.E.S. Academy and paid off his remaining student debt. Buying a house at 22 years old is not something most do, but Truman did. All the while, Truman continued to train for and win the National Physique Committee 2013 Mid-Atlantic Grand Prix.

Mrs. SRU in 2015 was Julia Bagway. She heard of Truman and here is some input she has about what she has done with SRU Bodybuilding. 

My good friend, Alex Truman, did a lot of things most college students do not do. Truman focused, and Truman didn’t make excuses. He worked, sometimes over 60 hours a week, to pay for his college education. He trained countless hours and went to the gym multiple times a day to become a successful athlete. He studied, maintained good grades, volunteered and participated in an exorbitant amount of campus events and organizations. To you Alex Truman might just be a name. To those of us who had the pleasure of knowing him, Alex Truman is a role model, an icon, and a friend.

Web Biography Proposal

I would like to focus my biography on Alex Truman. He is a former Slippery Rock student. He previously won Mr. SRU and holds world records in the IPA for bench and deadlift. He was also well respected around the Slippery Rock Campus. He worked out for hours everyday while taking classes, and working 40 hours a week at a juvenile detention center. There are not many college students who live that type of life. He graduated in 2013. He has then since retired from weightlifting/powerlifting and pursued another career. I think he would be a good choice because it shows how hard some individuals work to achieve goals they want, and how hard he worked in general. Most students only work part-time during college. Yet, Truman worked just as much as the average adult and managed to graduate in four years while breaking world records in powerlifting. To also be named Mr. SRU in that time period is a world of achievements.

SRU Orchestra

On Sunday November 22nd, The Slippery Rock Orchestra performed in Swope Music Hall. It was an excellent show and I really enjoyed it. I am not that into this sort of music, however it opened my eyes to a different style that I have not heard since middle school. This is a video that shows the entire group performing, as well as interviews from some of the participants. The Maestro is featured along with information about Slippery Rock's Orchestra, and also links to Pittsburgh's Symphony if this video grasps your attention as much as it did mine.



**My pictures would not show up in the thinglink captions. Therefore I put most of my pictures in the read more section. The other links are in the caption and need to be right clicked on to open them in a new window. This was my only struggle throughout the project.

Information Tagged Video Proposal

On Friday November 20th, it is the annual tradition of light up night in Pittsburgh. Everyone thinks it is just a night in Pittsburgh where the whole city turns lights on. However there is a lot more to it. Lights start setting up right after eleven in the morning, mostly on city Monuments, like the Courthouse and the City-County Building. The famous christmas tree at PPG plaza will be lighting up around 5:00 p.m. Not only are there lights, but all sorts of varieties of bands will be there performing live. Bruce Springstein, Jeff Jimerson, and Bill Toms will al be there. At the end of the night, there will be fireworks. I think this event has a lot of newsworthiness, considering it is one of the biggest nights in Pittsburgh. I plan to get there in the afternoon and stay there until the fireworks are over. I would like to get footage of a lot of bands performing, as well as the more prominent Christmas lights that are showing. I think it will be a fun event to cover and it should give me a lot of video and information to use.

A Change of the Game

Almost everyday a group of people can get together and play football, basketball, baseball, etc. However Sunday night, at the Morrow Field House in Slippery Rock students had the chance to try a variety of sports that a lot of people are unfamiliar with. Pickle Ball, badminton and other unique sports were among them. (Crocket was supposed to be played, but it was not there). 

Some kids are turned off from sports because they are not big enough or do not enjoy them. They need to realize there are a lot of other sports out there that they can enjoy. That is why Sports Night on Sunday was such an important event. Anyone who wanted to try something new could have attended. It was also a big night for students who already take part in these hobbies.

Here is the gym right before 9:00 p.m. Badminton, pickle ball, and basketball were all held in this section. It was slow at the beginning, but a flow of people came in right at 9:00. 

Students playing Pickle Ball. A sport that is played like tennis, except a paddle and whiffle ball are involved.

This is the table tennis setup. It was very popular and probably received the most attention.

          

This is another part of the Morrow Field House where soccer was being played. Not that many people participated in this event. 

   

          

Two table tennis players showing off their skills in a little competition. 

Overall, the event went well. I was a little disappointed because I did not see anyone playing crocket or some of the other events mentioned. The doors also closed around 10:00, when it was scheduled until 11:00 p.m. I think it would have been a lot better if this event was more advertised around campus.

Slippery Rock Haunted House

On October 23rd, the Slippery Rock Program Board hosted a haunted house in the Student Center Ballroom. It went from 5:00-8:00 p.m. It included free food and beverages, along with scary people and a creepy setup.

Slippery Rock Timeline