Michael “Gage” Crosen came to California University of Pennsylvania looking for new opportunities both on and off campus, along with one-to-one interactions with his professors.
“I went to a small high school so I am used to having teachers care about their students, much like they do at Cal U,” he says.
Crosen enrolled initially as a history major, but his recent appointment as the student representative to the Cal U Council of Trustees has him considering a different career path.
“The more I get involved with student government and the Council of Trustees, the more I realize how much I would love to pursue legislation and politics,” he says.
A first sergeant in the Reserve Officers Training Corps, Crosen was one of 300 ROTC cadets from across the country selected to attend the Army Air Assault School at Fort Benning, Ga., this summer. He described the experience as “an immediate gut check.”
“The school really taught me the importance of accountability and that it takes only one minor detail to ruin an entire operation. I have translated that into paying more attention to the small details in both ROTC and in my life as a Cal U student.”
In addition to his service to the commonwealth and his country, Crosen is a Cal U Alumni Board student representative and vice president of finance for Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity.
His service in ROTC has been a stepping-stone for his involvement at the University.
“Basic training teaches you to have excellent time-management skills,” he says. “It really helped me figure out how to plan out my weeks, so that I can be part of many different activities. I believe if you are going to do something, you should do it to the best of your ability. I might as well be the best I can be while I’m at Cal U.”