The Role of Student Government, with Claire Perritano

Dr. Ralph Ford, chancellor of Penn State Behrend, talks with Claire Perritano, a Behrend senior, about her experience in student government and as a resident assistant. Originally recorded April 4, 2022.

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Ralph Ford: 0:05

I'm Dr. Ralph Ford, Chancellor of Penn State Behrend and welcome to Behrend Talks. My guest today is one of our students, Claire Perritano. And Claire is well known here on campus. You're going to graduate this May, with a degree in political science. So welcome to the show, Claire.

Claire Perritano: 0:22

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Ralph Ford: 0:23

We appreciate you joining us. As I said, you're not in many here on campus because you're involved in so many different activities. And that's truly a compliment to you. You're vice president of the Student Government Association, resident assistant, much more. We're going to have a nice conversation today. So again, welcome here. Why don't we just start with Claire, tell us what brought you here to Penn State Behrend?

Claire Perritano: 0:49

Yeah, so I grew up on this campus. You know, I rode a bike without training wheels for the first time in the Junker gym. I drove a car for the first time in the Junker parking lot, graduated high school in Junker. And that's because of my parents, who both our faculty and staff members here. And yeah, I, I've always liked being here. It's been like a second home.

Ralph Ford: 1:12

Yeah. So you were comfortable coming here? Yeah. You didn't feel like you had to go somewhere else? Yeah, no. Well, as we all know, and I'll say, you know, your your mother is our Registrar, and your father is our soccer coach. So and, you know, my children also have experiences too. The one that you brought up, I taught them how to drive cars here on campus. You come to the parking lot. So that's how you ended up here. And you've done a lot. So it seems like it's the right fit.

Claire Perritano: 1:45

It, it definitely has been the right fit. Yeah, it just felt right.

Ralph Ford: 1:50

And, you know, you're studying political science with a focus on international relations. Why did you end up in that field?

Claire Perritano: 1:57

I think for a while I wanted to do American politics. And then, as you know, I took one of the intro levels to international relations. And it just it stuck with me. It's so fascinating to see how countries can work together and form those different dialogues, especially in organizations right now that you're hearing a lot about, like NATO and the European Union. They do so much in terms of policies, and they affect so much more than just what I personally feel like just one country, just one American.

Ralph Ford: 2:33

Yeah, it gets, you know, complicated. And there are reasons why there are all these treaties and complicated agreements. And you know, of course, NATO has taken a front and center role. And a lot of people thought, jeez, NATO is a dying organization. So have you studied NATO? And you have any understanding of that, you know, do you have a Have you looked at the NATO Treaty and how it's impacted the Ukraine/Russian conflict?

Claire Perritano: 2:58

You know, I haven't studied NATO in a class. However, a few years back, I did model NATO. It's it's kind of like Model United Nations, but instead, it was model NATO. And that was fascinating. I definitely. I didn't I didn't speak much in this conference. But I learned so much. And it's definitely so important. And you don't hear a lot about it. And that's how a lot of these international organizations are, you don't hear about them. But they do so much behind the scenes. In terms of what's happening right now, I, I've learned I've also learned so much.

Ralph Ford: 3:33

Yeah, it's really sad. It's difficult to watch. Yeah, we're seeing, you know, an international crisis play out in front of us. Was there a particular course that that influenced you? That made you go into political science or set of courses?

Claire Perritano: 3:48

I definitely loved all of Dr. Robert Speel's courses. He's definitely made me the most confident in my decision to continue studying political science. And then there was also a summer course I took it was a main master course. And it was the political implications of Brexit. That was with Dr. Surzhko-Harned and Dr. Harben. Oh, yeah. And that was right. As you know, COVID was happening. And we were supposed to go over to England, to meet with other schools and delegates, but we did it all on Zoom. But that was still, I think, I don't want to say life changing, but it changed my career, my higher education.

Ralph Ford: 4:28

Well, I will call that life changing.

Claire Perritano: 4:29

It definitely encouraged me to go with the international relations track.

Ralph Ford: 4:32

Maybe later in life, you'll have even, you know, different perspective on it. But as you mentioned, you know, all of our political science faculty really engaged with our students. I hear so many stories like yours, and you get to see what's happening in the world. So they influence a lot of students. And, you know, there are a lot of interesting careers in political science. What are you thinking about after you graduate?

Claire Perritano: 4:57

Um, that's a great question. I am still exploring all of my options in September. I will He's starting a grad school program for my master's degree. And it's the it's a long name. So International Conflict Insecurity. So it's essentially the study of war and the causes of it, and negotiation strategies. And with that, I'll also be studying a second degree in human rights law. And it's so funny because I didn't plan on this with Ukraine happening. I chose this before and then, and then all of this happened. So I would like to work for an organization like NATO or the United Nations or something of this sort.

Ralph Ford: 5:39

Where are you going to graduate school

Claire Perritano: 5:41

in Brussels, Belgium? Wow. Yeah. So I'll be right down the road from NATO.

Ralph Ford: 5:45

So how did you make the connection to Brussels, Belgium? How did you find where you were going?

Claire Perritano: 5:50

You know, I had been looking at schools, mainly in the UK. And there is a University in England called University of Kent. Not can't like what we have, you know, an hour away, but it's a different kind. And they have kind of similar to bear, and they have another campus in Brussels, Belgium, that's just for international relations topics. And it just, it was small enough, you know, I like a small classroom setting. And it was also, I immediately liked the idea of being in Brussels because of how international it is, and how, like, if, if you're studying international relations, I think Brussels is a really good place to be.

Ralph Ford: 6:28

Absolutely. That's where you're at the center of what's happening there. So if you think beyond that, it sounds to me like you're interested in policy and applying policy. And is that the direction you think you want to go? Which means you could find a career in government, you might go into law, do you have political aspirations, studying Political scientists? Do you want to run for office?

Claire Perritano: 6:52

I don't see myself running for office. I do see myself working one day behind someone who is running for office, maybe not in American position, but someone who works for NATO or the EU. I love the idea of working behind the scenes on things. I think you see. So when you look at these pictures of people in NATO, you see all the world leaders, but there's so much that happens behind them. They don't do, they will do so little themselves. They, but and they have a whole team of people, you know, guiding them and instructing them. And I would love the idea of doing that. However, I'm still not I've not decided yet. I'm gonna definitely keep an open mind when it comes to future careers.

Ralph Ford: 7:35

Well, you've got a, you know, a long runway ahead of you. Yeah, I think if you if you start to worry too much about exactly what you're Yeah, absolutely. Right. So you've got a great next step. It sounds like, you know, it's going to be a tremendous experience. But it's not the first time you've lived overseas, is it?

Claire Perritano: 7:52

No, it's not. I lived in Normandy, France for a year, during my junior year of high school, through a program called AFS. And it was great. I learned a lot, it was very hard. And I think I'll definitely have an easier adjustment in September, because I have because I have had that experience of being away and living on my own a bit and being more independent. And with the language barriers to I'm ready.

Ralph Ford: 8:22

Junior year in high school. That's a gutsy thing to do.

Claire Perritano: 8:26

Yeah, it was. A it was a interesting conversation with my parents. It took them a while to, to realize I was kind of I was serious about it. I always come up with these crazy ideas. And I never, never follow through with them. But this one, I was definitely I was sticking with it. But I think it was really interesting to see the high school. Like to see how French students and European students live. And the differences between how American students are it's, there's such a difference. It's crazy. So what are the differences? I think French students and I don't want to speak for all European countries, but I know that they are very similar in their ways of life, but they don't put much of an emphasis on extracurricular activities. And they also value families and friendships more than they do kind of the other aspects of like their grades, their their extracurriculars and their sports. And I think that taught me a lot about kind of taking a step back and focusing. They they know that there's a stereotype that the oh the French and Italians, they don't work at all. But I think we could learn a thing or two from that. They they value, the important things of those relationships, more so than they do sitting in a classroom.

Ralph Ford: 9:54

The, you know, every culture is different and I don't have great experience in France, although I've been there and worked with some French companies and they work hard, you know, but there are different values like the idea, for example, in the US we'll sit at our desk and eat lunch. Yes, right. That's a big no, no. Right?

Claire Perritano: 10:12

Eventually they will home, they'll take the 20 minute walk home, and 20 minute walk back to school just to eat lunch with their families that everyone will meet.

Ralph Ford: 10:20

It's important they have that family time. Yeah. And the idea that you would sit alone and have a sandwich in front of your computer is probably, you know, a good thing that they don't do that. So when you came back to the United States, so I lived overseas for a while as well. I'm just curious, what was it like when you land and back here in Erie, Pennsylvania, and you look around, what's your what's your reaction?

Claire Perritano: 10:44

Reverse culture shock is definitely a real thing. I think coming back to Erie at first felt kind of kind of like a downer, especially in little Harborcreek. But again, I also got to see people I hadn't seen in a long time, and I got to talk about my my year. And it was really nice. I knew the second that I kind of got home that I wanted to go back to Europe, though. I knew that. That was where you were. Yeah, I knew. You know, I just I think I became so attached to that way of life and to the people I met. So yeah, and I also kind of struggled adjusting back to fully talking in English. I was dreaming in French, I was doing my entire school in French. And I remember, I was unloading the dishwasher one day, and I was just kind of talking out loud. I was home alone. I couldn't remember the word for knife and fork. I couldn't I couldn't. I couldn't tell you what that was in English.

Ralph Ford: 11:41

So did you start studying French when you were in high school? And that's how you were? It was the immersive experience where you really learned French?

Claire Perritano: 11:48

Yeah, I don't, I don't think in high school, at least you can learn a lot. I did take French one and two in high school. But it doesn't get you very far when you're going to an actual country. So most of the French, I learned was from when I lived there.

Ralph Ford: 12:02

So you're you're fluent, you would say? And how do you continue to remain fluent? Or do you speak to people? You remain in contact and have regular conversations?

Claire Perritano: 12:12

Yeah, I do have a few friends that I talk with, quite often. However, that's only through most of the time text. I would say if if I if I had to have a conversation right now, I would be a bit rusty. My accent isn't there most of the time. Now. It's definitely hard to keep up with

Ralph Ford: 12:28

Did people think you had an American accent? that people

Claire Perritano: 12:31

At first, yeah. And then you know, the biggest test with a language is going to any major city in that country. So for me, it was Paris. And testing it out and trying to order something in French. And if they don't speak to you in English back, that's how you know you're, you're good. Because most of the time and like Rome and Paris, they'll just they can smell you if you're American, and they'll just they don't. They don't want to be bothered to talk to you in their language. So they'll just answer in English. So the last few times, you know, I think I was good. They didn't talk to me in English. So they think that's the test.

Ralph Ford: 13:07

You know, when I was in, in France and in Paris, of course, I didn't speak any French but I'd heard that all you were just kinda was difficult time. I thought everyone was so friendly. They just started speaking in English. And, of course, I was just trying to get to the subway and food and the like. And it all worked out perfectly fine. That like to go back to when you came back to the US. Everything looks a lot larger, doesn't it?

Claire Perritano: 13:29

Yep. Portion sizes, buildings, everything.

Ralph Ford: 13:32

Buildings, roads. Yeah. It's it's amazing how absolutely, how different that part of it feels. Let's switch back to your experience here at behrend. You have been you run for office here, though you may not run for political office, ran for student government association. You're the vice president of SGA. And tell us a bit about what made you run for the position in SGA.

Claire Perritano: 13:57

Um, I think it was a matter of that was the next step I wanted to take. As you know, I had been there for two years. And then our president Dylan Free, asked me to be his running mate. And I hadn't thought of the idea of running for any board position before that. And then, you know, as I thought about it more, like yeah, that can be really, that could be really good. And I think the main reason I wanted to hold this position was just to listen to people to listen to opinions, and feelings, and do whatever I could, on a student level to see that impact.

Ralph Ford: 14:37

So what are the what are the big issues you've taken

Claire Perritano: 14:39

Me personally? Is that what you were? on?

Ralph Ford: 14:43

Yeah. You know, you and the president together. I'm sure it's complicated.

Claire Perritano: 14:50

Dylan and I have kind of started focusing on different issues because the president of SGA mostly focuses on faculty and staff relations, whereas the vice president is in within SGA and on a student level, so I work a lot with our cabinet on their projects. Our biggest one this semester has been an academic advising survey. A lot of issues that are brought to the Student Government Association are about advising. And that I'm not graduating on time because I had a miscommunication, or I didn't get to my advisor on time and vice versa. So we really just wanted to create a survey that this started under our previous president, Chris Butler, that kind of finished it up. And it's just to get a feel out of how people are feeling about their advising experiences. And that's something I've been working with our academic affairs secretary on. Another thing is a little smaller project. But our commuter affairs secretary Jasmine, and I are getting therapy dogs on campus for the week before finals, little things like that are what really, I think make an impression on the campus rather, as like these big projects, I like the day to day.

Ralph Ford: 16:04

If I go back to the advising survey, Have you have you administered?

Claire Perritano: 16:08

Not yet we're still kind of wrapping the actual questions up. We've been working with Clark from Student Leadership and Involvement. And it we're just finishing up the last bits in Qualtrics.

Ralph Ford: 16:19

What are the things that you're hearing? Where are the areas of improvement.

Claire Perritano: 16:23

Areas of improvement are basically communication from both a student perspective, you know, it's your responsibility to be reaching out to your advisor, and vice versa. And a lot of times, it's just I don't know who my advisor is. I don't know how to contact my advisor. I don't know what questions I don't know what my advisor does what like, if I have a situation, is this something I would take to my advisor or not. And so this is very much, so just a data collection. We don't aim to like change anything yet. We are just kind of all we're doing is putting our feelers out, seeing what people are feeling, especially students.

Ralph Ford: 17:04

One of the things that you know, with a survey is, you have to be careful. Yeah. I mean, you have to take your time. Absolutely do it right. You'll get answers to the questions that you're looking for. Something I've never been good at. And I really admire, you know, I really, you know, observe that to do a good survey, there's science behind it. You plan it well. And then if you do, then you can use it next year, and you've got longitudinal data. So I know I'm speaking to the choir. So I think you're taking the right approach is what I'm saying. Take your time, get the survey, right.

Claire Perritano: 17:39

Yeah, this is something that was started. Yeah, like I said, under Chris Butler last year, where we just did meeting after meeting with students and faculty, and we just found data, found facts. And now it's, we're just now ready to get to this section. So it's definitely been a very long process.

Ralph Ford: 17:58

Now, in this role, do a lot of students just seek you out and have questions and concerns they bring to you?

Claire Perritano: 18:05

Yes, and no, I think a lot of students still don't know, we're here, and we're here to help them. But there, there are a lot of students that come to us, mostly through social media, mostly through our Instagram account. And most of the time, they're angry. It's only when they don't like something it's not. It's not like, it's not, they're never like, hey, I really liked that you guys did this, or hey, I'm just curious about this. It's, it's a lot of times, like, why is this happening? This is all your fault, etc, etc. But either way. It's either way, we're happy to talk with them and help out however we can.

Ralph Ford: 18:42

Are there any particular top issues they bring to you?

Claire Perritano: 18:45

Parking is a huge thing, which we kind of have gone in circles with parking. And like I said, advising. Another thing is like, if there are small maintenance issues somewhere on campus, they'll let us know. And then we kind of carry that forward.

Ralph Ford: 19:04

Well, it's hard. There are always a lot of urban myths on campus. And I'm not saying parking is a problem. But you know, they don't necessarily know what student government association is doing unless they come to the meeting. So I think it's probably really good training for you. It's really good. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

Claire Perritano: 19:19

It's definitely taught me how to listen, and to also accept the fact that you're never going to make everyone happy. There's always going to be certain decisions that some people like some people don't. the only the only thing that Dylan and I can do is to again, like I said, listen and make the best decision that we can.

Ralph Ford: 19:44

I've watched your meetings, I won't go on and they're really well run and you make decisions as a group as well, too. So it's not just you.

Claire Perritano: 19:50

Yeah It's not just Dylan and I. It's our entire senate.

Ralph Ford: 19:53

Now, you've not only do we have our student government association here at Behrend that is very active. And I mean, that is a great compliment because I've just seen it change and morph over the last, you know, five years in really great ways. But there's also a larger Penn State wide group that gets together. And how do you? How does that work? How do you operate in that? And

Claire Perritano: 20:17

yeah, that's called the Council of Commonwealth student governments. We just call it CCSG. And that's once a month, all of the Commonwealth Campuses meet at University Park. And we, we just write legislation, and we talk about things that are happening on our campuses that might be a similar issue on another campus and things like that.

Ralph Ford: 20:38

Do you find that that part of it valuable or more the work here at Behrend,

Claire Perritano: 20:42

I think they're both really important to how SGA is all across the Commonwealth operate? You learn so much from other student governments and other presidents and vice presidents and other senate's senators, even. They're all so similar, but they're also different at the same time. And it's fascinating to see such a big group of people that at the same time have the same issues,

Ralph Ford: 21:08

You get to commiserate. Yeah, yeah. And understanding that you're not alone. That is really valuable. Well, in addition to this, you're a resident assistant. And you have been a resident assistant for how long now?

Claire Perritano: 21:23

This is my second year. So I'm at the end of my, my second year.

Ralph Ford: 21:26

Which residence hall?

Claire Perritano: 21:28

Trippe Hall.

Ralph Ford: 21:29

And tell us a bit about Trippe Hall?

Claire Perritano: 21:31

Trippe Hall is great. It's our newest dorm. So it's very modern, which a lot of residents like. I'm RA for, what we call a Special Living Option. It's called Global Boarders. And it's focused towards students, any student who has an international interest, is an international student themselves, might be an international business major, wants to study abroad, anything of the sort, and it's also anyone can join our meetings. And each semester, we focus on a different area of the world. And we do programs that cater to that area. We'll have speakers and food and dances. This semester, we haven't been quite active. But last semester, we had Hawaiian dancers come, we had Australian cookout. It was it was really fun.

Ralph Ford: 22:16

You've maintained I mean, it's really maintained for the pandemic, not perfectly, but you've done your best. Yeah, you know, given your interest in France. Have you had any French programs?

Claire Perritano: 22:29

We have not we haven't focused on Europe really.

Ralph Ford: 22:32

Now you've lived there, I think four years. Right. Three years? Yeah. Three years. Okay. So that's a little unusual, as well. So you you came in and you loved it so much, that you stayed.

Claire Perritano: 22:42

I stayed. Yeah, it's a great, it's a great place.

Ralph Ford: 22:45

What do you do in your day to day resident assistant duties?

Claire Perritano: 22:49

Um, I would say the biggest RA responsibility on somewhat of a basis is programs, programming. We have once a month, we do our individual program. And we also have one big staff-wide program. And that's, I think, the most time consuming part of the role. And then on a daily basis. You're you're hanging up posters, you're you're telling people to respect quiet hours dealing? Yeah, yeah, this year has been pretty mild in terms of conflicts, just a few roommate disagreements here and there. But it's honestly it's it is quite, it's a freshman dorm. So you know, you have to remember that they're excited. They're, they want to make new friends and all of that, but sometimes you just have to be, hey, keep it down a little bit.

Ralph Ford: 23:35

Give them a little bit of wisdom. Yeah, hopefully they can work it out. And sometimes, though, if that really doesn't work out that I guess they can switch roommates. There's a process by which they do that too. Right?

Claire Perritano: 23:46

iYeah it's like, room spa or something like that? Yeah.

Ralph Ford: 23:50

Well, you know, I can't go through this without talking about COVID and the influence of the pandemic. So, you know, what's your perspective now that we feel like we're on the other side, we're not wearing masks. And we went through two years of this smack dab in the middle of your educational experience.

Claire Perritano: 24:08

Yeah, I had one normal semester, fall of my freshman year and the spring of my freshman year was when we were sent home. And I think now that we're, I have to say not back to normal, but we it feels like that. I feel a lot more comfortable, I would say, going to classes and it's nice to see people's faces. In terms of masking, it does still feel a bit like you're you're missing something. I don't feel I'm still getting used to the feeling of not wearing a mask when I'm walking outside. I'll reach to take my mask off. Yeah. I definitely feel like the campus is happier as a whole that now that we can, I guess relax a bit more.

Ralph Ford: 24:56

You know, we had I was speaking to a student a few weeks ago and he started at the same time that you did. And his comment was You know, it was hard to build relationships, he did the best that he could. But he said after the mask came off, it felt like he met 50 new people in a week.

Claire Perritano: 25:14

And with the masks coming off, you know, we're having mostly all in person programming. Now, with all the events that are happening on campus, you'll rarely see a join this event on Zoom, which is really nice to just be in the presence of other people again. And I think that in itself is going to encourage more students next year to be more involved than they were maybe last year or the year before.

Ralph Ford: 25:38

Well, you know, it's, it's been difficult, but like you say, the future looks bright. We'll see where we go. Well, we're coming close to the end of our time. Let me ask you this question. When you when you leave Behrend, what are you going to miss the most about this period of your life?

Claire Perritano: 25:51

It's definitely an interesting thing to think about. Because I've, I've already kind of gotten into the mindset of like, Alright, you're leaving, you're done. I think the thing I miss most is, it sounds cliche, but the people, the people I met along the way, you know, like I said, faculty members that have made a big difference. And just, you know, you get into such a routine and form a connection to the people, even if it's not, even if they're not your best friend, but you're like, oh, yeah, I'll see. Like my boss from Resident Life, Caitlin, I mean, I'll say I'm gonna have a meeting with Caitlin today, every Monday. And I think I'm gonna miss counting on that human interaction and starting new, like, I don't know what I'm gonna see today. I don't know who I don't know where I'll be. I think so like the routine of it. And just knowing that I'll have that human connection.

Ralph Ford: 26:40

Well, you'll make new friends. And you're always welcome to come back. You have a home here. So and you know, as well. Well, is there anything else you'd like to add before we finish up?

Claire Perritano: 26:54

Um, nothing in particular, this has just been a great three years here on on campus, and it's definitely made me into who I am.

Ralph Ford: 27:01

Well, I'll also add for audience if you didn't pick this up, Claire's graduating in three years now. Instead of the traditional four, so you've not only done all of these things. You're a super academic achievers. So you should be. You should be proud of that. And thanks for joining. This has been a great conversation. My name is Dr. Ralph Ford and you have been listening to Behrend Talks. My guest today is Claire Perritano, a graduating senior student here at Penn State Behrend graduating with a degree in political science and heading out to Brussels next year for graduate school. Congratulations.

Claire Perritano: 27:35

Thank you. Thank you for having me. You're welcome.