{"id":2994,"date":"2026-10-02T01:57:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/?p=2994"},"modified":"2026-10-13T01:57:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T01:57:52","slug":"from-the-tower-two-worlds-combine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/10\/02\/from-the-tower-two-worlds-combine\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Tower: Two worlds combine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Matthew Purucker<\/a> \u00b7 Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Sigma Delta Phi sorority and Phi Tau fraternity built a float inspired \u201cOne Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish\u201d for the Dr. Seuss themed Homecoming parade in October 2025. The bubbles coming from the float made it a favorite among student photographers. (Mara Brak | The Collegian)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During my freshman year at Grove City College, I felt stuck between two worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had my hometown world, the one I had known my whole life, and my college world, the one I was trying to understand my place in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even now, it\u2019s weird how isolated a college campus can seem from the outside world. I don\u2019t watch TV here, so I don\u2019t necessarily see how the latest NFL or NCAA Division I football game transpired or what happened in the \u201chottest\u201d new movies or streaming-service shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When my parents visited me, I thought it was strange to see my two worlds combine \u2014 don\u2019t even get me started on the time my pastor visited \u2014 and when my parents come up for Homecoming Saturday, I\u2019ll still think they\u2019re in the wrong place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even without my more isolating-from-the-outside-world college lifestyle, I\u2019m sure at least some of you may have experienced (or continue to experience) aspects of this unique phenomenon, which I\u2019ll dub \u201ccollege-home dualism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

College-home dualism can take many forms, from the food you eat to the activities you do and even to the name you\u2019re called. (I\u2019m often known as \u201cMatt,\u201d \u201cMatty P.\u201d or \u201cPurucker\u201d back home, while most people call me \u201cMatthew\u201d here.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most common cause of college-home dualism is freedom from the obligations of one\u2019s childhood home. This freedom changes you, forcing you to realign your expectations of life from what you experienced it to mean at home to meet the demands of college life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The side effects of college-home dualism include the out-of-placeness of seeing someone where they\u2019re not supposed to be \u2014 like my parents at Grove \u2014 but these side effects are good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They remind us that we college students are here to prepare ourselves for the next part of our lives, where we will hopefully use the lessons we learn at college about freedom for good in our next world, \u201cthe real world,\u201d for many of us. And ultimately, this development in freedom should strengthen us to pursue the only world that matters: the one Christ will deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you scroll through these pages or stroll across campus, whether in your first year as a student or your 50th year since graduating, I hope your college-home dualism can take root in this 100th Grove City College Homecoming as you find it strange, yet spiritually redemptive, to be here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matthew Purucker \u00b7 Editor-in-Chief During my freshman year at Grove City College, I felt stuck between two worlds. I had my hometown world, the one I had known my whole life, and my college world, the one I was trying to understand my place in. Even now, it\u2019s weird how isolated a college campus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[178,260,91,241],"class_list":["post-2994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-tower","tag-2026-edition","tag-from-the-tower","tag-matthew-purucker","tag-oct-2-2"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-24-02-homecoming-parade-2025-1.jpg",1121,1044,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-24-02-homecoming-parade-2025-1.jpg",150,140,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-24-02-homecoming-parade-2025-1.jpg",300,279,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-24-02-homecoming-parade-2025-1.jpg",768,715,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-24-02-homecoming-parade-2025-1.jpg",1024,954,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-24-02-homecoming-parade-2025-1.jpg",1121,1044,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-24-02-homecoming-parade-2025-1.jpg",1121,1044,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"puruckermt24","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/puruckermt24\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Matthew Purucker \u00b7 Editor-in-Chief During my freshman year at Grove City College, I felt stuck between two worlds. I had my hometown world, the one I had known my whole life, and my college world, the one I was trying to understand my place in. Even now, it\u2019s weird how isolated a college campus…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2994"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2996,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2994\/revisions\/2996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}