Name: Karen Bonanno

Hometown: Parkesburg, PA

Major: Undeclared

(I am declaring Communications and then some in the very near future though!)

Year: Junior

Club(s)/Organizations I'm involved with: Honors Program, Newman Center, Students for Life, Owl Ambassadors, Intramural  soccer,  flag football, floor hockey, and softball.

Favorite class at Temple: Intro to Communications and Public Life with Dr. Scott Gratson.  The class was entirely about NYC, and we studied using the city itself as our textbook, discovering the parts of NYC that exist underneath the layer of tourism.

Favorite memory from freshman year:

Spring Break community service trip to Lawrence, Massachusetts (near Boston) with the Newman Center.  Great service opportunity, awesome exploration of a city I had never been to, exposure to a different culture than my own, and the best company one could hope for. =)

Piece of advice for incoming/prospective students:Get involved!  Once you decide what college you're going to, you know that you're going to have to make necessary adjustments.  Although I knew I would be able to adjust to life here at Temple, I never thought I would love it so much.  Temple truly became my home away from home when I started getting involved and meeting people from different organizations.  These people have since become my best friends and my family here at Temple.

How has Temple changed you for the better: To give you an idea of where I'm from, the Wal-Mart in my town has a parking garage for horse and buggies.  You can only imagine how sheltered such an area can make a person.  I went to a very small school and have known the same people practically my whole life.  Temple has allowed me to meet new people from all different places and has introduced new activities and opportunities to me that I would have otherwise never known.  I love where I'm from, but Temple is a completely different atmosphere, giving me the best of both worlds and making me a well-rounded individual.

Favorite restaurant in the city: Spaghetti Warehouse.  I've never actually been there… but the name itself puts it very high on my list.  I'm half Italian so it sounds like Heaven to me.  Oh the pastabilities!

Favorite/best aspect of Temple: It's prime location and the social and academic opportunities it offers in Center City.

What do you think makes Temple unique: Its ability to redefine of the importance of the letter T.  Never has a single letter of the alphabet been so epic.

One thing you never leave your home without: My wonderful Temple ID.  As Temple students, we have to get over the fact that the pictures on our IDs are hideous and recognize that they are our lifelines.