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Happy Summer UVF! I hope everyone is relaxing, and enjoying their time off. It’s Forge Friday again! This week’s alumni is David Brock. Hi, my name is Dave Brock. I graduated in 2013 with a BA in Children’s Ministry and 2020 with a MA in Organizational Leadership. Recently my family and I moved to Trumbull County, OH, where I serve at Rock of Grace Family Ministries as the Executive Pastor. I am also serving as a campus pastor at our campus in Cortland, OH. Valley Forge has ...helped prepare me for this season of ministry through the combination of ministry training to be a pastor and develop the business and leadership skills to oversee a multi-site organization. Being a member of Chosen 2010 and 2011 has helped me learn how to work with others who work and think differently than I do while still working together for the kingdom of God. Additionally, serving on LIGHT Children’s Ministry at UVF allowed me to develop leadership skills I otherwise would have missed if I did not get involved as a student. I am grateful for the years I spent at Valley Forge in person and online. The relationships I have developed during my schooling have encouraged me to reach for new challenges and step into the future with a loose grip knowing that God leads my life. To current and future students: The secret to an experience that grows you like this is to get involved in every way possible. Your time at Valley Forge will only be as good as you allow it to be, so make it the best it possibly can!

Career Services is here to help you find a job! We now have a weekly job newsletter with up to date jobs looking for employees like you! If you are a grad or alum interested in receiving this communication, comment below so we can add you!

Congratulations class of 2021! Career Services is here to help you succeed even after graduation, check out Purple Briefcase for job opportunities. https://app.purplebriefcase.com/pb/account/login

It's Forge Friday! This week's alumni is Sydnee Tooman Betts class of '82. "The University of Valley Forge (VFCC, while I attended in 1977-1982) laid an excellent foundation for my role as an author. How? My professors ingrained in me three key elements. Extensive written assignments developed my love for research and a knack for expressing what I intended to say. They also awakened in me a love for the craft. The solid theological grounding I received allows me to portray... God and His ways accurately to my readers. Just as God used Nathan’s story to elucidate David’s blindness, a novel allows readers to reflect on their heart-responses as they journey alongside the protagonist. Lastly, my professors taught me to listen to the Holy Spirit. I never envisioned imagined myself as a writer or thought I could complete such exhaustive works; yet it while I prayed for a way to ‘make disciples of all nations,’ novel writing was God’s answer. Had I not learned to listen for the Holy Spirit’s leading, I would certainly have missed that call."

Hello all its Forge Friday and I would like to introduce Jamie Zirkle. My name is Jamie Zirkle and I am the Lead Pastor of Valley Assembly of God located in Middletown, Va. I first arrived at The Forge in August of 1995 as a 24-year-old college freshmen with a calling from God but no earthly idea of how that plan would come to fruition. I started by packing my car, leaving my friends, my family and all that was familiar and made my way up to the PA Turnpike. I joined the Val...ley Forge Soccer team where I would play all four years and eventually become team captain. My fondest memories from my time at The Forge were not in the classroom but with people. From Building 24, Building 23, the soccer field, The Pit (gymnasium), Solomon's Porch, TD Alfredo's, and a few other places it was all about RELATIONSHIPS! My current church position happened by divine appointment. I did not seek a position but I sought the God who promotes and opens/closes doors. I received a phone call from a Potomac Ministry Network official, and a friend, who asked me if I was interested. A few months later I arrived here. My family and I have had ministry stops in DE, WV and VA and all of those stops taught me something. The Forge taught me valuable lessons in leadership, prayer, perseverance, lifelong friendships and most importantly how to lead on and into God in the good and bad times. I almost quit after my third year because of some very challenging personal events that had taken place in my life. Thankfully, I was very fortunate to have great friends, teammates and leaders such as Dr. Brubaker, Dr. Dippold, Dr. Marino, Dr. McNaughton, and President Meyer. My advice to each of you reading this in whatever phase of life you are in is to PRAY simply, WAIT sometimes and STICK to the path. Don't ever give up! Jamie Zirkle https://jamiezirkle.com/ LinkedIn "Pray simply, wait sometimes, stick to the path"

Welcome back to Forge Friday this week I would like to introduce alumni Brandon Mullen. Hello students of UVF, my name is Brandon Mullen and I am an Alumni of UVF (08). I studied Music and majored in Music Performance (Percussion). After graduating, I’ve been blessed to work and travel the world with many artists in different genres as a professional drummer. Currently I’ve been working on different projects (studio and live) as a drummer for artist's albums, Live perform...ances and shows, church live streams and more recently TV and film. UVF has really been a big part of preparing me for this Career. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge from all the music teachers and staff which gave me the motivation and the urge to prepare myself to the best of my abilities for this journey. I appreciate and love them all. To the current students of UVF, I would like to leave you with some encouraging advice which is to stay focused on your goal and dreams, keep positive, work hard, stay humble and continue to pray. With Gods help and all the amazing people at UVF, you will do well and go on to have a successful career. I pray you all have an amazing year. God Bless Connect with me on social media: Facebook: Brandon D.A. Mullen Instagram: Bdmdrums

New jobs are being posted every week. Head over to our new job posting site for a chance to explore new & exciting opportunities! https://app.purplebriefcase.com/pb/account/login

Resume Tip Tuesday: For the skills section of your resume use bullet points not a paragraph. Bullet points are concise, precise and get your point across in a rapid manner. You do not want the reader to lose interest.

It’s Forge Friday! This week’s distinguished Alumni is Nate Grenier. Connecting with People has always been our passion. It started with Puppets-- and Jesus transferred it to coffee. After graduating in '07, I got my Masters of Arts in Religion from Ashland Theological Seminary and moved back to PA and served as the Family Pastor at Connections Church in Pottstown. While there, God began to move in me the idea of doing more outside the four walls of the church. That's whe...n the crazy business as mission idea was born. We moved to Hilliard, Ohio in the fall of 2013 to begin the process. Working at Starbucks, the YMCA and diving deep into missional living.... and learning all I could about coffee. God, time and time again, miraculously would provide exactly the next step we would need to be able to open a coffee shop. In September of 2016, Coffee Connections opened. We serve up more than just fresh roasted craft coffee--- we serve up Hope. Loving our Neighbor and Serving our City is the mission of the coffee shop; doing our part to provide the hope of Jesus one cup at a time and finding ways to tangibly meet the needs of our community. As a student at VFCC now UVF, never would I have imagined that God would have me operate a coffee shop. But learning to listen to Jesus, to be faithful where he calls and to trust him into the unknown were all foundational elements from my time at The Forge that has shaped this faith journey. AND we regularly do puppet shows for the community from our coffee shop! There are SO MANY stories we could share-- to catch them check out our videos on our website: coffeeconnections.me, under the telling the story tab. See more

Join us for UVF's first virtual career fair! Interact and hear from a variety of professionals in a broad range of career fields. Register now!

Welcome back to Resume Tip Tuesday! This week I want to focus on the importance of Proofreading and editing. Grammatical and spelling errors on resumes are some of the top reasons for not receiving a call back from employers. When time is not taken to proofread your resume, it can communicate carelessness or other negative qualities that employers are not looking for in a new hire. Another quick tip: Don’t trust your own eyes, ask someone else to look it over after you finished. A different set of eyes may help catch something you missed or overlooked.

This week’s resume tip is to only include subheadings and sections in a resume that you need. Depending on the format that you choose some examples and templates will have sections that you are unsure what you would fill with. If it is an extra section or one that you do not have any relevant information to add don’t include it. The most important sections of a resume are: Contact info, Relevant skills, Experience and Education. It is optional to include a Summary/objective section if you are changing fields or are just out of college, the Achievements/awards section is optional as well. If you have something to put there then include it if there are no relevant accolades to add do not leave it on your resume.

It's one week away have you signed up yet? Juniors and Seniors register now, hope to see you there.

Happy New Year cannot wait to see what God has in store for our students in the year to come.

Merry Christmas from the University of Valley Forge! For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

This week’s Tip Tuesday: If you do not have experience to put on a resume, focus instead on your relevant and transferrable skills along with any related extracurricular or academic projects. Include any leadership or team experiences that you have been a part of, and then make sure to pair it with a strong cover letter telling the narrative of why you are ideal for the job.