Once a Bobcat, always a Bobcat! Below you'll find our most recent Alumni Spotlight interview.
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Alumni Spotlight: Roy Gloeckl '10
Roy Gloeckl attended Pitt-Greensburg for two years before transferring to the Oakland campus from which he graduated in 2010 with a BA in English writing and a minor in theater.
What brought you to Pitt-Greensburg?
They didn't want me in Oakland (yet) and I needed to get away from my family.
Were you a commuter or a resident?
Resident
What activities were you involved with as a student?
The GSA. I believe at the time it was the Gay/Straight Alliance, but it is now known as the Gender and Sexuality Alliance. I was also involved in the Theater (Alpha Psi Omega) and English (Sigma Tau Delta) Honors Societies as well as various theatrical productions (House of Blue Leaves, The Miser, Actor's Nightmare, and Wonder of the World). And, I attended Killer Bunny card game nights at the Coffeehouse.
Did you have a favorite professor, staff member, coach, or mentor that really impacted your life?
Sheila Confer and Melissa Marks were life-changing figures in my life. They both played an integral part in shaping my educational and professional journey, but their contributions did not end there. In my personal life, they offered safety and support that, as a newly out gay man, I did not have elsewhere. I still look back on those days and recognize just how truly fortunate I was to have had and continue to have both of these incredible women in my life.
Of all the classes you took, what is the one class you would recommend everyone take? Who taught the class? Why would you recommend it?
Theater classes were absolutely my favorite. It served to reinforce what I always knew -- I was born to entertain. Runners-up are education and psychology courses. I look back now and think, if I knew then what I know now about myself, I would have gone a vastly different direction and studied to become a therapist of some kind.
What do you remember most vividly from your time at Pitt-Greensburg?
The Villages. It was a sense of community that I absolutely loved and have continued to search for in the boring, responsibility-laden, grown-up world.
What have you been up to since graduation?
I have been working in marketing and communications roles in the non-profit sector since graduation while also writing freelance for various Pittsburgh publications. I have continued to perform in a variety of settings, most recently as a stand-up comedian with shows at Bottlerocket Social Hall, Arcade Comedy Theater, and even the main stage at Pittsburgh Pride fest!
How did your experiences and education at Pitt-Greensburg prepare you for life after college?
I don't think there's anything that could have prepared me for the recession, pandemic, etc.
As an alum, how do you support Pitt-Greensburg?
I work for Pitt now, and my bobcat beanie lives on my desk.
What advice do you have for your fellow Bobcats?
Slow down and be present. Be a sponge and absorb it all in and out of the classroom. Meet different people, try new things, and figure out who you are. This time of your life is about so much more than grades and works cited.
For fun:
What song do you always sing along to? "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin
List 3-5 fun facts about yourself that most people probably wouldn’t know.
- I've been in a couple movies filmed here.
- I’ve worked for Disney multiple times.
- I have major anxiety except when I'm performing (none of that “picture the audience naked” stuff needed).
- I wrote and illustrated a children's book, but I still haven't published it.
- Performance goal is to voice an animated character.