Saint Louis University sophomore Erin Krippene comes from a big family with deep ties to the university. Krippene has aunts, an uncle, her mother, and siblings who all attended and graduated from SLU. Krippene said that her family’s strong connections to the St. Louis Catholic university had a significant influence on her perception towards the school while growing up.
Although Krippene had a strong connection to SLU in her childhood, she actually opted to attend Rockhurst University in Kansas City after graduating from St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Louis. Krippene initially attended Rockhurst because she thought it would be a good fit for her since it was “a small school with more options for leadership opportunities.” However, after attending Rockhurst for only eight days, Krippene changed her mind. The 20 year old said that Rockhurst was a good school but she quickly realized it was not the best fit for her. Since Rockhurst started a week before SLU, she was able to transfer to SLU on move-in day.
After now spending almost two years at SLU, Krippene maintained that she was happy with her decision to transfer from Rockhurst. “SLU is the perfect place for me, I would not want to be anywhere else,” said Krippene. Krippene is majoring in communications at SLU with a concentration in public relations and a minor in marketing. Krippene said that she wants to continue with a career in public relations, where she currently has a job with the St. Louis Cardinals. In her position with the Cardinals, Krippene assists in outreach relations, philanthropy, and giving back to the St. Louis community. After graduating from SLU, Krippene said that she wants to continue what she’s currently doing in public relations but at a more advanced level.
In regard to what she is most passionate about in this stage of her life, Krippene said she is a very family-oriented person. She grew up in Ladue with her parents, four sisters, a brother, and a dog. Krippene said that she grew up super close to her big family and would always spend time with them. “Family is always first.” said Krippene. Religion also played a very significant role in Krippine’s life, and still does. Krippine said that her family is devoutly Catholic and that she would participate in youth outreach and faith life programs during her time at St. Joseph’s Academy.
When asked about who she saw as her role model throughout her life, Krippine said that it was her older brother Ryan, 23. Krippine said she really looks up to Ryan and how he is such an optimistic person no matter what is happening in his life. Krippine pointed to how Ryan is always able to make things more enjoyable, which was a significant reason she looks to him as her role model. “I always respected him for being a super respectful and genuine, down to earth guy who doesn’t conform to anyone else’s rules,” said Krippine.
Colin's News Writing Blog 
This story definitely gives readers a strong idea of who Erin is. Beginning and ending the story with a connection to her family really emphasizes the idea that she is a family-oriented person. I think that telling the story of her switching schools early in the story was a good way to catch the reader’s attention, because it’s an unusual situation. That anecdote made me want to read the rest of the story to find out who Erin is today, and where she’s headed.
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Colin, this was such an interesting piece on Erin! I was so surprised to find out that she transferred from Rockhurst after only a week, how fascinating. You did a great job at covering important parts in this article such as: her college education, her career goals, and something really important to her. The last quote you used about her brother was really good; in a way, it confirmed your words with how she actually felt towards him. I can’t really think of any major issue to fix in this, except maybe correcting a few punctuational errors. Otherwise, this was a great article.
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Hey Colin! You did a great job with explaining Erin’s decision to come to SLU and her family history with the university. I thought it was super fascinating that she works with the Cardinals and would have loved to hear more about that. I think the quotes you used for the story were well placed and strong as well. it was a interesting story and it definitely made me want to read more about Erin!
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I thought it was a well-written story. It’s super interesting that she transferred to SLU and was able to do so on move-in day. She’s probably in a very unique group. Only suggestion I would make is maybe diversify the size of the paragraphs instead of having them be like blocks of text that are roughly the same size. But that’s digging too far probably.
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