New Students!

Good morning Penn State students and fans worldwide! Last week Penn State and its philanthropy group, THON raised close to eleven million dollars for children with pediatric care. What a feat and they said nothing good came out of this university after the past few months!

Now onto this week’s post about Penn State. For the last few weeks I have seen countless groups of prospective students touring the campus and taking in the sights and sounds. It is certainly refreshing to see large amounts of high school seniors and even younger kids touring the campus and thinking about coming here for a world class education. I remember, as I am sure you do, the first time I visited the campus and thought about starting my college education here.  Up until senior year of high school, I had no intentions of coming to Penn State, I was afraid of the size of the campus and also my whole father’s side of the family went here but I wanted to go somewhere different.

That was until I came on an accepted students day after reluctantly applying after my dad convinced me too. I immediately fell in love with the school when I came here in March, I loved everything from the talks with the advisers to getting “We Are” shouted at us by East Halls and then our tour group screaming back “Penn State”. After that day I knew for sure that I was going to come to study political science here in the College of Liberal Arts.

I am excited to see that Penn State is still drawing in large amounts of interested of high school students. Even after everything happened my tumultuous freshman year, kids and parents still love and trust this school and everything that it stands for. I find it very reassuring every time I see a group of high schoolers walking by enjoying the campus and thinking about applying here. That is the future of this institution!

LT Michael Murphy, PSU graduate and American Hero

This week in my blog about Penn State life I would like to take the time to tell the story of a hero that graduated from Penn State. The hero I am going to talk about is Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy who was killed in action during the campaign in Afghanistan. LT Michael “Murph” Murphy was born in Long Island, New York and was active in sports and even was a lifeguard at his local beach.

Lt. Murphy attended Penn State from 1994 to 1998 were he was a great ice hockey player and an exceptional student who majored in political science and psychology. Murphy graduated with honors as well. After he graduated Murphy made a life changing decision and decided to abandon his dreams of going to law school and exchanged his dream of being a lawyer with the dream of becoming an officer in the Navy and a member of the elite, special forces group: the Navy SEALs. In September 2000, Murphy attended Navy Officer Candidate School. Murphy was commissioned an officer and immediately began training as a SEAL in Coronado, California.

Lt. Murphy was sent to fight in the war on terror in Afghanistan after serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. On June 28^th, 2005 Murphy was tasked with leading a four man in support of a much larger operation when three goat herder’s gave up Lt Murphy and his men to Taliban forces.

The Taliban had a much larger force but Murphy and his men inflicted heavy losses on the enemy force and displayed outstanding heroism even after the entire rescue force that was supposed to extract the SEALs was killed by a rocket. Murphy fought on and repeatedly exposed himself to fire so that his men would live. For his actions, Murphy was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military award available. In order to enlighten everybody on Lt. Murphy’s courage, heroism, and sacrifice, you can visit this sight to view his full citation- http://www.navy.mil/moh/mpmurphy/oc.html

                LIEUTENANT MICHAEL P. MURPHYLearning about Lt. Michael Murphy makes me proud yet again of this university and the people it produces. I am also proud to strive to serve in the same military that Lt. Murphy so bravely served in.  Penn State was extremely lucky to have Lt. Murphy study here. He was a true hero who embodied the spirit of selfless service to our great nation.

Information and images obtained from: http://www.navy.mil/moh/mpmurphy/oc.html

Here is a new movie that depicts actions of Navy SEALs such as Murphy. The movie features actual Navy SEALs or I would not have included it. This can be a portrayal of what SEALs like Murphy went and go through. It is called Act of Valor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw2hI5Y8VI8

PSU's Fight against Cancer

Cancer, especially in young children, is a horrifying and heartbreaking topic to talk about but Penn State is going head to head against cancer. Penn State and it’s THON (the largest student run philanthropy program in the world, yes the world), are raising millions of dollars every year to find a cure for cancer and to support families affected by this despicable disease. Thousands of students give up their weekends and travel all over the state of Pennsylvania to participate in “canning” to collect money for THON’s efforts.

THON was initiated in 1973 by a group of Penn State students who wanted to make a difference and fight cancer. The first dance marathon had only 39 dancers and raised around two thousand dollars. It is extraordinary how far THON has come since its humble beginnings. THON has raised close to eighty million dollars for the fight against cancer. In addition thousands of Penn State students participated in the 48 hour dance marathon.

THON is set to occur in just a short time in the Bryce Jordan Center, the annual THON event will consist of a 48 hour dance marathon in order to raise large amounts of money for children and their families that are affected by cancer. THON will take place on the weekend of February 17^th to the 19^th in the Bryce Jordan Center.  Penn State’s THON has inspired high schools across the country to hold mini THONs in order to raise money for research into the curing of cancer.

Activities like THON make me proud to be a Penn Stater. THON demonstrates the fact that Penn State students are not all about themselves and are willing to sacrifice their time and talents in order to fight for a cure to cancer. With all the money THON raises, we can be more optimistic every day that one day the evil of cancer will be eradicated from this planet and no longer will families have to sacrifice to pay for painful and risky treatments that might not even work for their loved ones.

For more info and how to donate check out: http://www.thon.org/whatisthon

Ice Skating at Penn State!

Everybody knows that the Pennsylvania State University has ample amounts of activities to offer to its students. But this following weekend I found something new and fun to do at Penn State, and surprise it was a perfectly legal activity. The activity I participated in was ice skating, and despite my reservations about participating in an activity I never tried, I tried it. I had a large amount of fun too, ice skating with my friends. I also found out that Penn State has an ice hockey team.

Ice skating is a great way to hang out with friends and pick (or brush up) on a skill that can certainly be retained for a lifetime. Ice skating at the Penn State rink is relatively cheap as well, to skate for numerous hours and rent a pair of ice skates expect to spend no more than ten dollars. Not only can you ice skate at the rink but you can also play hockey and take figure skating lessons. More information can be found onhttp://www.athletics.psu.edu/rec/icerink/documents/February2012PublicSessions_001.pdf, the official website for PSU athletics and recreational activities.

Penn State has a wonderful, ice skating and hockey rink located in the area around the Nittany Apartment complexes. The Penn State hockey team is the Icers and they play teams from all around the eastern seaboard and country. They usually hold their matches later at night at around ten to eleven o clock. A complete schedule for the Icers can be found on this website-http://php.scripts.psu.edu/clubs/up/psuicers/news.php?date=201201&storyID=10- if you are interested in watching a match. On January 30^th, the Icers defeated Ohio University at Ohio University. As of now the Icers are the number one team in their league.

In addition to the existing rink at Penn State, a new ice rink is being built right now behind the Wagner building. The new rink is expected to be completed in 2013. It will be significantly larger than the current Penn State ice rink.

Images obtained from flickr.com and psuathletics.edu