I usually post a video blog but this time I want to write out my thoughts. For the past year and a half, we as a university — students, staff, faculty, and alumni — have been through so much in regards to the child abuse scandal. As we begin a new school semester, and a new era of Penn State, I want to write my feelings to show that I support Penn State in everything they are doing to move forward.
As a life-long Penn State fan and supporter, and now a fifth-semester student of the World Campus, I have found myself defending why I still support Penn State and why I am attending school there. I could go on and on about all the great things the University has done, but they only want to see one thing when it comes to the University.
Penn State is more than football. It is much more.
As you can personally see by attending Penn State, you are getting a world-class education taught by some of the brightest and greatest minds in their respective fields. You are getting an experience of being wanted, of knowing that you are learning from the great academic professors we have, and more importantly, with each course you take at Penn State, you are gaining a wealth of knowledge that will stay with you long after your days as a Penn Student are over.
I have been featured in our local paper and on the local radio station talking about football, but I have tried to steer the conversation away from football to the great institution that Penn State is. I want people to realize that this scandal will not define nor strip Penn State of its pride. Ever since I started taking courses with the World Campus, I can feel a change in myself, not only as a student, but also as a husband and as a human being. I have had the privilege to know and interact with so many great professors, some of whom I still talk to long after I have finished his/her course, and those relationships are what makes Penn State unique.
As a poet, and author of four books of poetry, I have found myself wanting to write something about this emotion going through me. I want to express myself, first as a student, but more as someone who is so proud of attending Penn State. I want to say to people that “Yes, I attend Penn State, and I am proud of it!”
We STILL are…Penn State!
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