It’s the holiday season which means it’s time for what’s become a holiday tradition in the Penn State community — the university’s annual holiday greeting video. The 2016 edition features President Eric Barron picking students up in University Park and around the Commonwealth in his own version of an Uber and driving them home for winter break.
“I thought you guys had such a great year that I should help out and help you get home,” Barron says after picking up the first student.
From there Barron goes on to pick up not only a van full of students, but also members of the Penn State Blue Band, the a cappella groups, and even the Nittany Lion. The crew hums along to the alma mater and breaks out a cowbell, which Barron keeps readily available in his glove compartment. Though he’s whipping a white Penn State fleet vehicle van instead of a blue and white sports car, the extra room means more passengers.
The Penn State holiday greetings video is often something for students, faculty and staff to look forward to during finals week, but this year’s edition knocks it out of the park. It’s cute, funny, and shows that President Barron isn’t just all tuition rates and Board meetings. In fact, he’s adorable. At one point he even yell out the window, “We Are!” and when students reply “Penn State,” he tells his passengers, “I never get tired of that.”
