Reunions Show Penn Staters’ True Spirit

This weekend alumni will come back to town for their reunions, a time of renewal and reconnection with their classmates and the nation’s greatest land-grant university. This week I was fortunate to speak at a couple of events and to talk with many Penn Staters I’d never met before.

Tuesday night I was in Hawley. If you’re wondering exactly where that is you are probably not alone. It is one of those wonderfully unique Pennsylvania small towns and sits just north of Lake Wallenpaupack. The event took place at The Settler’s Inn — an inviting cozy place.

I met many warm people, most of them sharing stories about what Penn State has meant to them, their families and their lives. I saw in their stories the good that has been done by our alumni and students.

One Penn Stater told me about her job working in a terrific program. It is called Marley’s Mission. The program helps children, who were abused or suffered trauma, heal in a very unique way. The children get to work with horses and become involved in fun activities that they would otherwise probably never get to do.

The next day I went to learn more about Marley’s Mission. One mother stated the program “gave her daughter the ability to be a child again.” Another mother commented “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I feel like you worked a miracle.”

Later in the evening as I was seated at dinner a woman working at the inn approached me and thanked me for speaking at Dance Marathon. She was there because one of her children was dancing.

Then she mentioned the real kicker; in the near future she would be watching her daughter get married. Her daughter was a Four Diamonds Child, a child whose life was saved by the money raised by THON and by Penn State’s Four Diamonds Fund.

I met second and third generation Penn Staters all with stories about classes they took, or football games they attended. One 1947 female graduate will be headed to State College this weekend to catch up with her surviving classmates. I warned her to be careful about spending time in The Skellar and she laughed.

“That’s exactly where I intend to go. You know the Skellar is one of the places that we went to in college that is still there.”

She showed me a thing or two. The traditions across the decades are what bind us.

Last night I spoke at an event called Huddle Up for FTK in Lancaster. The event was the brainchild of Shayne and Anne Beecher. They are the parents of Charlie who was stricken with pediatric cancer before he could even talk. Before the Beecher’s knew what had hit them they were taking their toddler to chemo and helping him through the fight of his life.

They put last night’s event together to pay forward the help and support they received from The Four Diamonds Fund and the support of Penn State’s THON. They wanted to give something back. THON inspires that in many people.

The Beecher’s story is not unique. A year ago one Four Diamonds father told me a story about THON dancers assigned to his family. In the dead of winter with eighteen inches of snow on the ground he had one day to move out of his house after it had sold or risk losing the house. Those THON students showed up at his house, cleared a path, loaded the truck and got him moved out on time.

Those Penn State students didn’t have to do that. They could have been indifferent but they weren’t. They acted and made a difference.

I come back to the Beechers. As their son continues to grow up and continues to thrive they are an example of what Penn Staters do for the world. It is a part of the tradition, a tradition rooted in a rich history and a tradition continuing to grow into tomorrow.

No great nation ever moved toward a brighter future without a sense of its history or its soul. The same is true for this university. Penn Staters are here to remind us about our history, and what makes up our soul. It is the alumni, it is the faculty, it is the current and future students who will always make up the soul of this great institution.

As the reunions take place this weekend I hope all returning alums can recapture their own individual history while sharing a piece of their soul with all who make up the threads of Penn State’s vibrant tapestry.

Oh, and be on the lookout for a couple of 1947 graduates at The Skellar. If you happen to see them step up and buy them a round. Then listen to what they can tell you about this place. You never know what you might learn.