What It Means To Be A Penn Stater

Being a Penn Stater means striving for success with honor, because without honor there cannot be true success.

Richmond, VA
2006

means partying hard and studying harder.

If that is too cliche:

Being a Penn Stater means creating your own tradition.

And if that is even clicheer

Being a Penn Stater means committing to something bigger than yourself. Whether it’s THON or Paternoville, the collective of Penn State always comes before the singular Nittany Lion.

Devon Edwards
Setauket, NY
Class of 2012. Hopefully.

means having a best friend wherever you are, provided they’re wearing Penn State gear (which they will be). No matter the place— airports, amusement parks, Canada, there will be a Penn Stater, and they only need to hear two words to strike up a conversation: “We are…”

Adam Shellenbarger
West Chester, Pennsylvania
Class of 2010

Means having an overwhelming sense of school spirit, pride, family, tradition, belonging, and love for all things Penn State, that leads to an amazingly unique and close connection with Penn State.

Rich McMillen
Pittsburgh, PA
Class of 2010

Being a Penn Stater means you’re prouder of it than your ethnic heritage.

Tim Aydin
State College, PA
Class of 2007

Being a Penn Stater means taking pride in everything you do

Being a Penn Stater isn’t everything….it’s the only thing

Jared Prebish
Fairfax, Va
Class of 1992

from a fans point if view.

Respect, Honor, Team, Commitment, and Loyalty is what Penn State has taught us to follow in all our endeavors, on or off the field.

means rolling up your pant legs and having coke bottles for glasses is cool.

means you have the fortune of spending years in one of the most amazing places in the United States of America. Being a Penn Stater means the idealism of youth hangs on.

Mike McGrew
Kansas City, MO
Class of 2002

I live in Chicago where there aren’t a ton of Penn Stater’s and my non-Penn State friends have said more than once that “Penn State is like a cult”. And while I don’t think I was brainwashed, there is definitely something special (albeit unquantifiable) about the Penn State experience that makes us love our alma mater and want to be with other Penn Staters to a greater degree than any other school.

means doing things, everything, the right way, the Paterno way, the Penn State way. It means knowing that no matter where you are in the world, if you see the Blue and White, you aren’t alone. When “We are” is more than just two words…it is something deeper

Joe Marsh
Delanco, NJ

Being a Penn Stater , as a fan, means losing yourself every saturday during the fall, it means waking up on those crisp cool mornings and being a part of something bigger, a group, a team, a nation. It’s learning how to tailgate when you are 7 years old, it’s yelling out in a crowd of strangers WE ARE…and knowing who your friends are by the response you get.

Chris Grainey
Clarksville,PA

That when people ask where you attended college, and you say Penn State, there is an instant state of jealously in their eyes… and that you are part of the one of the largest families in the country.

Brad Stoner
Jersey City, NJ
Class of ’05

…means doing ones’ part for the glory of Old State.

…means that no matter where you go, you know you can always find someone that walked in the snow at 8 am to the Forum in January.

Being a PSU football fan requires unconditional love for the institution, in good times and in bad. Those of us who were there for the lean years can attest.

Jonathan Dager
Arlington, VA
Class of 2004

Being a Penn Stater is bigger than just yourself…its a way of life.

My wife and extended non PSU family think we are all crazy, there is something very special about PSU/State College that unless you been there, you can’t explain.

I only was in State College for 3 years as a student but have been going there since birth for games, I spent most summers there, and a few New Years. I feel more at home there than anywhere else, I lived in NYC/NJ/DC/MD/ and grew up in NEPA…Happy Valley is where my soul is…I love that town.

If you have a degree from PSU and on an interview w/ PSU grad…trust me it will help…we take care of our own!

STL
Class of 00
Bel Air, MD

President of Sex Palace West

Family, Tradition, Honor, Success

belting out Living on a Prayer, Total Eclipse of the Heart, and bonding together with others while singing Angels Among Us, raising millions all FTK

Shouting WE ARE to a tour group, expecting a well taught response of Penn State!! from possible incoming freshman.

Knowing J.R and Kate, Natalie, Deb,…. and Velveeta

Encouraging others to experience all that is PENN STATE

WE ARE!!!

Alexandria, VA
Class of 2005

When I was a kid, going to the game wasn’t really a privilege; it was never do your homework, or no Penn State game. It was our family time; more like church than a leisure activity. When I was 17 and couldn’t talk to my parents about anything, there was Penn State. It’s the tie that I have with my family, and a larger community beyond that. At the end of the day, the game is just the reason you call your Dad, or your college buddy, but it’s the call, not the football that is what’s important.

I recently got divorced; my Wife was concerned about who would have custody of our son on Easter. I was concerned about who would have him Blue/White Weekend. That just about sums it up for me.

Jesse I. Weidaw, LA99
Pittsburgh, PA (by way of State College)

Being a Penn Stater is joining a family that accepts everyone, holds itself to a higher standard, wants to make the world a better place, and has a healthy addiction to 80’s cheese rock. Amen.

Patrick Boyle
Wyncote, PA
Class of 2007

PS – Being a Penn Stater is also using your PSU ID as your login for EVERYTHING and always getting excited for an excuse to return to Happy Valley.

It started with a guy meeting a girl in 1972, they then graduated from a University that would produce a degree that garnered respect. They had two children, and those two children grew up driving 3.5 hours on a saturday morning to State college with no tickets, knowing that someone will have extras for sale. Those two children grew up to go to Penn State, and will continue to pass on Penn State to their chldren. Pride, Honor, Respect

Bill Farrell, PGA
Manhasset NY
Class of 2003

Or about being part of the university?

Means having your Mother and Father bring you to your first football game at 3 weeks old. It means driving 5 hours to see your favorite team play a handful of times a year. And although I could not afford to go there (yes, I was accepted), it still means that State College is my favorite place to visit.

Bill Valoris
Chantilly, VA
Attending Football games all 25 years of my life

Being a Penn Stater means that you can be one of only a few thousand African Americans in a campus of 40,000 plus students and still feel like you belong. It means that you can get invited to a football game in 2005 against a Central Michigan team you’ve never heard of and become a fan for life. Being a Penn Stater means that some of your life-defining moments took place in the land between Park Avenue and Beaver Avenue.

Khalil Manns
Whitehall, PA
Class of 2009

If being a Penn Stater is cool, considered me Myles Davis

To me being a Penn Stater is all I have ever known. It’s more than just cheering for the Blue and White on Saturdays. It’s about cheering for the Blue and White any day of the week, whatever the event. It’s about cheering for JoePa on Saturdays and then sitting in his library on Sunday. It’s about stepping on the floor of the BJC raising your diamond to the sky. It’s about having thousands of people in your corner and you don’t even know it. It’s about being part of a successful group that is bigger than yourself.

Jeff Kramer
Lancaster, PA
Class of 2011

It’s really freakin important in my life. It’s important to my wife, who married into it and embraces it lovingly. It’s important to my mother, who as a young single woman continued to bring three little boys to games by herself. It was important to my grandfather who played ball for Rip Engle and who sent his daughters to university there. It was important to my Ole Man, who found it one of his favorite places and reasons to party.

And for my brothers and me, being a Penn State fan is deep down at the core of our bond. It means an opportunity to discuss the merits and flaws of the second string left guard or the walk-on safety. It means always having a Shangri-La to retreat to together, a place to enjoy the fun of gathering the fam or the lads for the most excellent tailgating scene in all the land. It means, for even yet another year, getting to watch Joseph Vincent Paterno lead his classy team of blackshoe warriors onto the field. It means appreciating all this and hoping, the Good Zug willing, that our sons or daughters will grow to appreciate and enjoy this same Love and Tradition that we share.

Jtothep
Washington, DC
Birthclass of 1971

Being a Penn Stater means learning to do things the right way, even if it is the hard way, and then naming the library after the person who taught you that lesson. It means keeping your head up high and wearing blue and white even following crushing defeats (possibly because those are the only colors you bother to own). It means that just like in real life there are no names on our jerseys, that the best way to succeed is to work as a team, and that you will always be a part of one of the biggest, proudest, and most fiercely loyal teams in the country. It means just what it says: We Are Penn State!

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/blogs/blogs.asp?post_id=2049 (That’s me, Matt, and my full name. I don’t mind you using my full name in your article/post, I just don’t want to link my name to my screen name on here, you know, just in case ;-p )
East Lansing, MI
Class of 2003

Being a Penn Stater means you became a part of a bigger family, with a matriarch/patriarch you’ve probably never met, yet you know JoePa and SuePa about as well as your own family. It means the color red, Panthers, and Seminoles make you angry. It means you’ve had your own pitcher of Yuengling at the Phyrst, made friends over Canyon Pizza at 230 am, and stayed at least one night in East Halls (for one reason or another). It means you’ve made friends so close, it’s hard to imagine how you lived without them. It means you’ve got a backlog of 150 years of alumni that would be willing to help you get a job, get to a game, or even just feed you as you wander trying to find a tailgate. It’s a family, it’s possibly a cult, but you always know that it’s where you belong.

Erie, PA (No, I never went to Behrend)
Class of 2008

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

Wellsboro, PA
1993

…means going into a meeting with a bunch of strangers and finding a fellow alum, then explaining to everyone that the 2 of you have never met, after completing a 20 minute conversation on football, grilled stickies, the Creamery, recruiting, etc., etc.

Dave Shellenbarger
West Chester, PA
Class of 1974

is my one word answer. Since a lion is PSU’s mascot, it seems appropriate.

While we each represent the university through our actions, our athletic teams are more visible than most of us and their tradition of honorable success is what sets Nittany Lions apart.

We, more than any other school’s alums & fans, use that honorable success as a central rally cry. It brings us together. It’s why BSD has more posters than the other 10 Big10 blogs combined. It’s why you can be 3000 miles away from UPark and can yell We ARE and you’ll get PENN STATE in return rather than blank, open mouthed stares.

R. A. Henry
Williamsburg VA
I.E Class of 1992

Maybe my allergies are acting up

Being a Penn Stater means finding yourself at home in a crowd of thousands at a football game. It means being one out of 2000 other black people at PSU and yet, still feeling like you belong. It takes some of us longer than others to figure out that we are Penn Staters (took me three years until THON 2004) but once you know, you’re one for life.

And because I’m no punk..

Kendra Moton
Class of 2006
Philadelphia, PA

not being able to hold back tears when you hear the Alma Mater, Don’t Stop Believing, and now : Have You Ever Seen the Rain. Understanding the meaning of Happy Valley because if you’ve never been there you just wouldn’t understand. Being proud of ALL of the school’s sports because they are better than everyone elses.

Being a Penn Stater means being part of a fraternity of people in the sense that we’re all bound to this place so strongly that we think nothing of traveling huge distances, or waking up at 3am to drive back to a place we called “home” for a few years, no matter where we are now. It’s the feeling of always belonging and having a friend. Whether you just happen to run into an alum, or you’re sharing your excitement, pride and school spirit with 110,000 people who never really feel like strangers despite not knowing them.

It also means considering going to a little town in the middle of PA, even if it’s only for a few days, a vacation.

Brian Dawson
Class of 2010
Springfield, PA

Means never having to spend more than a weekend in Columbus, Ohio.

when someone asks you where you graduated from, and you say Penn State, a certain level of respect is bestowed upon you.

Mike Ross
Class of 2010
Meadville, PA

Means a tradition of WE not ME.

Being introduced to it as a young fan seeing jersey’s without names and a coach that makes his players graduate; Truly learning it in time spent in Happy Valley; perpetuating it in your actions for the rest of your life; and taking true joy in passing the legacy on to the next generation.

Kevin McGarry
North Wildwood, NJ
Penn State-Dickinson School of Law: JD expected 2011

Means decorating entire rooms of your house in blue and white. Choosing blue felt for the pool table instead of green, and hanging a blue and white Penn State glass pool table lamp overtop it. It also means buying a blue car (twice), to match the Penn State magnets that will adorn the back of it.

Ok..seriously

Being a Penn Stater means….

Feeling sick to your stomach every fall Saturday prior to kickoff, going anywhere and finding family, and looking into your closet and seeing nothing but blue shirts…

Paul Mancia
York, PA
Class of 2002

means that once you step foot on campus, you and your family become Penn Staters. My family had no ties to Penn State when I chose to go, but once I was there, the blue and white bled through them, especially my old man (may he rest in peace).

Chris Damato
Fairfax, VA
Class of 2005

For me, being a Penn Stater means being THE prime example of college sports fans to the rest of the universe. Ok, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but Penn Staters have stuck by their teams through the ups and downs, the good and the bad, on and off the field and court. There aren’t a lot of other fan communities out there that have accomplished that.

Meredith Heilmann
Columbus, Ohio

means breathing football, bleeding pride, and living tradition.

practice is as important as theory; the student comes before the athlete; and the RV lot opens at 6:00 on Thursday.

Brian Spak ’02
Washington, DC