Penn State Goal #9- Attending My First Showcase

At the beginning of the semester, I joined a dance organization called Volé. It is Penn State’s largest dance organization and features many styles of dancing: ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, modern, tap, and hip-hop. I have practiced many different kinds of dances since I was little, so I loved that I could continue trying multiple styles with Volé. This past weekend, we had our first showcase. There were 32 dances and over 200 dancers in the showcase. The show was absolutely breathtaking, but it took a lot of work to get there.

The week before the showcase is called tech week. Every single dance is run through in front of the executive board to be approved for showcase. Monday and Wednesday are single dance run through days. Each dance is given a time slot to run through their dance once or twice in the White Building with executives. The point of this is to get final feedback on what needs to be cleaned up and figure out if anything needs to be changed. It also allows the executive board to see what dances or dancers may not be ready for the showcase. These two days can be very long nights for dancers in multiple dances.

I only signed on for the ballet dance this semester which meant I only had one time slot to come to. I trudged over to the White Building at 10:30 Monday night for my run through. We marked our dance once with music and then did a full-run afterwards. It went really well, so I was home by 11:30!

Thursday was a similar run through in just a larger room with everybody. The real challenge was Saturday; our dress rehearsal. Everybody had to arrive at the auditorium in full hair and makeup. When I walked in, there was a perfect amount of chaos for a dance rehearsal. Every costume was pinned and ready, every piece of hair was slicked down, and every dancer was waiting on the side with a mixed feeling of joy and nervousness.

When it was finally time to run my dance on the stage, I was overcome with a storm of emotions. I was excited to be back on stage performing, but I was terrified of a stage I had never danced on before. When I went on, though, every fear I had went away. I was back in my happy place on stage.

The recital went amazing as well. I got to watch the other dances from the balcony with my friends and take in the whole atmosphere. I am already eager for our next showcase in the spring!

Penn State Goal #8- Finding a Study Spot

With finals season approaching, I took on the challenge of finding my favorite study spot. Is it really necessary to have a good study spot? While it may not be a priority for some people, I believe having a spot dedicated to studying helps me focus. There have been a lot of different places I have studied over the past few months, and I decided now was a good time to find my favorite.

I want to start off with the Biobehavioral Health building. It is a central spot on campus right across from the HUB. What first attracted me to this building was the floor to ceiling windows that cascaded down the front side of it. As I walked in, there was a feeling of calm energy. It may be due to the beautiful architecture that makes the entrance a work of art instead of an education building, but I had a good feeling in here. I found myself a spot on the third floor next to the windows. I absolutely fell in love with this spot. It overlooked the HUB lawn and provided me a quiet, calm place to sit and focus. Because I went later in the afternoon, the building was more quiet and less crowded. All of this contributed to a great study environment for me.

Another building I love to hide away in is the new half of the Willard Building called the Bellisario Media Center. It holds the classrooms and broadcast stations for the College of Communications. However, it has many chairs and couches for people to work at in between classes. The modernization and openness of the area is what first attracted me to it. It can sometimes be a bit louder in this space, but it feels like an escape from regular college buildings. There are many different seating options for study-goers with choices for individual studying and group spots. I found this building to be particularly enjoyable, and I will definitely be back.

If you have not noticed by now, I am not a fan of conventional study spaces like the library. That is why the last study spot on my list is the Arboretum. I am a nature lover, and this spot allowed me to immerse myself in the outdoors while still working on my education. The cold weather is deterring me from using this spot for finals, but it is the perfect, tranquil place to study in the fall and spring. I found myself here a lot during midterms season. There are chairs on the main pavilion that I would often sit at. I got to overlook the luscious mountains nearby and just enjoy myself while studying. The fresh air also helped me feel more awake and alert while I tried to finish homework. Who would want to be jammed inside studying anyway? If you are ever feeling overwhelmed by studying, I would recommend any of these places, but definitely the Arboretum.

Penn State Goal #7- Securing an Apartment

The infamous fight for State College housing is a battle Penn State students find themselves in every year. Finding an affordable apartment that is not completely outdated is like finding a golden ticket.

This search is especially difficult for freshmen. They are new to the area with little to no knowledge of off-campus housing. As upper classmen begin to scoop up reasonably priced apartments, freshmen are forced to realize how competitive the market is.

This past month, I checked off the goal of winning the State College apartment fight. It was not easy to get there, though. It was a brutal battle with other students looking in our price range.

In late September, I was asked by upperclassmen friends from home if I began looking for an apartment. Their concerned faces when I said no made me realize I needed to start looking as soon as possible.  After causing mass panic within my close friend group, I started creating a list of what we wanted and where we wanted to be next year. It is honestly the best thing to do instead of just scouring websites with no plan. We decided we wanted an apartment downtown with a good kitchen below a certain price point. We were not asking for a lot, but for State College it was a lot.

Apartments.com kept bringing us to dead ends with most of them being expensive apartments or extremely outdated ones. My friend, Andrea, suggested we try ARPM. ARPM is a property management group for State College. They own most of the locations downtown and have spots for every budget.

After finding some prospective choices, we started making pros and cons lists. The process was definitely not perfect. There were a lot of days when the apartments could not be talked about in our group chat because it kept causing issues. Everybody wanted to avoid making the final decision, but it had to be done eventually.

That is when our new home came in to the picture. One of our friends from home told us his building was starting leases soon with ARPM. It checked all of our boxes with a spacious kitchen and even a balcony. There were even divider walls in between the beds which adds privacy, something that is difficult to find downtown. It may not have been the most aesthetic and modern choice, but it seemed like a really good deal. We decided to go tour our friend’s apartment one night just to get an idea. That same night, we sent in our applications.

The next two weeks were filled with stress and agonizing waiting. That was until one night at dinner when we finally got the email, we had been accepted. After numerous nights spent worrying about where we were going to live, we had finally conquered State College real estate. The war is not over yet, though, and we will be back in battle next fall.

 

 

Penn State Goal #6- The THON 5k

THON is sort of a big deal at Penn State. It is a philanthropy event held every year to raise money for families of children fighting cancer and pediatric cancer research. THON also happens to be the largest student-run philanthropy organization in the world. Last year alone, THON raised a record-breaking 16,955,683 dollars for the fight against childhood cancer!

From early September until THON weekend at the end of February, students hold fundraisers and events to raise money for THON weekend. One of them is the THON 5k which was held last weekend. While I am no runner, I got to walk the 5k for the first time with my dance organization. It was a one of a kind experience that truly encapsulates the THON spirit.

I woke up bright and early for the 5k. My group was meeting at 10:30 AM to hang out before the race itself started at 11:30. I did not know how many people were coming to the 5k since it was parents weekend, but as I walked down to the Bryce Jordan Center, I joined a sea of green THON 5k shirts. I passed many students warming up to run, but I realized there were many parents and alumni also stretching and getting ready for the 3 mile run. It was amazing to see just how many people were coming out for one event.

When it was time to line up, my group headed towards the middle. Everybody put up the THON diamond symbol for a quick picture before the race whistle blew. It was time. Our group walked up to the starting line and started our journey.

Although I was only walking it, I still felt all the spirit and love shared between participants and onlookers. We passed people with encouraging signs and bands playing music to keep people’s spirits high. There were a lot of THON families that came to watch too. The group in front of us even had one of their children join the run at the end to fly past everybody in his superman costume. It was a really heartwarming experience. My group’s THON families were not here this weekend, but every time we are together I get the same feeling that the 5k gave me, a feeling of gratefulness. I am grateful to help such amazing people who are going through the unthinkable. I am so grateful to THON for Noelle, Julia, and their incredible families.

Photo credit: Alexis Herman

Bucket List Goal #5- Buying Penn State concert tickets

There is music surrounding you from every angle. People are singing their hearts out and dancing next to you. The atmosphere is alive with energy. This is the scene of a Penn State concert. Since State College is a college town, most concerts that end up at Penn State end up being primarily attended by college students. This brings an electric and infectious energy that make concerts at Penn State feel like another world. With the Bryce Jordan Center and Beaver Stadium being large enough to host major artists, it is vital that every student experiences at least one Penn State concert. This week, I took the first step towards this and fought the battle of buying Bryce Jordan Center student tickets.

I consider myself to be somewhat of a concert junkie. This is partially influenced by my parents who brought me to my first one for Brooks and Dunn when I was six. I have attended somewhere around fifteen concerts since then. I attended my first Penn State concert for Luke Combs earlier this year before I was even officially a student. I knew Penn State had a lot of spirit compared to other schools, but this was another level. Listening to 80,000 people echo Luke Combs’ songs throughout Beaver Stadium was incredible. Once I was officially moved in, all I could think about was when I was going to be back in that electrifying atmosphere. In just the past few weeks, a lot of artists have announced stops in State College, most notably Blake Shelton and Kane Brown. As much as I love pop music, there is nothing that compares to a country concert.

The only downside to Kane Brown coming was the cost. He is a big artist, and that can mean extreme upcharges, especially closer to the concert date. I had also already spent money on Cody Johnson tickets for his upcoming show in November.  It was obvious; the concert is not good for my budget, and my budget is not good enough for a concert.

 

There was a simple solution to this, though, that I stumbled upon in my email. The Bryce Jordan Center gives out special presale rates for students. I highly recommend using it at some point before graduation because the cost of providing these presale rates is in your student initiated fee(a section of your tuition). I looked into it further and found out I could use my student id number as a presale code and pay half price for a presale ticket. It is often difficult to get presale codes, and general sale normally causes mass chaos.

I logged onto my computer Thursday morning and joined the queue for tickets. Me and my friends got tickets relatively fast and for a much cheaper price. It was not the normal war I was used to for Taylor Swift and Harry Styles. The process was a lot easier and efficient; I definitely recommend it!