The Blue Out

Blue Out 2014: One Promise

One Team. One School. One Heart. One Promise.

The Penn State family remains dedicated to making things right.

In addition to wearing blue (the nationally-recognized color of child abuse prevention), this year’s student Blue Out organizers ask for your help in creating a stronger community and preventing future injustices.

Please make (and share) one personal promise that affirms your commitment to altruism. Together, we will see the power of individual resolutions multiplied on a grand scale.

Together, we will show the world what Penn State truly represents.

**Please send tweets to @BlueOut with the hashtag #OnePromise and/or make a Facebook post on our event wall**

Blue Out Committee Application Form

 


Blue Out History

The first and largest public response to the Sandusky/Penn State scandal was founded by two students. Laura March, a dual-degree graduate student in Art Education and Instructional Systems, and Stuart Shapiro, a first-year student in the MBA program, started the movement to “Blue Out” Beaver Stadium for the Penn State Football game against Nebraska on Nov. 12, 2011. March and Shapiro campaigned to have all fans wear blue, the color of ribbons displayed in support of child abuse awareness.

The idea originated just six days before the game, when Shapiro brought the news of Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse charges to March’s attention. Previously she had taken “Arts Across the Curriculum,” a course created by Dr. Kimberly Powell, which stressed how art and visual culture can foster positive social interactions. March looked up the awareness ribbon color for child abuse prevention and realized its potential significance. March and Shapiro began utilizing new and social media as well as traditional outlets to spread the idea. They combined forces with Therese Jones, a Penn State alum now studying at UC Berkley, who created a Facebook event page for the game. March also approached McClanahan’s (a local apparel store) and designed a Blue Out t-shirt, which they sold and donated all proceeds to charity. In total, $47,000 was raised for charity — $25,000 was donated by McLanahan’s to Prevent Child Abuse PA, and $22,000 was collected at the game through canning and split between Prevent Child Abuse PA and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. Other students and members of the Penn State community formed groups dedicated to child abuse/rape prevention shortly thereafter. Stuart and Laura began working with One Heart to continue to provide activism support.

During the following years, we witnessed the same amount of success:

2011- $47,000

2012 – $79,000
2013 – $26,000
That means since One Heart’s inception, we’ve raised a total of $152,000, all donated to PCAR & Prevent Child Abuse PA. We look forward to seeing those numbers grow exponentially in the future.

Please visit www.blueout.org for more information.

An extended version can be viewed at the School of Visual Arts’ Arts Word.

Stadium flyover image from Kevin P. Coughlin/Flying Dog Photos

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