Although I was not able to attend the Penn State sports museum with the rest of our RCL class, I did go to see the museum with my group for the multimedia project. This was particularly appropriate because we are presenting on the controversy surrounding the culture of athletics on college campuses. Seeing this museum, a quasi-shrine to the achievements of Penn State athletics, I began to think of questions for our RCL project. For examples, why do colleges collectively put so much emphasis on athletics? While we have an entire museum dedicated to athletics, one could argue that our university does not have a comparable monument to academic achievements and intellectual discoveries.

These questions lead me to contemplate the role of athletics in our civic community here at Penn State. Athletics undeniably exerts a unifying force on the Penn State community. Current students, alumni, professors, and other members of the university all rally around football games. The feeling in Beaver Stadium during a football game when Penn State is winning unites all ages and walks of life.

Athletics undeniably unites the Penn State community. However, it can be a harmful experience since it may detract from the academic side of life at Penn State. Overall, I liked my experience at the sports museum here at Penn State and I l appreciated the questions and discussion it evoked for me.