Month: October 2014

Crisis in Philadelphia Public Schools

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The saga of the struggling Philadelphia School District is still ongoing. NPR published this article last week saying that the Philadelphia School District has revoked teacher’s union contract. The article cites that in the last few years, over 5,000 teachers, librarians, nurses and other staff have been cut from the Philadelphia School District. Only 36 cents of every dollar the school district has goes to the kids while the rest of the money is spent in ways that do not directly impact the students. More

Overcrowded Philadelphia Classroom

than 25 schools have shut down in order to decrease debt in the school district and health care is no longer covered by the school district.  While the school district is looking almost everywhere to make cuts, the ones that are suffering the most are the children .Classes are over sized and teachers cannot teach effectively.  With nurses, counselors, librarians, and music classes cut, children in Philadelphia are being deprived of a world class education.

MLS: Next

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Identity and brand are important to sports. In order to keep up with the current trends, sports will re-brand their product in order to attract more consumers. This is no exception to Major League Soccer, the youngest professional sports league in the United States and Canada.

A few weeks ago, MLS unveiled their newest project, MLS Next. MLS Next is a complete re-branding of  Major league soccer for the upcoming 2015 season. The 2015 season is an extremely special season for Major League Soccer. It marks the league’s 20th anniversary with two new teams (New York City FC & Orlando City FC) joining the league, bring the team count to 21. MLS will continue to make huge strides in media coverage with new TV deals from major companies such as ESPN, NBC, and Uni Mas. Most importantly, the league would be changing the crest.

Crest Breakdown

The new crest is a complete re-branding. It has no resemblance of the old crest but still represents everything that MLS stands for. Here is MLS’ reasoning behind each portion of the crest:

WORDMARK: MLS stands for Major League Soccer.

SLASH: The slash refers to soccer’s speed and energy. The slash begins outside the perimeter and drives upward at a 45-degree angle to illustrate both the nonstop nature of our game and the rising trajectory of our league. It bisects the crest to create a “first half” and “second half.”

STARS: The three stars represent the pillars of our brand: For Club, For Country, For Community.

PERIMETER: The perimeter represents the lines that mark off the field of play.

FIRST HALF AND SECOND HALF: The first half contains MLS and the three stars. The second half is an open white space that brings you in and out of the MLS world

What is very special about the re-branding of the logo is that each team will have a personal logo. While the logo’s are very similar to that of the league logo, the team logo’s express each team’s passion.

Club Crests

Major League soccer has come an extremely long way in the last 20 years. The league’s attendance has gone up and expansion clubs have appeared all over the country and Canada. The new logo represents the passion and loyalty that the fans have not only to their club but to Major League Soccer.

MLS has made several changes to the logo throughout the years, but this has been the most drastic.

Academic Offerings: The Minors

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As of right now, my intended major is Education and Public Policy. I say right now because I initially came in to Penn State with the intention of majoring in Pre-K-4 Education. I feel that I made a good decision to major in Education and Public Policy because it is something I am really passionate about and I believe that I can make a great impact in my field. Recently, I have been thinking about minors. One minor option that I have really considered in Political Science. As an Education and Public Policy major, a minor in Poli-Sci is a great decision especially if you want to go down the political route of education.

I did not know that Penn State had a webpage devoted to the exploration of minors. After using MinorQuest I feel more informed about minors and I am aware of the steps I need to take in order to achieve that minor. The page has a minor planning checklist and an exploration page where you can find options on almost anything that you’re interested in.

What I learned about minoring in Political Science is that the minor consists of 18 credits. Classes that focus around American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and theory/methodology are necessary. The good thing about the minor is that there are over 100 classes that you can take for the minor. Classes such as Contemporary Politics and Ideologies (PL SC 007) are listed which sound extremely interesting. After completing this search I definitely feel as though I need to talk to my adviser and discuss the option of picking up a political science minor.

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#HockeyValley

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Passion.

Hockey Valley. For many hockey fans in State College, Pegula Ice Arena is just that. An oasis for two of Penn State’s Division I teams. Opened in 2013 after a $102 million dollar gift from Terry and Kim Pegula, the largest in University history, Pegula Ice Arena is home to the Penn State men and women’s hockey teams.

I got the privilege to score free tickets to a men’s hockey game on opening weekend against UConn. It was my first time in Pegula and I was very impressed. Pegula Ice Arena is truly a state of the art facility. Not only is there a main ice rink on which the men and women play, there is also a community ice rink that is open 360 days out of the year, and dining locations such as a Subway and Auntie Anne’s which are open every day.

Packed house!

Upon arriving to Pegula, what amazed me was the architecture of the building. The building is primarily made of glass and radiates during the night. It truly is a sight to see! What makes Pegula Ice Arena really special is the fans. The student section,  known as the Roar Zone, makes the atmosphere in Pegula fantastic. The fans are passionate, loud, and extremely funny. A few of them like to dress up in costumes for the games too. Along with a rocking student section, the Penn State hockey band keeps the crowd lively. I was lucky to go to a game in which Penn State won. We scored five goals and the crowd was insane. It was so exciting to be emerged in the hockey culture at Penn State. While I am a big fan of the soccer culture at Penn State, it is always cool to visit other student run fan supporter groups and experience their passion. I’d encourage everyone to go to a variety of Penn State athletic competitions. You never know what sports will interest you!

With so many sports, it’s almost impossible not to find one you enjoy!!