Category Archives: Campus Culture

Everybody always talks about staying here over the summer – for some people it’s to work, some to play and for some to take classes. While staying here with your friends seems like a great idea and many people say summer classes are “easier,” they aren’t all fun and games. Here are things you should keep in mind before registering for the summer.

Summer classes are expensive

There’s really not much else to say about this, and it’s hard for students to afford them if your parents won’t (or can’t) pay for them. 10 credits costs about $8,000, and student aid doesn’t always cover summer courses, but only fall and spring semesters. Continue reading →

The 55 days of Café are almost into single digits, and reality is setting in—seniors are graduating.  How are seniors supposed to cope with the loss of the four greatest years in the happiest of Valleys? Think way, way back to Psych 100. We learned about Kubler-Ross’s Five stages of Loss and Grief. Though usually applied to dealing with death, this model can easily depict the thoughts and eventual acceptance of moving on from our most cherished collegiate years.

Denial

I don’t know the actual date of graduation. I think it’s sometime at the end of spring. There’s no need to pick up my cap and gown. The Student Bookstore will not run out of my height in my gown because no one else is picking their cap and gown yet either. And the other students are definitely not taking them out of the square plastic packaging allowing the folded creases to fade. Continue reading →

Dear Bad Professors,

It takes a lot of time and energy to be a teacher. Students understand. You take time out of your day to pass on your “words of wisdom” and “undeniable truths.” Semester after semester of syllabi, new textbooks, new classrooms – it gets exhausting. And we understand that you have the upper hand. You have rights.

Surely by performing such a gracious act as passing on your worldly knowledge to your potential successors, you have earned the right to teach the subject how you please, not stopping for one (or a hundred) confused students. Surely by grading an infinite amount of papers without stopping you have the right to slap a C by default on a student’s carefully constructed essay, simply because you’re tired and he used a verb in the wrong context.

Wrong.  Continue reading →

You walk by The Palmer Museum of Art every day, but have you actually stepped inside?

Junior Shannon Agredo goes frequently.

“I’ve been to the Palmer many times being an art major and all,” says Agredo. “It’s almost mandatory.”

The Palmer Museum of Art, found on campus next to the Forum building, is an admission-free arts and cultural resource for the University and surrounding communities. The museum boasts 11 galleries, a permanent collection that holds more than 5,000 works of art, a print study room, a 150-seat auditorium and a sculpture garden. Continue reading →

Put on your dancing shoes and tap into your inner ballerina this weekend, because Penn State’s ballet club, Volé is taking you on a Broadway-inspired ride with their spring showcase.

The showcase, taking place at two different times on Sunday, April 27^th in Schwab Auditorium at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., will feature an array of exciting numbers from popular Broadway musicals like The Lion King, Mamma Mia and Cats, performed by a talented group of over 100 dancers.

“It’s a great show for all ages. It’s very engaging,” says vice president and artistic director Mariel Harden. “I think we’re really going to connect with the audience. They’re going to be drawn in the entire time, and hopefully singing along.” Continue reading →

Fact: According to the U.S. Department of Justice, one in five women will be sexually assaulted in college.

Fact: Since August 23, 2013, 24 reports of sexual assault have been filed with local (State College or University Park) police.

Fact: According to the Center for Public Integrity, 90 to 95 percent of all college cases go unreported.

Fact: Every year, Penn State students take a stand against sexual violence.

“The purpose of Sexual Violence Prevention and Awareness Month is to convey that the Penn State community as a whole has taken a stand against sexual violence,” says Taylor Olson, coordinator of this year’s events. Continue reading →