A Penn State Success – Hometown View

Even those of us in the media will admit that bad news sells so it should not be a surprise that what took place this weekend at Penn State University did not result in an onslaught of media and satellite trucks heading to State College.

However for selfish reasons and those of equality let me be the one to tell you about a good news story, one that did not generate much if any space in newspapers or air time on radio or TV stations outside of the immediate area. 3 ½ months after Penn State came under fire amid a child sex abuse scandal that would cost legendary football coach Joe Paterno his job and eventually contribute to his death; students raised an incredible $10.6 million to fight pediatric cancer.

This past weekend’s annual event is known as THON, the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. It started in the early 70’s as a simple dance marathon and has grown into an event that involves just about all aspects of the university and community and more than 15,000 student volunteers. Basically just about every college organization, including fraternities and sororities takes part to help families dealing with childhood cancer as well as fund research to find a cure.

Dancers represent all the different groups and the number per organization is largely based on the amount of money raised. Much of that comes from canning weekends during which students usually head to someone’s home town to solicit donations in shopping centers and other high-traffic locations. There are four such weekends; two in each semester and during each thousands of students are out and about shaking the can for kids with cancer. One of the January canning weekends had to be cancelled because of bad weather and coupling that with all the negative attention focused on the school it appeared doubtful that students would be able to set another record for money raised.

It all began Friday at 6pm with more than 700 dancers on the floor of the Bryce Jordan Center set to begin a 46-hour event that’s part dance marathon, part pep rally and totally exhausting. Not only do they remain on their feet for the duration (outside of bathroom breaks) but everyone in the building has to remain standing at all times to show their support.

My daughter Alex supported her Kappa Delta sisters who were dancing by staying in the BJC for 43 of the 46 hours. During that time Jay Paterno paid a visit to lend his support as did new football coach Bill O’Brien and others. When the final tally was announced amid cheers and tears the students, many of whom were vilified just a couple of months ago, had raised $10.6 million to beat last year’s record total by over a million dollars. No media swarm, no headlines…no matter.