The Staff Profile series is a new feature at Onward State. As the semester progresses, we will provide a window into the life of each Onward Stater. Readers: meet our writers.


Steve Sharer joined the Onward State team back in January 2009 when it was but a young lion cub of a blog. Steve writes on all sorts of Penn State topics, including the Penn State Marching Blue Band, The College of IST, and Penn State-related technology (among other things). He’s also responsible for bringing the Stately Inquisitor (a buddy from High School) to Onward State to tantalize you with the most intriguing questions you’ve ever seen.


By day, he majors in Security & Risk Analysis with minors in Information Sciences & Technology and Geography. And by night, he heads up the Security & Risk Analysis Club as the President. Steve also performs in the Penn State Marching Blue Band as a trumpet player with 310 of the most outstanding people you’ll meet at Penn State (hint: you can find him in the “P” in the “PSU” formation during pregame).


Read more about the illustrious Steve Sharer after the jump.

We danced, cried, and suffered from sleep deprivation, but we did it all For The Kids. Our dancers, committee members, canning specialists, and everyone in between amassed $7,838,054 to fight pediatric cancer. Amazing work, folks.

Onward State THONward State documented the tidal waves of emotion for over 46 hours. Coincidentally, we wrote over 46 posts during that time. Read on for some posts that may have gotten lost in the commotion.

One of the fortuitous things about being on Press Row is the fact that we can sit down. Another is that we are in close proximity to the club boxes. On a quick jaunt to the concession stand, we had the opportunity to talk to President Graham Spanier about THON.

Watch our streaming LIVE THON coverage throughout the weekend!

Welcome to our THON coverage. Please visit THON.org if you are interested in donating.

4:20… THON raises $7,838,054!!!


The top Commonwealth fundraisers were… 1st: Fayette 2nd: Altoona 3rd: Hazelton.


The top independent organization fundraisers were… 1st: Atlas THON 2nd: Springfield THON 3rd: OHANA THON.


The top Greek fundraisers were… 1st: Alpha Tau Omega and Zeta Tau Alpha 2nd: Alpha Sigma Alpha and their partner 3rd: Alpha Chi Omega and Pi Kappa Phi

4:01… THE LAST LINE DANCE… FOR REAL!

3:56… “Somewhere over the Rainbow” plays in the BJC for Sir Christopher Millard.

The Staff Profile series is a new feature at Onward State. Each Friday, we will provide a window into the life of one Onward Stater. Readers: meet our writers.


Though a relatively new addition to the Onward State writing staff, Noah Simmons has brought sarcasm, snark, and snide to his posts. A straight-shooting maverick who calls it as he sees it, Noah isn’t afraid to ask the tough questions.


Noah graduated from high school at the prestigious Upper St. Clair High School, 20 minutes south of Pittsburgh. A sophomore, he’s currently between majors, though is contemplating Forest Science, and he hopes to one day be a certified lumberjack. Until then, he plans to attend law school after graduating.


Noah passes his time at University Park being involved in Mock Trial, Penn State’s sailing team, and being the founder of Penn State’s Odyssey of the Mind team. Noah is a member of Schreyer Honors College. In his free time, he enjoys reading, HUB naps, contemplating world domination, and putting off school work.


Noah is currently a programmer for the NC2IF project in the College of IST. During the summer, he teaches sailing in Canada and works on his tan.

The Staff Profile series is a new feature at Onward State. Each Friday, we will provide a window into the life of one Onward Stater. Readers: meet our writers.


Our senior writer, Andy Goga, has shared his skills with Onward State since January 2009. He radiates brilliant ideas like fireworks and has written about nearly every topic imaginable.


Andy hails from New Kensington, a small city north of Pittsburgh, and he graduated from Burrell High School in 2008. A sophomore, he majors in Community, Environment, and Development, with a focus in environmental economics. In addition, he minors in English and geography.


On campus, Andy participates in Eco-Action, the Vegetarian Club, Fresh START, and is a member of the Schreyer Honors College. He enjoys reading books, riding bikes, growing beards, and talking to strangers. On a daily basis, he contemplates society, nature, and the universe, as well as his position within these aggregates.


Andy is completing a service learning project in India this summer and hopes to study abroad in South Africa next spring. He may attend graduate school, and he strives to gain knowledge and improve the world.


Some words of wisdom: “Hello, this is a message from the past to the future.”

Allow ourselves to toot our own horn for just a moment. Last week, we posted about our nomination for US News & World Report’s Alternative Media Outlet of the Year contest. In a shockingly short voting run, we edged out Ohio State’s (or, rather, Mark Titus’) Club Trillion and won the contest for the second consecutive year!


This is a great honor, and we here at Onward State are very grateful to you, our readers, for voting for us, for reading us, and for just being all around awesome. Seriously, you guys rule.


Can Onward State three-peat? We’ll see at around this time next year!

Last night at Zola New World Bistro a few dozen students enjoyed free food (and, for those over 21, free booze) while staffers from the Center for American Progress (home to Campus Progress) distributed literature about the need for more affordable college tuition.


UPUA Governmental Chairwoman Colleen Smith, UPUA President Gavin Keirans, and Director of University Services Chris Smith also spoke to the need for more affordable Penn State tuition, stressing its origin as a land grant institution and what that means.

From all of us here at Onward State, good luck on all your finals exams/projects/activities! Here’s a short timeline to get you excited:

One more week until we can officially say goodbye to Fall 2009
Three weeks until the Capital One Bowl in sunny, beautiful Orlando
Four weeks until the Spring 2010 semester begins
Eighteen weeks until the Blue & White Game (April 24, 2010)
Twenty weeks until finals week for Spring 2010

Also, please have a safe trip back to wherever your home is.
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As finals week rapidly approaches, wouldn’t it be great to be able to blow off some steam before crunch time? What better way than to organize a rave in the library? That’s exactly what students at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, did on Sunday night.
Organized through Facebook, thousands of students began arriving at the East Campus Library at 9:35PM, and at exactly 10:00PM, a DJ came over a loudspeaker system and let the mayhem begin. Students flooded the lobby, started chanting JMU cheers and began dancing to techno music played over the sound system. People were crowd surfing and …

In an effort to become self-sustaining, we have begun offering sponsorship opportunities to local businesses. However, this will not be standard ‘banner’ advertising. We’ve worked hard to create sponsored content we hope will have genuine value to our readers. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please send us an email.
Irving’s is a family-run bakery and cafe located directly across from Old Main at 110 E. College Avenue. The cafe is a staff favorite– good coffee, free wi-fi, and lots of seating.

In an effort to become self-sustaining, we have begun offering sponsorship opportunities to local businesses. However, this will not be standard ‘banner’ advertising. We’ve worked hard to create sponsored content we hope will have genuine value to our readers. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please send us an email.
Irving’s is a family-run bakery and cafe located directly across from Old Main at 110 E. College Avenue. The cafe is one of my favorite places to study – good coffee, free wi-fi, and lots of seating. We also have a special appreciation for Irving’s for hosting a State College …

While the chapter itself is in pretty poor shape, the Beta Theta Pi house is in great condition, having recently undergone a $7,000,000 renovation. However, the house remains virtually unused. True, an art fundraiser was held there earlier this fall, but is that really all the use we can get out of the beautiful building? We put our heads together and came up with a few ideas.
Frat Rat Halfway House
Dana
For those poor souls who want to break their habit of spending their college years squinting through the haze of too-late nights out on frat row, the university now offers a …

Over the next two days, we will be critiquing all six of the entries for the Blue & White Rapper contest. You watch all the entry videos at GoPSF.com and vote for your favorite at the Collegian.
Lyon fa Lyf

Dana
Good: Clearly a lot of effort went into shooting every line at a different place around campus, including sports fields, the lion shrine, and… the shower?
Bad: The beginning of each line is a little slurred- Did this guy take not CAS 100, or did he pre-game his video?
Ugly: Did not need to see his “pale chest” with muscles drawn on in magic …