Penn State graduate Allison Baver just won the Bronze medal in the 3000m Short Track Relay in Vancouver. The medal was awarded after a controversial disqualification of the winning Korean team. The Americans were in a distant fourth, but after it was determined the Koreans made illegal contact with the Chinese team, the Americans were bumped up to a third place finish.


Congrats Allison!  Maybe you’ll be Grand Marshall of next year’s Homecoming celebration?

This weekend, I spent many hours experiencing something amazing. I covered what I believe is one of the greatest collegiate endeavors ever attempted. THON 2010.


During my coverage time with Onward State, I worked with great people and got to see what goes on behind the scenes and up close what THON accomplishes.


THON doesn’t just start on Friday and end on Sunday, THON starts almost a year in advance, and so did Onward State’s coverage. We started covering many stories related to THON and how THON operates, we contacted THON PR and talked with many THON representatives to makes sure you would receive the best THON coverage we could offer.


For more info on how we were able to cover the behemoth that is THON (and for 116 pictures!), read the full story.

Didn’t get into the concert? No problem! We sent new Staff Photographer Charlotte to catch some of the action as Set Your Goals and Motion City Soundtrack played for an excited Penn State crowd.

THON is less than 19 days away.

We’re gearing up at Onward State to make sure you have access to the best THON coverage anywhere. Traditionally (meaning last time we did this), THON weekend means our site becomes THONward State (follow us on Twitter). Since Mitch worked so hard on our redesign, we thought you all could help give him a break. So here’s the contest.

Task:
We’d like you to create our new THONward State logo!

Rules:
The logo must be 567px by 82px. There must be a 5px border around the main image that is solid color so that we can make sure it fits our background. That solid color will dictate our background color.

You must submit your design to community@onwardstate.com.

The deadline is 11:59pm February 14th.

Prize:
The editors and staff will choose the winning logo and that logo will become our logo for the weekend of THON! Pretty cool eh? Our THON production manager Stefan will donate $25 in the winner’s name. And, as an added bonus we’ll even take a screenshot of the site and have Davis autograph it for you (I know! I can’t believe it either!)

Here are our logo files in one PSD along with guidelines so you can align your design properly. [download]

Good luck!

This is awesome that a celebrity tweeter is spreading the word! Give her some love and thank her for her help, as we try to spread the word even more about the amazing things that we can accomplish together.


Khloe has also posted on her website about THON! It’s also nice to know people were heeding our @THONwardState tweets… right?

The Centre Area Transit Authority recently released their CATA iPhone App for free. They previously had an app that was basically just a bunch of black and white scans of their bus schedules, then they had the balls to charge me $1.99 for it. (Turns out it was a student who made this app for their ENG411 class and then had the balls to charge me $1.99 for it, YouTube )


But their new app has hit a home run with their new GUI and GPS data. I used the updated CATABUS.com website’s realtime bus locater often (amazing!), but it was a real pain in the ass to use it on my phone. More times that not I was stuck out in the cold navigating their website to find that I just missed the bus. Now I’ll be able to check my bus schedules right before I leave class with only two touches of the glass to find out that I just missed the bus, and I might as well hop on www.OnwardState.com for a few moments to see whats happening.


You can get this app in the iTunes App Store now


Onward State iPhone App Usefulness Rating: A+

The Spring Student Involvement Fair opened today in HUB Alumni Hall. It will be open again from 11 AM to 4 PM tomorrow.

Sure, we didn’t get the Highlands Frat Route, but extended hours on the White Loop is every drunkard’s dream! High-Five Gavin!

When most of us at Onward State heard that This American Life was going to do a piece on Penn State, we were really excited. It was early in the year, and everyone was still reeling from the fact that we were named the #1 Party School and damn proud of it. We had high hopes to really show that we are a big university with a tight-knit family of students and community.
The This American Life (TAL) piece aired on Dec 18th. I unfortunately didn’t have the time to listen to it but I immediately heard about negativity in the …

As the bowl season kicks off, the Big Ten has gained relevance on the national scene by announcing that they’re going to investigate adding another school to our coveted alliance. For many schools, this is an opportunity to join an elite guild of research universities that boast large alumni bases and get a sweet ESPN/ABC contract with profit sharing. For us, it’s an opportunity to extend our football season and develop some interesting rivalries.

Who would you like the Big Ten to add if it expanded?(Survey after the jump.)

Also, should we be renamed? The Big Ten really wouldn’t make sense any …

Calling all Penn State students that think they have what they have what it takes to be an Onward State contributor! We’re looking for new writers, photographers, and videographers for the new semester.
Writers
We’re looking for snark. We’re looking for more schtick than you can shake a stick at. Our writers output generally 3-5 stories a week and attend one weekly staff meeting. Writers are encouraged to write what they like to write about. We like to publish our stories ASAP and get the scoop on the news before anyone else does. Think you can handle it? Want the world to …

The IFC President’s Council recently voted and passed a new social policy to take effect in the next semester.
In interest of full disclosure, I was present at the vote and abstained on my chapter’s behalf. I spoke with Luke Pierce about releasing details of the policy and agreed to withhold them until the following Tuesday (11/17), at which point a press release was to be issued. That release was never issued. Since then, posts have been made on CollegeACB.com filled with rumors and vile posts.
In an effort to help squash the rumors, we are releasing some details that should have …

First off, before I begin, I have to thank the BJC Staff for allowing us to review this show and the amazing seats.
After Graham Spanier exited stage left, ringing his sleigh bells, the world famous Rockettes took the stage in a reindeer motif to introduce Santa, who whisks us away on a holiday adventure.
At first I was a little skeptical. I mean, it’s just a bunch of chicks prancing about with Christmas carols, right?
Wrong.
Seriously, I wasn’t really excited to see this show besides the free tickets for me to take a date. But, the Rockettes really know how to put …

Three ambulances and a number of State College and Penn State Police vehicles congregated on the front yard of the Tau Tau Chapter of Tau Delta Phi (the former Phi Delta Theta house), located at 240 N. Burrowes, responding to an emergency call.
Onward State witnessed one male student be removed from the house with more than five emergency medical technicians working on him. The student had vomit on his face and body. The EMTs then placed a tube down the student’s throat. A defibrillator was put on standby in the ambulance.
Another ambulance also pulled away with lights on, indicating another …

A very special Veterans Day Post:
Penn State World Campus was just awarded the 2009 Ray Ehrensberger Award for Institutional Excellence in Military Education from the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE). The award was for Penn State’s appealing degree and Penn State’s commitment to allowing students to continue their education online, even if they are activated.
As a veteran of the United States Air Force and a student here at University Park myself, I can agree that Penn State really assisted me like no other university that I was trying to apply to while serving half a world away …