While not scoring any points for originality, Penn State at least gets an A for effort in organizing its own finals rave, less than a week after James Madison hosted a similar event.

Taking a cue from this Onward State post, one intrepid Penn State sophomore decided to take matters into his own hands organized an event of his own. Word was spread through Facebook and Twitter, though many details of the event were kept under wraps until Saturday afternoon.

Around 11 p.m., hundreds of students began to converge on the HUB, many in white t-shirts — others dressed as ninjas, Santas and gorillas — all ready to get their rave on. While the event started in the upstairs lobby, people soon moved into Alumni Hall as more and more people showed up. According to HUB officials, there were approximately 600 students in attendance at any given point. While there was a large security presence, the event wasn’t shut down and there was only one police incident (an underage).

I myself was there from 11 until midnight, and I have to say I’m surprised how things went down. First, the turnout, while not enough to fill Alumni Hall, was still impressive. The crowd, made of predominantly freshmen and sophomores, seems to have prepared in advance for the event, showing up in proper rave attire. Second, the fact that the event lasted longer than five minutes was just as surprising. (Unconfirmed) Rumor has it that President Spanier himself told the HUB not to shut down the event to prevent a riot from starting, which is honestly only one of a few plausible explanations.

Whether this becomes a reoccurring event or was a one-time fluke, it was certainly a stirring tribute to Penn State’s strong tradition of mob-mentality behavior.

Here’s a slide show of pictures taken at the event.