Rachel Petkac, 19, passed away on Monday night after sustaining severe injuries from an automobile accident. A commuter, Ms. Petkac was driving back from Penn State on Friday, January 8 at the time of the accident.
She lost control of her vehicle in the snow on Route 550. Her car collided with a utility pole. After 18 days of hospitalization, she died at Geisinger Medical Center. See this CDT briefing for more details.
Ms. Petkac was a Schreyer scholar majoring in Community, Environment, and Development. She graduated from State College Area High School in 2008. She was a member of the Good Shepard Catholic Church and planned on joining the Peace Corps after college. For more information, see her full obituary and commemorative Facebook group.
Penn State's Songwriters Club will be hosting an concert next Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. in Heritage Hall in the HUB to benefit THON. The concert will feature several members of the club playing original songs with a few covers thrown in for good measure. Tickets will be $5 in advance, $6 at the door, and all the proceeds will go to THON.
The concert will feature six acts including the "motive core new age alternative rock persuasion" bands A Day Without Love and In Other News, acoustic guitarists Jeremy Fretz (which, awesomely, is his actual name) and Maura Westerlund, rock duo Patrick Troester and Isaac Bishop, and Funk band West of Babylon.
If you're interested in going, advance tickets will be sold in Pollock Commons February 1-2 and in Waring Commons February 3-4. I got a chance to hear several members of this club last November at their Open Mic Night, and I'm guessing the concert will be worth the donation. Worst case scenario, you kill two hours before you can go out Friday and support THON. Best case, you get to hear some great original music made by Penn State students.
Multiple times each year, Student Affairs Research & Assessment conducts a Penn State Student Drinking Survey as part of its Pulse program. The most recent solicitations to take the survey began coming out last week.
On January 19, IFC President Max Wendkos sent out an email to the list of University Park fraternity chapter presidents discouraging Greek participation in the survey.
I contacted Max to ask for more context regarding his opinions on the survey. Read his response and my analysis after the jump.