At the beginning of the final four hours of THON 2012, Jay Paterno took the stage, greeted with a roaring ovation by the capacity Bryce Jordan Center crowd. He offered some words of encouragement for the dancers, who have been sleepless since Friday afternoon.

“The last few months have been tough, but you guys are in the home stretch,” he said.

Paterno also commended the students on maintaining their Penn State pride and loyalty throughout arguably the most trying time in university history.

“When the storm clouds gathered around the campus in November, many ran for the hills, but not the students,” he explained.

Jay Paterno mentioned the numerous satellite trucks parked in front of his father’s house and College Avenue during the ongoing #PSUcharges scandal, but he had some words for them.

“I challenge them to come to THON,” he exclaimed. “Let [the media] come to THON. When the world wants to see what courage and leadership is, let them come [to THON],” he added.

In addition to the dancers on the floor, JayPa expressed his thanks to the Penn State student body.

“You guys stood your ground, you kept up the fight, and later on this afternoon, you’re going to shock the world,” Paterno stated. He told the thousands on hand, “If you live to be 100 years old, what you’ve done here for the last two days, weeks, months…what you’ve done here will echo in eternity.”

He left with the following message to the world: “When you want to know what Penn State is, and when you want to know what ‘We Are’ means, come to THON.”

During his short speech, Jay Paterno trended nationwide on Twitter.