The Penn State Alumni Association has a section on their website called the Online HUB. Despite what you may assume, this site has nothing to do with the Hetzel Union Building and not a whole lot to do with Alumni. What the website does offer are "fun downloads". This includes desktop themes, digital copies of various Penn State songs, ringtones, and the lyrics to many Penn State songs.
Thanks to this website, it appears that washed-up alumni can now relive their college glory days - on their computer! I decided to try out one of the desktop themes, so I downloaded it, unzipped the contents, and saw this text file:
This is the new Penn State University theme for Microsoft Windows 95 under the use of PLUS!
Apparently, PLUS! is a program that Microsoft discontinued with the introduction of Windows XP. So unless you're running Windows 95 (anyone?), these desktop themes aren't very much use to you. Oh well, at least their site doesn't look like a 90's Geocities page.
I wonder if Andrea Miller knows what she's getting herself into.
Only a few weeks after Pat Howley pledged to donate $1 for every follower that @AbolishCancer got on January 29th to THON, Miss Miller is choosing to do the same. Pat Howley (a junior at Penn State) wound up with a $1700 pledge to back up after the THON twitter account exploded with popularity. An outpouring of support from students, alumni, even IFC/PHC resulted in Pat's pledge ballooning to over $6000 being donated to the philanthropy.
Today's the day to help THON by way of Andrea Miller. For every follower that @AbolishCancer gets today, Miss Miller has pledged to donate $1. According to Abolish Cancer's website, Miss Miller is a recent Penn State grad who decided to participate in the pledge program because she feels that "no child should ever have to experience cancer." Miss Miller has pledged to sponsor up to 200 followers, but here's to hoping that she's able to receive a few matching donations, a la Mr. Howley.
It's a shame, really.
Every Saturday morning, young entrepreneurs in college are waking up with visions of starting the next Cisco or Microsoft. Lifting their heads up from their pizza box pillows, they brush off the Dorito crumbs, struggle to their feet, and stagger out through the graveyard of Natty to announce their new ideas to the world.
But alas...these new ideas often don't make it past conception in colleges today, as they get dragged down and suffocated in a quagmire of legal issues and technical hang-ups.
This problem was recently detailed in the article How College's Can Better Nurture Startups. Interestingly, the article explained how the start-up scene in Silicon Valley has "become based on trust and community," escaping the formal straight-jacket college can put entrepreneurs in. Proposed remedies for this formal quick sand included colleges creating a venture lab run by an experienced visionary (who also has the Benjamins to throw behind new ideas) and simplifying the crippling "spin-off process."
Read on to find out what resources Penn State has to offer.
Yesterday, Onward State published an article insinuating that an article in the most recent issue of Phroth's Phollegian had been plagiarized from the Onion. While the articles are indeed strikingly similar, the way in which the original article was researched and written fell below ordinary journalistic standards.
I apologize on behalf of the writer and my organization for putting a decent man's career in jeopardy-- no doubt about it, plagiarism is a dirty word, one which should not have been brought up except in the most researched manner and under the most pressing circumstances. Moreover, the post in question was bombastic and drew conclusions that far exceeded the more probable explanation of the similarity. However, I will leave the discussion of how Phroth's editorial process works to EIC Rebecca Eisenberg, should she choose to accept our offer to write a column.
Perhaps taking a cue from a recent episode of The Office, a school in Texas is using Penn State to motivate its kindergartners to one day go to college.
The school is part of a program called No Excuses University. According to the organization, a lot of children growing up in lower income areas don't really consider going to college an option, and, as a result, don't work as hard to do well in school. Classrooms adopt a school which is then featured in classroom activities.
Meredith McCraw of Bluebonnet Elementary School in Round Rock, Texas chose her fiance's alma mater, Penn State, for her kindergarten class. Penn State memorabilia is displayed around the classroom, even decorating their door.
While the choice of Penn State may seem odd for a school in Texas, recent developments may explain what's going on.
Semester getting you down? Work piling up on you? Fear not, fellow student, for Penn State has the solution to your conundrum! FINALS SCHEDULES ARE OUT! Yes, finals! The one time of the year where the library is so filled with students all trying to sleep study hard. The one magical time of year where Penn State actually has great weather, and we are cooped up cramming to re-learn a semester's worth of information. The one time of year which, sadly, means that all of us are a year older in our college careers and (hopefully) a year wiser.
So please, vent with us. Do you have 3 finals? 4? 5? 6? 10? Onward State wants to know!