an oral history of the team that brought penn state

Vol. 122, No. 3 Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021

An oral history of the team that brought Penn State football backBy Max RalphTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN

From 2013 to 2015, Penn State put up three straight seven-win seasons. It was three straight winning seasons, but it wasn’t liv-ing up to the standard that was Penn State football — and 2016 didn’t start much differently.

Entering his third year as head coach, there was no question James Franklin’s seat was hot, and there wasn’t anything lead-ing into 2016 that said the trend would stop.

Trace McSorley hadn’t come into his own yet, and there was a multitude of young and unproven talent around the roster.

Former Nittany Lion lineback-er and captain Brandon Bell saw all the uncertainty surrounding the program and knew the season would play out in one of two ways.

“It was either the season could go really well — which I’m glad it did — or it was a possibility of some struggles,” Bell told The Daily Collegian.

Five years later, the end prod-uct of the 2016 season isn’t a se-cret, but the path to get there was undoubtedly rocky.

After a season-opening win against Kent State, Penn State fell in a close game to in-state ri-val Pitt, a final score that certain-ly left a bad taste in many Penn Staters’ mouths.

The Nittany Lions took care of business at home against Temple the next week before traveling to Michigan — where they were subsequently dismantled 49-10 at the Big House.

Franklin’s squad sat at 2-2, suffering a pair of road losses in rivalry games and experiencing injuries up and down the lineup.

Despite the shaky start, then-junior cornerback Grant Haley wouldn’t have been surprised to hear his team would later win a Big Ten Championship due to the “heart” and “grit” the group had.

“There’s no excuses, but I think once we kind of gained the confi-dence, after we sat down and had

a team talk after Michigan, you can see the positive attitude that we had and the outlook we had the rest of the season,” Haley told the Collegian.

The team rallied around each other, and after a reality check in the first few weeks of the sea-son, everyone was still clearly on the same page and ready to move forward.

“A lot of things were going wrong for us — I can say easily — but I just think the leadership, the coaches, the mix of the older guys with the younger guys… I think everyone was just truly on board, pushing the ship in the right di-rection,” Bell said. “That’s what you need to be successful, and I think that year was a proven fact of that.”

In addition to having a push-forward mentality, the tight-knit nature of the 2016 Nittany Lions started to shine through more and more as the team faced adversity.

Former linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White said from offense and defense to seniors and fresh-men, the close relationships on the team made the season feel special from the start.

“What I remember most from that team is just how close ev-eryone was,” Wartman-White told the Collegian. “It was one of those seasons that just felt different. I think that’s what helped when we got off to a slow start. That’s what helped when things weren’t going so good in the season.”

While the team had to take a moment to regroup and gather itself after the Michigan loss, Wartman-White said he never thought the team had the cliche mentality of “we’re still in it” — it never felt like it was out of it in the first place.

Going “1-0” has become a fa-miliar phrase for Nittany Lion faithful in Franklin’s tenure, but Wartman-White said that mental-ity took on a new form in the off-season before the 2016 campaign.

“We all got together in the off-season prior in January. Coach

Franklin met up with a lot of the guys, and we got the chance to basically talk about what the play-ers’ goals were and also what the coaches’ goals were,” Wartman-White said. “The theme was go 1-0 every day, but what we added more to that was ‘What is the 1-0 for?’

“That’s when we started talk-ing more about championships, Big Ten Championships and put-ting the word association with the larger goal.”

The day-by-day, game-by-game mentality seemed to take hold shortly after for Penn State, and the dominoes started to fall one by one.

The blue and white welcomed Minnesota into Beaver Sta-dium in Week 5 and won a 29-26 thriller over the Golden Gophers in overtime. Then, Penn State picked apart Maryland in Beaver Stadium en route to a 38-14 win.

The offense was clicking, the process was working — and it couldn’t have come any sooner. The Nittany Lions were set to host No. 2 Ohio State for the White Out the following week.

In the week leading up to the clash with the Buckeyes, there

was something noticeably dif-ferent in practice, according to then-junior safety Marcus Allen.

“It was a lot of preparation and a lot of physicality,” Allen told the Collegian. “In practice, [we] had a lot of physicality. We were thud-din’. And me, I always went hard, but I was flying around hitting.

“It was a lot of competition. The offense was scoring. Saquon was being Saquon, but it was really fun that week.”

Penn State had rattled off a pair of wins, but the true test was rolling around with more than 100,000 fans draped in white set to witness it in the stands.

Allen said the team knew it needed a “big win,” and the atmo-sphere against the second-best team in the nation was nothing short of a fairy tale.

“I remember a lot of hostile energy, but it was everybody motivated to just give their all,” Allen said. “The whole stadium was into the game — you could feel that. Every time we play Ohio State, we want to beat them and give it our all. When they came to our stadium, it was like do or die.”

The game rolled around, and Penn State found itself down 12-7

heading into halftime.Wartman-White, who suffered

a knee injury earlier in the year, said he was watching the game from the recruiting area.

In his typical routine, he would go down to the locker room to check in on everyone before heading back up.

Something kept him on the field for the second half of that game, though.

“I remember watching it, going down at halftime and finishing the game on the field, because I just had this feeling,” Wartman-White said. “I think everyone knew what was on the line, and that just increased the urgency and the preparation that week. If you win this game, you give your-self a legit shot at the Big Ten Championship.”

The second half kicked off, and a long touchdown run put Ohio State up 19-7. Then, a safety pushed the Buckeyes’ lead to 21-7.

Penn State answered, making the score 21-14 off of a McSor-ley touchdown run. The defense stood strong, and a field goal closed the gap to 21-17 for the Nittany Lions.

Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.

Cameron Hart/Collegian file photo

James Franklin holds the Big Ten Conference Football Championship trophy at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. on Dec. 3, 2016.

The Daily CollegianLOCAL | ThursDay, sePT. 2, 2021

Borough Council reflects on COBBy Angelica Rubin

THE DAILY COLLEGIAN

On Aug. 16, the State College Borough Council unanimously approved an ordinance estab-lishing a Community Oversight Board for the State College Po-lice Department after a year of planning and discussion. But, the process is far from over.

“In my time as a voting mem-ber, this issue is one of, if not the most important vote I have ever been a part of,” Council Presi-dent Jesse Barlow said. “But, it’s been a long journey to reach this point.”

Though the idea for a COB has been discussed since 2016, ac-cording to Barlow, the proposal was granted last summer in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and more locally, Osaze Osagie in 2019.

Floyd was a Black man who was killed by a white police offi-cer in Minneapolis on Memorial Day and whose death sparked nationwide protests.

Osagie, a 29-year-old Black man, was killed by a State College police officer on March 20, 2019, when three officers arrived at his apartment to serve a mental health warrant.

Osagie, who had autism and a history of schizophrenia, alleged-ly ran at the officers with a knife. After an unsuccessful attempt to deploy a Taser on him, he was al-legedly shot by Officer M. Jordan Pieniazek.

The three officers involved in the shooting have not been charged.

Sylvester Osagie, his father, filed a lawsuit in November 2020 against the borough of State College, and Judge Matthew W. Brann of the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania set a long-term trial date for 2022.

The case may be ready for trial in approximately 729 days, ac-cording to Judge Brann’s case management plan. This puts the suggested date for trial in No-vember 2022, two years after the lawsuit was filed.

“Even though the pressure to enact change has become more prevalent with the action of groups like the 3/20 Coalition, that’s not the only reason we are doing this,” Barlow said. “This has been necessary long before [Osagie] was killed. It’s just that now we have found the political will to do so.”

Though plans were formalized in December when the Ad Hoc Community Board Study Com-mittee was appointed to present its findings to council, by the be-ginning of this year, the council began discussing the potential of a COB over the course of eight months, according to council member Deanna Behring.

The establishment of the COB, which becomes law on Tuesday, will be only the third of its kind in the state, according to the ad hoc committee.

“It is challenging knowing that we are in completely new territo-ry,” Behring said. “What’s differ-ent in this case is that we did the work. We made sure to take all the time needed to get it right.”

The COB will feature nine council-appointed members from all areas of the community who will follow a “monitor model approach,” the council said.

The approach will allow the COB to “receive, process and in-vestigate complaints about the department from members of the community through a Civilian Complaint Process,” according to the ordinance.

“We ultimately felt that the [monitor model] could help im-prove transparency within our police force but also help rebuild trust within the community,” Behring said. “We can’t keep doing the same things we have always done and expect a bet-ter outcome. We needed to try something different.”

Barlow said he believes the selection of the monitor model was “necessary” due to the im-pact the board could have when processing complaints of police misconduct, investigating closed cases and reviewing procedural and recommended changes.

“What people misunderstand is that we are not trying to prevent the police from doing their job,” Behring said. “Instead, the COB will be there to monitor the func-

tion of police procedure and rec-ommend solutions to problems that they see within.”

A resolution last summer to commit to creating the COB also approved the establishment of a borough Department of Eq-uity and Inclusion. Recruitment for a director of the new depart-ment has begun immediately, according to Behring.

“Because the COB members will be so involved with the police in this area, there must be some knowledge and understanding of what the police actually do,” Barlow said.

Members of the COB will un-dergo numerous training ses-sions in both policing and com-munity concerns, but it will be the duty of the COB and its board coordinator to select the specified curriculum they choose to study.

Council member Theresa Lafer said the council is searching for a wide range of applicants to apply.

“The membership is intended to reflect the diversity of the com-munity while also selecting in-dividuals who really understand the role of systemic racism in society,” Lafer said.

Lafer also noted there must be an understanding of the stresses on a police department.

“We are not looking for people to descend on the police,” Lafer said.

Board members will serve three-year terms and can be re-appointed three times before stepping down. They will be able to serve again after three years, according to Barlow. The Bor-ough Council will have the power

to remove members for a multi-tude of reasons — failure to re-main impartial or not completing mandatory training, for example.

Other prospective candidates include not only State College residents but also Penn State students who live in the police service area, Lafer said.

Tierra Williams, co-leader of State College’s 3/20 Coalition and candidate for Ferguson Town-ship supervisor, said the 3/20 Coalition is “actively recruiting” candidates to apply.

“We are not publicizing the names of our candidates because of what some in this community think of us,” Williams said. “Our reputation brings talk — good and bad — and we want these candi-dates to be selected individually and not through accusations.”

The full board and coordinator are expected to be announced in October, according to Barlow.

Another aspect of the ordinance discussed the use of critical race theory as part of the training COB members would receive.

According to the New York Times, critical race theory argues “historical patterns of racism are ingrained in law and other mod-ern institutions and that the lega-cies of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow still create an uneven playing field for Black people and other people of color.”

Mayor Ron Filippelli chose not to sign the ordinance after it was passed unanimously by all coun-cil members due to critical race theory, calling it a “contested theory.”

“The mayor felt very strongly

about that one small aspect of the eight-page ordinance, however, there were four lawyers on the ad hoc committee that approved of the training, including another historian,” Barlow said.

Barlow said while he does not want to discredit the mayor who worked as a historian for 40 years, he said he believes the commit-tee needs to “understand the historical role of race in this country.”

“This is something the com-munity wanted and that his own council wanted,” Williams said. “For [Mayor Filippelli] to base his reasoning not to sign on criti-cal race theory doesn’t make any sense. It just shows what legacy he actually wants to leave.”

Critical race theory is men-tioned once in the 62-page report from the ad hoc committee.

Williams said while significant strides have been made with the COB, just because the council members voted for the establish-ment of a COB “does not mean [the council] will align with the 3/20 Coalition’s beliefs.”

“Last summer when we made our list of demands, they put our demands into the resolution,” Williams said. “We know we have a position in this community, but we also know we can’t rely on the council to fulfill all of the goals we want accomplished.”

Williams said she knows “all too well” the complications that come with political agendas.

“People in this community think our sole goal is only to dis-rupt,” Williams said. “What we really want is to continue mak-ing permanent change, and that means never stepping off the brake.”

Other training elements re-quired under the ordinance for COB members to participate in-clude the Citizens Police Acad-emy, information on civil rights law, the Fourth Amendment, implicit bias and department training practices.

“There are a lot of little things that can make people of the com-munity and the [SCPD] less re-sponsible — microaggressions being one of them,” Lafer said. “We want this COB to listen to people who feel that rather than being served by our [SCPD], they have somehow been ignored.”

Lafer said she believes the problem is within State College as a whole as well.

“It’s our businesses, teachers, schools — everyone needs to work to make life better for mi-norities of any kind in this town,” Lafer said. “This is the first step, and I think the commitment we have had to this issue over the past year tells the community that we’re just getting started.”

To email reporter: [email protected] her on Twitter at @anjelicamrubin.

Bars react to ‘normal’ fall semesterBy Angelica Rubin

THE DAILY COLLEGIAN

Downtown State College bars have been gearing up for the first “normal” in-person fall se-mester since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but like most businesses affected by the pandemic, the process hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows.

JR Mangan, a co-owner of Cafe 210 West, said while business has “easily doubled” since last year, there are still existing problems.

“We have already seen how much a year can do,” Mangan said. “It’s a completely different ballpark in comparison, but it does not take away from the fact that there is still work to be done.”

At the height of the coronavi-rus pandemic, statewide legis-lation introducing restrictions on bar capacity and alcohol sales began to take over busi-ness operations at Cafe 210 West, according to Mangan.

“We were fortunate in that we had prior outdoor seating and that our place was already so spread out by design that we were able to stay steady,” Mangan said. “It was more a matter of not being packed that left us stuck.”

According to Mangan, the bar still offers social distanc-ing, masks and hand sanitizer to patrons. The bar also provides accommodations for people who might wish to sit outside.

“We have also put a priority on vaccination and have made sure all employees are vacci-nated,” Mangan said. “We’re just trying to do what’s best for customers and employees.”

Mangan cited “almost daily” emails and notices from the State College borough and the Down-town State College Improvement District as resources that con-tinue to offer advice, as well as opportune communication lines

with other businesses downtown. “We take it day by day,” Man-

gan said. “One thing the virus did teach us is that we must get better at trusting gut feelings, and that’s really the message we have taken to heart when it comes to how we run things.”

Mangan said Cafe 210 West is looking forward to seeing stu-dents, alumni and regulars once the school year gets back into full swing but noted a lack of staff as the biggest obstacle to climb over.

“We still haven’t found a solution,” Mangan said. “It has definitely been a strug-gle on our current team.”

Curtis Shulman, director of operations at Hotel State Col-lege & Company, said the lim-ited capacity rules affected bars in the area — including Bill Pickle’s Tap Room — financially.

“It’s like comparing apples to oranges — we were so lim-ited by restrictions that we could not operate the way we usually could,” Shulman said. “Where that really affected us was financially and in finding steady employment as well.”

According to Shulman, Pickle’s was operating “60% down in revenue” due to coronavirus limitations.

Shulman said now, while the revenue stream has in-creased, the real problem fac-ing businesses downtown like Pickle’s is consistent employment in the right areas of work.

“We have enough service team members, [but] our more long-lasting positions though, that’s where we can’t just hire people off the bat,” Shulman said. “There is a lot of train-ing and hard work that must be taught and then maintained.”

Though last fall took “mo-tivation” for his team to get through, as the pandemic per-

sists, he said he believes a more permanent solution is necessary.

“We are struggling to find peo-ple,” Shulman said. “Since we are not getting the hiring skill set that we need in prospective employees, it’s just becoming more difficult.”

Ellen Braun, general man-ager of Chumley’s, said she has also had to hire more employees after the bar reopened follow-ing a year of renovations in 2020.

“I think a lot of people who worked in the restaurant busi-ness had to find other jobs after the pandemic hit,” Braun said. “It’s a really challenging busi-ness with very demanding hours and a lot of hard physical work, so those who did leave might not be motivated to switch back.”

However, Shulman said Hotel State College-owned businesses,

like Pickle’s or Chumley’s, are not strangers to the hiring drought.

“Walk down College Avenue — you’ll see ‘for hire’ signs every-where,” Shulman said. “Even as we get back into a normal school year cycle, this is where you see how the pandemic has affected [the restaurant business] the most.”

According to Braun, Chumley’s needed to hire more people due to its now-extended hours, which are 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 4-11 p.m. Sundays.

“Our core group of employees are definitely long-term employ-ers,” Braun said. “But because of our busy summer, we had to hire new staff members — most of whom were luckily customers who knew our community and

were interested in becoming part of our team.”

Braun said while she is grateful for the vaccine and the precau-tion many do take by getting vac-cinated, she said she has become more “conscientious” about what she can control.

“I’ve started wearing my mask again because you just never know,” Braun said. “If I learned one thing, COVID taught us to be nimble. We have strategies in place in case we do need to lower our capacity indoors, or if we do need to modify our mask guidelines, but we also have to be aware of our own comfort level.”

Braun said most people en-tering Chumley’s are already “a pretty mask-friendly clientele.”


Lily LaRegina/Collegian

The Community Oversight Board was passed unanimously by the State College Borough Council. “...This issue is one of, if not the most important vote I have ever been a part of,” Council President Jesse Barlow said.

Chole Trieff/Collegian

Since students returned to State College, some bars are still facing challenges. “Walk down College Avenue — you’ll see ‘for hire’ signs everywhere,” Curtis Shulman said.

The Daily Collegian Thursday, sepT. 2, 2021 | page 3

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OPINIONMikayla Brennan

Business ManagerJoe Eckstein

Opinion Page EditorJade CamposEditor in Chief

The Board of Trustees and its financial choices during pandemic

Over the past year and a half as the coronavirus pandemic has raged on, many Americans

descended into financial hardships.

Millions were put out of work — with the unemployment rate reaching almost 15% — businesses closed around

the country and many feared how they could keep up with their rent payments.

And it’s not as widely dis-cussed, but the pandemic put a severe financial burden on college students.

College is expensive, and a university like Penn State car-ries quite the price tag.

With students missing out on employment opportunities over their summers and parents los-ing jobs around the country, paying for college has become a harder reality.

Last year, the Board of Trustees, the governing body of the university, appeared to understand this issue and freezed tuition increases.

However, the United States is still very much in the pan-demic — with the country hav-ing its second highest spike in cases currently. Increases in tuition should still be halted.

Amazingly, the board raised tuition for all in-state undergradu-ate students by 2.5% and 2.75% for all out-of-state and graduate students for this school year.

This affects all students in a negative way and completely disregards that we are still dealing with the lasting effects of the coronavirus.

This is not the only financial-ly questionable decision the board has made during the pandemic.

The Board of Trustees met to approve $48.3 million to ren-ovate a football practice facility, part of an overall $69 million the project will entail.

Most Board of Trustees votes are a rubber stamp and

unanimous in nature, as the committees agree beforehand and other board members fol-low suit.

This vote was particularly contentious, howev-er.

The Board approved the mea-sure 27-6, with Jay Paterno — son of longtime football coach Joe, one of the most influential figures in school history — being the lead voice against funding the addi-

tion. Paterno was absolutely right in saying there are stu-dents facing financial difficul-ties amid the pandemic.

While Penn State football is undoubtedly one of the best parts of the college experience here, there was no reason to fund a renovation when scores of students are struggling.

Does having a good football team generate income for the school and provide interest for prospective students? Yes. Does having a new facility probably help interest high school football players in com-

mitting or accepting scholar-ships to Penn State? Most like-ly.

Would James Franklin, recruitment and a football pro-gram that pretty much funds itself be fine without the reno-vation for a few years until the pandemic recedes fully and the economy is back to normal? Absolutely. It was an irrespon-sible expunging of funds and frankly, not justifiable. Imagine what those funds could do for so many students and their families.

During these unprecedented times, Penn State has made measures to address the hard-ships of the pandemic, but spending choices like these undercut the message of assisting the students.

Penn State should be a school first and a home to stu-dents — not a business where all that matters is transactions out of people’s pockets during hard times.

Kyle Hutchinson is a junior majoring in criminology and is a columnist for The Daily Collegian. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @kylehutchhutch.

MY VIEW | Kyle Hutchinson

Hutchinson

“It was an irresponsi-ble expunging of funds and frankly, not justifi-able. Imagine what those funds could do for so many students and their families.”

Kyle Hutchinson

After a proposal for cre-ation amid protests across the country in

June 2020, the State College Borough Council voted unanimously in favor of establishing the Community Oversight Board on Aug. 16.

The COB was created in an effort to monitor local police activity by a civilian-led group. Advocate groups such as the 3/20 Coalition have been vocal about including the community in holding law enforcement accountable for its actions.

The 3/20 Coalition was created after the death of Osaze Osagie, a 29-year-old Black State College resident who had autism and a history of schizo-phrenia.

He was shot and killed by State College Police officers on March 20, 2019.

When three officers arrived at Osagie’s apartment to serve a mental health warrant, Osagie allegedly ran at the officers with a knife, and after an unsuccessful attempt to use a Taser on him, he was allegedly shot by Officer M. Jordan Pieniazek. The three officers involved in the shooting have not been charged.

This was the first fatal shooting in the State College Police Department’s history.

While it feels disheartening that the COB is even necessary, it is an immense step in the right direction toward change. One death by the hands of

police is one too many and the inclusion of the COB is the right start to preventing another. More eyes on law enforcement should be viewed as a positive look forward for members of the State College community.

Not only will the COB serve as a beacon of hope for community members to voice their concerns to, it also will help chip away at the proverbial “blue wall of silence.” The “wall” is an unofficial oath law enforcement officers make with one another to ignore any possible crimes fellow officers make.

For the COB to reach its full potential, it will need the cooperation of the SCPD as it will be a joint effort between both parties to see change happen in regard to legislation and the code of conduct the department follows.

Another key component to incorporating change will rely on which officials are elected into office such as State College mayor and borough council. If community members want to be represented by people who will uphold their values, the onus is on them to properly educate

themselves and make their votes count.

From an overall perspective, the inclusion of the COB looks to be a source of change that is desperately needed in State Col-lege. But in this moment of pos-itivity, there still lies a need for progression in the community.

The topic of critical race theo-ry has become the focal point for a plethora of government officials, including State College Mayor Ron Filippelli. Filippelli announced on Aug. 17 he would not sign off on the ordinance presented by the COB due to its inclusion of CRT as a required training for board members.

His vote does not entirely affect the outcome regarding the COB — rather, it will become a law 14 days after the borough’s vote instead of imme-diately. However, the way in which Filippelli has gone about his explanation can be described with one word: contradiction.

Filippelli said he agrees with the majority of what CRT stands for, but it should not belong when creating laws. Either he is completely clueless on the subject and needs to

educate himself better or he is simply trying to avoid stepping on any toes. Either one is not the right course of action.

Considering the borough council voted 7-0 in favor of the COB, whose toes are there to step on? It seems as though there is still no concrete argu-ment against CRT other than making white people feel guilty. But those arguments miss the point of CRT, which is meant to realize the systemic oppression structures that have plagued the country for centuries, leading to the oppression of the Black community.

There is only one mention of CRT in the entire ordinance from the COB. For someone who essentially agrees with its meaning, it is incredibly backhanded for Filippelli to not sign the ordinance.

Saying CRT does not belong in the ordinance reveals just how ignorant Filippelli is and serves as a slap in the face to groups like the 3/20 Coalition that have been attempting to reform the police.

The idea of law comes from looking back to the past and finding a way to fix it.

Something had to have occurred in order for laws to be created. CRT offers a perspective at history that can lead to laws being created.

Perhaps if Filippelli offered an explanation to what the consequences might be with the inclusion of CRT in the ordinance, some resolution could be made. But he has nothing of substance to offer. His argument is just as weakly structured as those who argue against CRT.

This is not Filippelli’s first occasion of controversy. In May 2021, he suggested the borough council should be whiter in order to represent the area in a better manner saying, “the vast majority of the residents of the three municipalities that are policed by the State College police force are these white, middle-class people who have probably not had interactions with the police force.”

Even if something is not affecting the majority of the community, does it seem right to allow the minority to suffer? Not everyone lives the same life as another.

The beginning stages for the COB should not be mired by the ignorance of Filippelli, though. Even with his paradoxical response to this subject, the efforts of community groups to act as a watchdog for the police force cannot be emphasized enough.

COB is the right stepCOB is a progressive move for State College, but

change is still needed

OUR VIEW

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Thursday, sepT. 2, 2021page 4

Comics by Davis Huth

SPORTSThursday, sePT. 2, 2021

‘I OUTWORKED EVERYONE’ Offensive line coach Phil Trautwein uses collegiate, NFL experience to formulate coaching style

By Alexis YoderTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN

Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein never saw himself as the most talented player in the

room.He said he

didn’t believe he should’ve seen

the field as much as he did in college.

He said he didn’t think he was elite enough to stay in the NFL for five years.

However, he always made sure he stood out because of his hard work and desire to be successful.

Persevering through an injury and lack of recruitment out of high school, Trautwein defied the boundaries of what he felt was possible for a guy like him.

Now, he shares his story with the offensive linemen at Penn State. He was hired as the Nit-tany Lions’ offensive line coach in January 2020.

Trautwein’s experiences feed into how he coaches his players on a daily basis.

Hailing from Voorhees, New Jersey, Trautwein said he dreamed of playing football at Penn State, but he didn’t field an offer from the blue and white out of high school.

“I always loved Penn State growing up,” Trautwein said. “It was one of the places I wanted to go to — my dream school. I had a little bit of a connection there. I always say I would have come to Penn State had they offered me, so that’s what kind of player I was.”

Trautwein headed south in 2004 to begin his collegiate career at the University of Florida and found himself in jeopardy of los-ing playing time his sophomore year.

When Urban Meyer took over as the Gators’ head coach in 2005, he informed Trautwein that he may not have the talent to see the field.

That only motivated Trautwein even more.

“[Meyer] came in and actually didn’t think I was good enough to play there,” Trautwein said. “But I knew I was, so I always worked, and I outworked everyone. I used all the ‘no talent’ things that no one else wanted to do. I watched extra film, I knew the offense bet-ter than anybody and I capitalized on my opportunity.”

Trautwein notched his first-career start — as a tight end — during his sophomore year, a sea-son in which he appeared in all 12 games the Gators played.

As a junior, Trautwein started all 14 games for the blue and or-ange, earning his first All-SEC honor when he landed on the

second-team and helped the Gators win the 2006 national championship.

The following year spelled heartbreak for Trautwein, as he suffered a stress fracture in his right foot prior to the 2007 season, sidelining him for the year.

Trautwein returned healthy for his final campaign as a Gator, starting all 14 games at left tackle once again and notching first-team SEC honors and All-Ameri-can recognition from Sports Illus-trated and Rivals.com, all while helping Florida win its second national title in three years.

After finishing his decorated collegiate career, Trautwein en-tered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2009.

Trautwein’s time in the NFL lasted from 2009 until 2012, in-cluding stints with the St. Louis Rams, Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers.

In 2013, Trautwein began his coaching career at Boston Col-lege as a graduate assistant. He then relocated to Davidson College with stints as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator.

Trautwein rejoined the Bos-ton College staff as the offensive line coach in 2018 and guided all five starting offensive linemen to All-ACC honors in 2019.

Following that campaign, Trautwein received a job offer he couldn’t refuse – a chance to be the offensive line coach at Penn

State. “A couple people that I worked with at Boston College and played with during my career reached out to Coach Franklin, and then he reached out to me,” Trautwein said.

What once was a childhood dream for Trautwein became reality in a different form.

His first year at Penn State was overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as Penn State’s worst season in recent memory, finishing with a 4-5 record.

But Trautwein still managed to build trust and relationships with his current players and recruits, something that caught James Franklin’s attention.

“In terms of recruiting, Coach Trautwein has done a really good job,” Franklin said. “He’s got real-ly strong relationships with those guys. They’re always at his house for dinner and going fishing.”

Landing top-rated offensive linemen such as Lackawanna College transfer JB Nelson and 2023’s No.1 interior offensive lineman Alex Birchmeier over summer 2021, Trautwein made a name for himself in the recruiting game.

When scouting for future Nit-tany Lions, Trautwein doesn’t only look for talent – he looks for work ethic and the ability to be coached, because he said, “talent only gets you so far.”

“I know that if a guy has good feet and really good strength but doesn’t really care and doesn’t really work hard, then they’re

not going to be able to capital ize on those great feet and that great strength,” Trautwein said. “I need to work with them. I need to put them through drills and see how they learn and if they take coaching.”

Trautwein draws parallels be-tween his coaching style and ex-periences at the collegiate and professional levels as a player.

According to the former Gator, he uses those experiences to re-late to his current Nittany Lions and those he’s recruiting for the future. He’s been in their shoes in every scenario possible.

“I know exactly what they’re going through,” Trautwein said. “I’ve been a backup. I’ve been a starter. I’ve been through it, so I know how to get through it. I just show them what I did to make sure that I capitalized on my opportunity.”

According to Franklin and Penn State veteran offensive lineman Rasheed Walker, Traut-wein’s coaching style resonates well within the program.

Franklin said he admires how Trautwein persevered through-out his entire playing career and how he shares those experiences with players.

“A lot of his success was based on technique and fundamentals,” Franklin said. “Those are the same lessons that allowed him to play in the NFL probably longer than he should have. He’s been able to use those with the guys, and I think our guys respect that.

“There’s also the guys that played in the NFL that are able to tell some stories and connect with the guys based on that. It gives them credibility with our players. I think that’s been a real positive.”

Through the two and half years Walker has known Trautwein, the relationship between the two grew quickly out of the respect and admiration Walker has for his position coach.

“He takes care of all of us,” Walker said. “Whenever I need to talk about something, I know he’s going to answer the phone. He does his best to put us in the best position, especially from him already being on his path in the league. The reason why I trust him is because he knows what it takes to get there.”

And for offensive linemen, who may not always be known as the most athletic players on the field, Walker said Trautwein has helped remind them they can overcome that.

“He always shows us that he wasn’t really athletic, so he had to work extra hard to get to the league,” Walker said. “He coach-es us very hard because he knows what it takes.”

Trautwein prioritizes his play-ers’ needs and educates them both on and off the field about what it takes to make it in the NFL — or whatever path they choose after college.

“It’s trying to show them what the NFL looks like and what they really need to do every day to be successful — not only in the NFL but in life,” Trautwein said.

Just days ahead of starting his second season on the sidelines at Penn State, Trautwein has built a tight-knit offensive line from whom he’s earned respect by sharing his playing experiences.

He said he plans to keep shar-ing his story and hopes his ex-ample can push his players to new heights, whether that’s in the NFL or any other venture.

“I shouldn’t have played in the NFL, and I was able to play five years,” Trautwein said.

“I probably shouldn’t have started at [the] University of Florida, but [I] ended up start-ing two years and being All-SEC twice and an All-American. But I did that because of the way I worked every day.

“My job is to show them that, so I relate to them. If they do it, and they listen, then they’ll be like the first rounders that I had and like the guys that weren’t recruited high — and the ‘no talent things’ ended up being why they ended up making it in the NFL.”

To email reporter: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @AlexisYoder1.

By Joel NeuschwanderTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN

Throughout Penn State’s season-opening matches in Orlando, Russ Rose learned a lot about his

team.The Nittany

Lions dropped their first match against Georgia

Tech but claimed victory in the next two against St. John’s and UCF — each in straight sets.

Rose saw gradual improve-ment in the blue and white over the course of the weekend, but growing pains were to be expect ed with so many new faces.

“I thought we played our best match against the home team [UCF] with a big crowd,” Rose said. “That was probably more reflective of how we are than how we started. That’s just part of a learning curve when you have new people in the program.”

Returning home for another trio of matches, the Nittany Lions will attempt to fine-tune certain aspects of their play.

Rose feels Penn State needs to get better at both the physi-cal and mental side of the game before it takes on Iowa State on Friday, noting that inconsistency from the service line played a big role in the Nittany Lions’ season opening defeat.

“I thought we made way too many service errors, especially in the Georgia Tech match,” Rose said. “[Some players’] serving should be more tactical than ve-locity driven. That’s key for us, getting in the gym and just [get-ting] comfortable serving there, passing there, because those two skills are so highly correlated with success.”

When Penn State takes the court against the Cyclones Fri- day night, it will be the Nittany Li-ons’ first home match in front of a

full-capacity crowd since they de-feated Towson in a second-round NCAA Tournament contest on Dec. 7, 2019.

The end of a nearly two-year wait takes on even more im-portance for the Nittany Lions with the fact that this week-end’s matches are their only ones at home until much later in September.

“We only have one of the four weekends at home this year, so it’s even more important for us to get comfortable playing in Rec Hall because we’re on the road

for the next two weekends again,” Rose said. “I think the players al-ways appreciate the opportunity to play at home and to have fans and family members come out and watch.”

Rose also said he believes the opportunity to play at home could be even more beneficial for the Nittany Lions’ freshmen, who will be experiencing the Rec Hall at mosphere for the first time.

“[It] should make the players a little more relaxed,” Rose said. “I thought a couple kids were tight. Hopefully that’s just getting their

first match jitters out of the way and that’s not in their DNA.”

With two consecutive wins, Penn State is coming into its home opener with a bit of mo-mentum, but Rose sees the victories in a different manner.

“I don’t look at two matches as anything other than ‘the first weekend is done,’” he said. “We know a little bit more, and we have to try and get better at some of the things that were identified over the weekend.”


Russ Rose looks to build off opening weekend

Lindsey Toomer/Collegian file photo

Trautwein is entering his second year as offensive line coach in Happy Valley after previously spending a year at Boston College. In that time, Trautwein coached 13 All-Conference offensive linemen.

Christopher Sanders/Collegian file photo

After Saturday’s match against UCF, Rose felt his team needed to improve upon the 32 service errors the blue and white committed in its opening three games of the season.

James Leavy/Collegian file photo

Penn State has not played in front of a packed Rec Hall in 21 matches — not since a hosting Townson in 2019.

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‘Wind Spirits’ exhibit soars in Art Alley

By Colton LucasTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN

Visitors to the HUB-Robeson Center are now welcomed to discover a jungle of distinctive patterns, displays of avian diver-sity and dynamic usage of flora as part of a new exhibit titled “Wind Spirits.”

Featuring a range of artwork from three artists, the exhibit is centered in the HUB-Robeson Galleries’ Art Alley through Nov. 7. Display cases throughout the HUB also feature detailed insight into the creation process of each artists’ work.

A reception for “Wind Spirits” will be held from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 26. “All are welcome to celebrate these works and continue con-versation on avian conservation at the reception,” according to a release.

The unique combination of varying mediums, colors and displays within “Wind Spirits” brings together a message of uni-fied connectedness and aware-ness of the changing ecological developments worldwide that affect birds specifically.

Exhibit viewers are encouraged to “reconstruct fu-tures nourished by ecological and ancestral knowledge and to foreground interconnectivity and interdependence rather than ownership,” according to the exhibit guide.

The HUB Galleries worked in tandem with Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center to cre-ate an exhibit that builds off of the center’s current display of sculptures from the “Lost Bird Program,” which memorial-izes extinct species of North American birds.

Lindsey Landfried, curator and senior gallery manager, said via email the goal of the HUB Galleries exhibits is to bring fo-cus to current and complex is-sues through service to local and global communities. Land-fried said the artists featured in “Wind Spirits” dove into the im-pacts surrounding “extractive economies.”

Artists featured in “Wind Spir-its” include Deirdre Murphy, Rachel Sydlowski and Tatiana Arocha.

Through a series of canvases

depicting scenes familiar to im-ages of outer space, Murphy’s artwork, titled “Oculus Major,” focuses on the migratory prac-tices of pathogens, avian species and climate change.

“Murphy’s first-hand interac-tions and collaborations with scientists continue to inform her studio practice,” the exhibit guide said. “These paintings pose a mirrored likeness between il-luminated, aerial images of light pollution and a fading blanket of constellations in the celestial sphere.”

Murphy’s work also expands into two separate works that can be found in the HUB, titled “Bird Nest Studies” and “Nest Alche-my.” Both works highlight the complexities of bird nests, which Murphy studied in spring 2020.

Creating a larger-than-life can-vas filled with gray monochro-matic patterns and highlighted with accents of gold detailing, Arocha’s work reflects imagery found in nature.

Arocha, a New York-born Co-lombian artist, said she observes prints and textures emerging from organic materials.

From sticks that produce graphic lines to tree nuts that mimic the pattern of snake skin, Arocha uses these organic el-ements to then create digital prints. Arocha said her piece within the exhibit, also titled “Wind Spirits,” is created through a smorgasbord of these digital prints of the materials she has discovered.

Featured in a display case out-side the Freeman Auditorium, viewers can directly observe ex-amples of Arocha’s use of creat-ing patterns out of items found in nature.

“Most of my work has a basis in talking about the vulnerable lands in Colombia,” Arocha said. “Mainly, it centers around rain-forests, but it has expanded into different ecosystems of Colombia that are in danger.”


What are students wearing to tailgates?

By Lily MastrobattistaTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN

It’s time for Penn State stu-dents to get their lion ears out: Home football games are back in less than two weeks, and that means tailgates are around the corner. To get those Instagram-worthy gameday photos, the perfect outfit is necessary.

And, some already have been thinking about what they’ll be wearing this football season.

Lily McHugh said she already has ideas in mind for this year’s White Out.

“I plan on wearing white jeans and possibly a white bandeau top if the weath-er is still warm,” McHugh (sophomore-advertising) said.

Other students — like Dani McGrane — also plan on taking advantage of the warm weather by wearing less layers.

“I have some crop tops and tank tops that I plan on wearing,” McGrane (sophomore-commu-nications) said. “One of them is strapless and says ‘State’ on it, which I’m excited to wear.”

Students like Maddie Kuzmich, plan on wearing outfits based on color rather than Penn State logos.

“I feel like once you get older and you’re not a freshman, peo-ple tend to wear just navy and white stuff opposed to all Penn State stuff,” Kuzmich (junior-biobehavioral health) said.

Sophomore Lila DiPaolo, who missed out on her freshman year football season due to the coronavirus, agreed with Kuzmich.

“To me, it’s going to be less about Penn State branding and more about the use of colors and pieces to accessorize and [us-ing] things that I thrift,” DiPaolo (sophomore-advertising) said.

DiPaolo said she already has a blue vest she has thrifted and a skirt picked out for one of the games — all in “Penn State blue.”

But even straying away from Penn State branded shirts, DiPaolo said she thinks logos might pop up in a new fashion.

“I think quarantine is going to have a lot of inspiration on how people’s outfits are going to come out,” DiPaolo said. “People are going to DIY their tops with bleach or cutting them.”

Kuzmich said another trend that might pop up at tailgates are

baby T-shirts — tighter cropped shirts.

“I feel like now people are gon-na wear baby tees cause they’re cute, and people see other people wearing them,” Kuzmich said. “This year, depending on the weather, I’ll wear navy sweats with baby tees.”

Sage Kugler also has a few out-fits in mind — one of which is a pair of plaid pants that are navy, white and gray — what she said is the perfect color combination for Beaver Stadium. Another in-cludes a classic warm weather tailgate staple: a skirt.

“I definitely think tennis skirts are going to be a big [trend],” Kugler (senior-art education and psychology) said. “That was a big trend last year, and since we didn’t have football season, it’ll stand out this year.”

When talking about skirts, Kuzmich said students can’t for-get the mock cheerleading skirts people can buy at many stores downtown. Alana Nesmith said she expects to see and wear a lot of skirts.

“I have a tennis skirt and cheerleading skirt I plan on wear-ing to the first game with a white crop top,” Nesmith (freshman-political science) said.

Even with all the trends, Ku-gler said it would not be a tailgate without sticking to the classic tailgate looks.

“I would say a classic tailgate look is a denim jacket — that’s a safe bet — with a crop T-shirt,” Kugler said.

As far as pants, Kuzmich said students can never go wrong with jeans at a Penn State tailgate.

“A very classic outfit is just a pair of jeans, probably baggy, with white tennis shoes and a navy or Penn State type of shirt,” Kuzmich said.

But even with all these trends and straying away from direct brands, DiPaolo said she thinks one iconic item will stay this season.

“I think the Nittany Lion ears are going to stay.”

To email reporter: [email protected] her on Twitter at lily_mastro23.

Courtesy of Maddie Kuzmich

Students Maddie Kuzmich and Tatum Ledonne pose in their tailgating outfits at a Penn State football game.

Will Aguirre/Collegian

“Occulus Major,” by Deirdre Murphy, and “Vivarium,” by Rachel Sydlowski are displayed at the HUB-Robeson Center exhibition.

By Ella CastronuovoTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN

With hopes of bringing people together for a conversation about the history of Black culture and hair braiding, four professors across different universities in-cluding Penn State are in the pro-cess of creating an architectural project.

The “Hair Salon: Translat-ing Black Hair Practices for Archi tecture Using Compu-tational Meth-ods” project began last sum-mer with Tuck-er de Vazquez’s search for an architectural legacy within the Black com-munity through various com-parisons be-tween Black hairstyles and architectural designs.

The project was formed by Fe-lecia Davis, associate professor in Penn State’s department of architecture at the Stuckeman

Center for Design Computing, Sheryl Tucker de Vazquez, associ-ate professor at the University of Houston, William Williams, asso-ciate professor of architecture at the University of Cincinnati and Marcella Del Signore, associate professor in the School of Archi-tecture and Design at New York Institute of Technology.

The project was funded by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Stud-ies in the Fine Arts, an inter-national grant program that supports orga-nizations and individuals.

A c c o r d i n g to Tucker de Vazquez, few Black tradi-tions survived through the Middle Passage and transatlan-tic slave trade

— except for Black hairstyles like cornrows, dreadlocks and crocheting.

“If you think about braided hair, it gets appropriated, but the

Black influence is there, so we want to claim that now,” Tucker de Vazquez said. “Typically, Afri-can American culture — particu-larly in architecture — has been pushed to the edges over the margins, but this is an attempt to put it to the center of design conversations.”

Tucker de Vazquez said she believes the origins of hair braid-ing and architecture are linked through “weaving techniques.”

“If you go back to the origins of architecture, woven mats [were] the beginnings of architectural designs,” Tucker de Vazquez said. “Braided hair is a kind of domes-tic process, so this idea of weav-ing of hair is the same way archi-tecture began as a kind of woven process — the origins are rooted in the same place.”

According to Davis, the project crosses “cultural boundaries” by finding ways to work Black cul-ture and tradition into the way architecture is crafted.

“We think people will connect with it in a number of different ways, not only architects, but peo-ple interested in hair salons and talking about other experiences they had growing up and learning to manage their own hair,” Davis said.

The “Hair Salon” project means “different things to different people,” Williams said.

“For some people, it’s a ques-tion of cultural appropriation or pride,” Williams said. “Others, it’s about cultural memories and building time and spending time with families and passing on traditions.”

Williams said he believes there is more of an “indirect connec-tion” between hair braiding and architecture.

“It’s about how we present ourselves, how we maintain our-selves and how we care for our-selves,” Williams said. “In that way, it’s very architectural be-cause architecture is a very pub-lic act and ultimately, the way one wears their hair is a very public act.”

Williams said when he was young, it was “painful” to go to the salon with his mom because he would wait hours at her ap-pointments. He said the expe-rience “changed the way [he]

understood [his] own mother and her friends and what they were concerned about,” but it was an “invaluable” lesson.

“I would hope that in the pro-cess of [the ‘Hair Salon’ project], we are able to set up a series of questions and e x h i b i t i o n s and images of things that get people talking about their re-lationship to their culture, their family and how each of those pres-ents itself to the public while being aware of how the pub-lic might see them in a very different light,” Williams said.

Davis said one of the goals of the project is to reach Proj-ect Row Houses, a community platform and art gallery locat-ed in Third Ward in Houston, Texas, which is a historically Black neighborhood, that places

emphasis on art and cultural identity, with aims of helping marginalized communities.

In addition, Tucker de Vazquez said other goals of the project are

to start a con-versation about the legacy of Black culture and bring a new generation to architecture.

“I have this rich legacy, I have this heri-tage,” Tucker de Vazquez said. “My en-tire architec-tural career, I’ve been si-phoning off of Western cul-ture, but this is something that is endemic to me, something that I know and

something that has been passed down from generation to genera-tion that survived. Let’s revisit that and talk about it as the art form that it is.”

To email reporter: [email protected] her on Twitter at @ellacastronuovo.

LOCALThe Daily Collegian ThursDay, sepT. 2, 2021 | page 7

Professor collaborates on ‘Hair Salon’ project to ‘cross cultural boundaries,’ create community conversations

Courtesy of J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Philippe Salaün

“Onile Gogoro Or Akaba” from the series Hairstyles — The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Courtesy of J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Philippe Salaün

“Suku Sinero Kiko” from the series Hairstyles — The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

‘WE WANT TO CLAIM THAT NOW’

“Braided hair is a kind of domestic process, so this idea of weaving of hair is the same way architecture began as a kind of woven process — the origins are rooted in the same place.”

Sheryl Tucker de Vazquez

University of Houston

“For some people, it’s a question of cultural appropriation or pride. Others, it’s about cultural memories and building time and spending time with families and passing on traditions.”

William WilliamsUniversity of Cincinnati


Outing Club hopes to backpack againBy James EngelTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN

In the sixth section of their 1958 statement of purpose, club members wrote the final goal of their organization was “to further certain educational objectives of the university by promoting ethi-cal, moral, spiritual and aesthetic principles upon which a satisfac-tory and rewarding philosophy of life may be developed.”

And for decades, the Penn State Outing Club has tried to ful-fill its purpose while maintaining a vast membership of sometimes over 1,400 students.

Founded in 1920, the club steadily grew throughout the mid-20th century. By 1954, the club had three divisions: Cabin & Trail, Field & Stream and Win-tersport, with more to be added in the coming years.

By the mid 1970s, the club reached its peak with nearly 1,500 members and 8 divisions with their own leadership all under the banner of PSOC.

Many of these groups ultimate-ly separated but live on today. Nit-tany Grotto Caving Club, Penn State Ski Club, Ecoaction and others were born out of the once larger Penn State Outing Club. Currently, PSOC consists solely of its former hiking division.

In this era, the club became a trailblazer in central Pennsyl-vania, as it participated in local trail maintenance and carved out new paths. The Allegheny Front Trail, a 42-mile loop around Black Moshannon State Park, was mapped and blazed with help from PSOC, and many others were maintained with its aid.

Most famously, the club carved out and blazed orange the begin-nings of what would ultimately become the 327-mile Mid State Trail, which runs from the border of Maryland to the border of New York. The project was master-minded by the club’s former advi-sor, Thomas Thwaites, a longtime Penn State physics professor who died in 2014.

“We definitely have touched the landscape around here,” Zach Blume, the club’s treasurer, said. “... We have a history here.”

Blume (senior-civil engineer-ing) said he has been back-packing since eighth grade and joined PSOC his first semester on campus. He also has a family

history within the organization — his aunt and uncle met as club members in the early ‘80s.

Reflecting on his project and its construction later, Thwaites wrote, “The Mid State Trail was created to foster these simple, natural, spiritual experiences, so that we may all enjoy a greater respect for nature and there-fore protect nature for all future generations.”

PSOC stayed active and remained fairly consistent until 2018, when it faced an existential crisis.

A Penn State review found the club had “an unacceptable level of risk in their current operation model” and sought to dissolve the then 98-year-old club. The Nittany Grotto Caving Club and the Nittany Divers SCUBA Club faced the same dilemma.

“By the end of spring 2018, it was essentially like the gavel had dropped,” Blume said.

The decision caused immedi-ate confusion and disappointment among the club and outdoor com-munity and garnered interna-tional press attention. The story was picked up by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Outside Magazine, the BBC and The DailyMail.

The club survived, though in

a different form. It was classi-fied as a “special interest” group and limited to day hikes within 50 miles of State College, Blume said.

In 2019, a working group was formed of PSOC executives, Penn State’s Risk Management Of-fice, Penn State Student Affairs, faculty from Penn State’s Rec-reation, Park and Tourism Man-agement department, and others to discuss the future of the club, according to Blume.

Though he was not a member of the working group, PSOC’s former Vice President and Web-master, Ritvik Prabhu, said there was little hostility or resentment among the participants, and dis-cussions proceeded in good faith with divisions quickly falling apart.

“It became a singular group working toward a common solu-tion,” Prabhu (senior-environ-mental resource management) said.

This time also saw an unex-pected rise in membership and diversities of experience within the club, Prabhu said. Where some students may have been intimidated by the club’s pre-2018 long backpacking trips and other treks, Prabhu said he believed

the limited day hikes brought in more casual hikers and some beginners.

“You had people who had never been on a hike before all the way up to people who had backpacked regularly,” Prabhu said.

Eventually, the group con-structed a proposal for the future of PSOC. In it, the club proposed the use of the “Common Adven-ture Model,” a group-centered ad-venture technique used by other college outing clubs that focuses

on democratic decision-making and shared group responsibility, Outings Chair Mike Marakovits said.

The proposal also said PSOC must have wilderness first aid and wilderness first responders on outings, and group members must have some basic training in outdoor techniques prior to events. But it also lifted restric-tions on overnight and distant outings, which Marakovits (ju-nior-engineering science) said would allow the club to resume many of its previous activities.

After some deliberation and a pandemic in between, Penn State Vice President Damon Sims signed the working group’s proposal in spring 2021.

Forced to celebrate its centen-nial via Zoom, the now 101-year-old club will host a “Curriculum Fair” in early October to train its members in outdoor safety and the Common Adventure Model prior to its first overnight trip sometime later in the semester, Marakovits said.

“Our plan is to get a backpack-ing trip out and couple day hikes along the way and just adapt as necessary,” he said.

Prabhu said he thinks a new base of hikers may have emerged during the pandemic as the wil-derness became one of the few areas unrestricted by the rapidly evolving situation. Expressing similar sentiments, Marakovits said hiking “helped him cope” with the pandemic.


Courtesy of Nancy WeinheimerMembers of Penn State Outing Club pose for a photo at a scenic vista. The Outing Club hikes many of the beautiful trails in the central Pennsylvania area.

Courtesy of Penn State Outing Club

PSOC was founded in 1920 and recently celebrated its 100 year anniversary, albeit over Zoom.

an oral history of the team that brought penn state

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