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THE BEHREND BEACON
Friday, February 11, 2005 Ft:: ,2u5 A Penn State Erie Student Publication
THON 2005 artif6aches
Students prepare for dancing
By Bradley Stewart
news editor
Next weekend, from Feb. 18 at 7
p.m. to Feb. 20 at 7 p.m., four
Behrend students will be unable to sit,
sleep, look at the time or leave a des
ignated area. They won't be in jail
with a bad case of hemorrhoids; they
will be taking part in THON and danc
ing for 48 hours straight.
THON is the largest student-run
philanthropy in the world and was cre
ated and is sustained by Penn State.
Each year, students from all Penn
State branches raise money for dona
tion to the Four Diamonds fund, a
non-profit organization that aids fam
ilies who have children affected by
cancer. The year's fundraising is cul
minated in a 48-hour dance marathon
that brings students and cancer afflict
ed families together in a mass celebra
tion at University Park.
"It's really a good cause," said
Natalie Lytle, a THON dancer and
member of SGA.
This year's THON theme is
"Embracing Dreams, Sharing
Tomorrow." Unlike previous years,
Behrend will be represented at
University Park by four student
dancers as opposed to two. The rea
son for this? Last year, Behrend
raised a record $15,039 and the num
ber of dancers allowed to participate
from- satellite campuses is-.directly
affected by quantity of funds raised.
"A significant amount of money is
donated by the satellite campuses,"
said Jeff Sirkin, communications chair
of THON at University Park. Sirkin
didn't know the exact number of
Inside
Fomari reaches 200,
SPORTS, Page 9
Computer safety, STUDENT
LIFE, Page 7
Contents
News 1-3
Editorial 4
Humor 6
Student Life 7-8
Sports 9-10
Contact Us
Newsroom:
898-6488
Fax:
898-6019
E-mail:
Behrendßeacon@aol.com
Our offices are located down
stairs in the Reed Union
Building.
funds contributed from the Penn State
branches, but he estimated it to be
around $200,000.
Fundraising for the event included
canning on the streets of Erie, canning
door-to-door, selling T-shirts, selling
raffle tickets at the bowling alley and
Junior's Last Laugh. There were also
50/50 raffles at Calamaries and Jimmy
Z's.
Assistant Director of the THON
committee, Sara Grant felt like there
was much more student support for
THON last year than this year.
"I think it has a lot to do with col
lege students," said Grant. "You need
a dedicated group and there is only so
much five or seven people can do."
According to Grant, THON is
advertised through the List-Serve,
posters and word of mouth.
So far this year, about $3,000 has
been raised, with an estimated $5OOO
or $6,000 more on the way. This num
ber is considerably lower than last
year's
"A lot of students don't know about
it," said Lytle.
All students are encouraged to par
ticipate in THON, whether as part of
the committee, helping raise funds,
donating or traveling to University
Park to support the dancers. All of the
Behrend dancers for THON 2005 are
also members of SGA. The dancers
are Natalie Lytle, Deanna Sieberkrob,
Scott Soltis and Ken Middlemiss.
EMBRACIMG DREAMS
SMARMS TOMORROW
POW UM WeirmieNituilac
CANOE MAW** 2005
Dance floor needs students
By Dan Snedden
assistant news editor
Students and student organizations
have yet another opportunity to take
advantage of the ever-expanding facili
ties in the Reed Union Building. Last
December, the Office of Student
Activities completed the purchase of a
dance floor that is currently stored
underneath the stage in McGarvey
Commons.
"McGarvey is a multi-purpose ball
room for student organizations and part
of that is for dances," said Chris Rizzo,
director of student activities. "Before
the renovations, McGarvey did not have
carpeting; it was pretty much like a
gym. It was a tile floor which caused a
lot of sound issues; that's where the car
peting and the sound-reduction went in.
That's where the need for the dance
floor came in due to the need for the
room to be a multi-purpose room, in
order to support student organizations."
If a student organization were to rent
a dance floor from an outside source it
would cost $3OO per day, and, by
September, two student organizations
had already requested funding to hold
dances. The Office of Student Activities
felt that investing in a dance floor would
have long-term cost cutting benefits.
According to the Student Activity Fee
funding proposal for the dance floor
"carpet is unsuitable for dancing...stu
dent organization rentals for such
[dance floors] will quickly add up..."
"Every time someone comes to us
Jim Kelly, flanked by Mike Daisley (right) and Melissa Dale (left), interacts with students after dinner at the Logan House
Kelly, ex-quarterback of the Buffalo Bills, spoke about his career and family in the McGarvey Commons on Feb 8.
Kelly imparts wisdom
Jim Kelly, the Hall of Fame quarterback that lead the
Buffalo Bills to four consecutive Super Bowls and to the
playoffs eight times, spoke to students, faculty, staff and the
Erie community on Feb. 8.
Kelly first met with students for an informal question and
answer session. He was asked questions about his Super
Bowl experiences and told students of his days growing up in
East Brady.
After the session, a dinner was held at the Logan House.
At the dinner, Ken Miller presented Kelly with a donation
from factilty and staff to his foundation, Hunter's Hope.
The donation sponsored eight luminaries that will be lit
Monday on the hillside at Orchard Park for Hunter's Day of
Hope for Children Celebration. Monday marks Hunter
Kelly's eighth birthday.
Hunter was diagnosed with Krabbe's disease at four
months and doctors gave him 14 months to live. With love,
hope and courage, Hunter has surpassed life expectancy.
"Through my son Hunter, we will make a difference," said
Kelly.
In his speech Kelly told spectators to love their kids and to
treat them all alike. He also spoke of the value of life and the
importance of not taking things for granted, something he no
longer does.
In 1997, after their son's diagnosis, Kelly and his wife, Jill,
established Hunter's Hope foundation. Goals of the founda
tion include increasing public awareness of Krabbe disease,
increase the chances for an early detection treatment and
Sections of the dance floor are shown on a cart stored underneath the stage in
the McGarvey Commons.
wanting to rent a dance floor we have to
shell out the money for rental and for
maintenance to put it up, so we were
better off by just buying it," said SAF
committee member Kayla Smith, BIOL
05.
Despite the potential usefulness of the
dance floor, a price tag of $6,537.90 out
of SAF money has some students ques
tioning the wisdom behind the purchase.
"Student proposals should take prece
dent over staff or department propos
als," said Syreeta Anderson, COMBA
04. She also indicated that her organiza
tion, NSBE, had neither requested a
dance floor nor had any plans to use it.
"In my mind, if you're going to
request funding, especially nearly
$7,000 for a project, you're going to
want to use it and you have to make sure
students want it. This does not look like
anyone asked for it," said Aaron
By Samantha Cibula
sports editor
Amendola COMBA 02. "Students did
n't ask for it. Students aren't using it. So
why was the money allocated?"
Other students feel that the matter was
better left to the administration.
"If the dance floor is what the stu
dents that joined SAF are approving,
what say do we have against those mak
ing our request?" said Zack Mentz SE
06. He explained that he is involved in
nearly a dozen organizations and has
heard no requests for, or plans to use a
dance floor.
"It seems as though the administration
would have needed to do more research;
however, as I haven't read the proposal
or talked to the administration about this
I cannot make a certain decision." said
Ben Haire POLSC 04." There should
have more student input, but it's a long
term investment and I'm sure we will
receive some benefits from it."
fund research efforts to find new treatments, therapies and a
cure for Krabbe Disease.
As Kelly spoke of his career and his family, he expressed
how his life has been a roller coaster of ups and downs.
From having his shoulder blown out in college and doctors
telling him he'd never play football again, to leading his team
to four consecutive Super Bowls but never bringing home the
ring, to having his son born on his birthday and later finding
out he had Krabbe's disease.
Kelly didn't want people to pity him, but he sent out the
message that everyone will be faced with trials in life. There
will always be negatives but it is what you do with those neg
atives that matter.
"Turn your negatives into positives," said Kelly.
He also talked of setting goals and setting them high. He
used himself as an example. He grew up in a small town and
said one day he's going to be like Terry Bradshaw. His dad
told him he better start working hard.
"Dreams do come true," said Kelly
ceed in life you need to work "
Kelly's dreams came true with the help of the Buffalo
Bills, hard work and family. Today he is no longer on the
game day roster for the Bills, but he is still part of a team.
"Now I'm part of another team," said Kelly. "Team
Hunter's Hope and anyone can join. It takes everyone to pull
together to make a team."
Kelly's dreams came true. He made it to the NFL, which
allowed him to fulfill another goal: taking care of his parents.
Today we can all be part of another one of his dreams in help
ing to find a cure for Krabbe disease and increase public
awareness of the disease.
To find more information on Krabbe disease and Hunter's
Hope foundation visit www.huntershope.org.
Blood flows
at Behrend
On Feb. 9, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
inside the McGarvey Commons, a group
of compassionate Behrend students was
ready for the screen test and blood donat
ing.
Early in the morning, before it really
started, three to four students were
already filling in forms and preparing for
the blood drive. Donors have to pass a
detailed screen test and weight test
before donating blood. The screen test
was to confirm donors were in a healthy
and qualified state to donate blood.
During the test, nurses asked questions
such as whether the donor had been out
of the United States within the last year
and a half or whether the donor had
unprotected sex, etc.
Altogether, 10 nurses, six donor beds
and three screen stations were available
to serve the donors. Snacks and soda
were available for donors to make sure
they got enough sugar and got back to
normal.
Blood Drive is organized once in every
semester by Alpha Sigma Alpha and the
Blood Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania.
With the very good result of about 80
donors last semester, Seraina Naef,
PSYCH and POLSC 06, president of
Alpha Sigma Alpha, expected an even
better turnout this semester.
Vol. LII No. 20
"If you want to suc-
By Tiffany Mak
staff writer
BLOOD, continued on Page 2