"We finally have the talent to do some damage, but it will
come down to the young pitching." month ago, could now affect you if you haven't gotten
enough rest."
- Ryan Gallagher,
i
Junior, O
- Patty Pasky McMahon,
'4l.
page 10
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t i Health and Wellness Center Director,
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page 2
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OP _ - • Fir ' 4
Friday, March 30, 2007
Students assist
with TOPS
By Jess Carlson
contributing writer
The Junker Center at Penn State Behrend has
been full of activity recently. Although the
weather is finally beginning to look and feel
like spring, training for baseball, softball, men's
and women's soccer, track, as well as the many
intramural sports are mostly taking place
inside. One more activity to squeeze into the
busy schedule of the Junker Center gym is The
Outreach Program for Soccer, (TOPS), which
began Wed. March 21.
TOPS is a program that reaches out to dis
abled children and gives them the opportunity
to participate in a recreational activity. U.S.
Youth Soccer, whose mission statement is "to
foster the physical, mental and emotional
growth and development of America's youth
through the sport of soccer at all levels of age
and competition," designed the nationwide pro
gram. The program is geared more towards the
development of a child as opposed to the actual
competition of the game.
Dan Perritano, head coach of the men's soc
cer team, brought the program to Behrend in
2000. The first year started off with 12 children
and has since grown close to 60. The point of
the program is for the child to have fun and be
active. "The program is about fun and getting
kids to work towards their physical potential,
whatever that is," said Perritano, who has a
daughter, Emma, that participates in the pro
gram each year.
The program is comprised of children with
varying disabilities and range from age three to
young adult. Disabilities amongst the partici
pants may include autism, down syndrome,
muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy. The
program takes place once a week on
Wednesday evenings in the Junker Center gym.
Children are paired with a Behrend student
volunteer who becomes their "buddy" for the
entire eight-week program. Volunteers for the
program vary from student-athletes (not just
soccer players), to non-athletic students. "The
volunteers are what make this go and they have
always committed and done a great job con
necting with the player they are working with,"
said Perritano.
The objective of the program is not necessar
ily to teach the child how to play soccer, but to
give them the opportunity to be active. Each
child receives a t-shirt and their own soccer ball
the first day, but more importantly, there is hope
that each child will form a close bond with the
student volunteer they are paired with. Tim
Campbell, a junior management major, is vol
unteering for the first time this year with a child
named Brian. "I saw and knew a few people
doing (TOPS) last year but I wasn't able
Continued on page 2.
Contents
News
Opinion 4
Puzzle 5
Humor 6
Student Life 7-8
Sports 9-10
Contact Us
Newsroom
898-6488
Fax:
898-6019
E-mail: cslsoos@psu.edu
Our offices are located downstairs
in the Reed Union Building.
Niagara fire wakes students and sparks investigation
Niagara Hall residents were rudely awakened last
Thursday night when a fire alarm blared throughout
the residence hall. According to Police and Safety
Services, someone lit a small cardboard box on fire
on the second floor of the building.
Officer Charles Geer arrived on the scene within
two minutes of getting the call. Upon arrival, Geer
found that several students from the second floor
had extinguished the fire with water. According to
an e-mail residents received from Residence Life
Coordinator Keith Cerroni, the fire alarm rang at
3:17 a.m. Residents slowly exited the building
which concerned Cerroni. He said that some stu
dents took up to ten minutes to evacuate the build
ing. "The absolute worst result of someone not
leaving quickly could be more damaging than we
care to think about," Cerroni said.
Matt Waronker explained the situation, "Matt
Edwards, Mike Pearse, and I put out the fire before
they evacuated the building." "I feel strongly that if
these students had not chosen to (put out the fire),
the fire would have spread quickly throughout the
hall," Cerroni said. "Matt Waronker used water bot
tles and Mike Pearse and I used garbage cans that
we filled in the shower and sink. I wondered if I
should grab my computer, then I wondered if I
should go in the direction of the fire to see if anyone
needed help or was trapped in a room," Edwards Areas damaged by the fire will need to be replaced
said
As students from other floors exited the building
thinking that it was another false alarm, residents on
the second floor quickly realized that this was no drill. "When I saw the fire, I ly didn't think about it, it was more impulsive, I just ran and
was kind of in disbelief. We just stared at it for a second and then I guess I real- the refrigerator," Waronker said.
Continued on page 2.
Task force works towards a greener Behrend
Penn State Behrend's campus is ecologically committed to protecting and con
serving the environment. In 2001, The Greener Behrend Task Force formed to
address sustainability issues on campus. The purpose of the Greener Behrend
Task Force is to promote a campus community at Behrend that is educated and
involved in maintaining a responsible relationship with the natural resources of
the earth.
Members of the Greener Behrend Task Force are committed to building respect
for the environment and are developing and implementing strategies for campus
practice and policies. In addition, the task force is addressing seven main issues
Lisa Ling brings international journalism perspective
It is a rare occasion to meet an individual who radi-
aces such passion for her career that from the moment any idea this war was happening and to make it even advised her to join the ABC daytime talk show, The
she speaks, a wave of chills runs through the audi- worse, they didn't seem to care," said Ling. It was View, she welcomed the change. "I never intended to
ence, compelling admiration, respect and be a daytime talk show host, but after cov
compassion. Lisa Ling, host of Nation ering the stories that I did on Channel One,
Geographic Explorer and investigati' I just wasn't ready to go to a network, so I
reporter and special correspondent for tl went to The View," said Ling. For the next
Oprah Winfrey Show, was able to do jix three years, Ling served as the young per
that Monday night as she spoke to sti spective on The View, where she said she
dents, faculty and the public as part of tl tried to invoke questions and get the audi
annual Speaker Series. :se
ence and home viewer to think. "I don't like
At Monday night's speaker series eves how so many news reporters tell you what
held in McGarvey Commons, Ling wei to think and scream at you. And even
through her life by explaining each step though it was hard to get a word in some
her career, the experiences she has had times, each episode I tried to say something
an international correspondent, any that got people thinking," said Ling.
offered advice to students with bi After three years on The View,
dreams. Ling was first introduced to jou Ling was once again ready for a change and
nalism through Scratch, a Sacrament
turned to National Geographic. Through
CA, based teen show. She attributes the the National Geographic Explorer series,
roots of her passion to Channel Om Ling said she was able to cover the stories
where she began working as an intern; she had hoped to, like investigating the
tional correspondent at age 18. Over the deadly drug war in Colombia, uncovering
seven years of working for Channel Om the controversial issues of China's one
an international news show which __ HE BEHREND BEACON child policy, exploring the story behind the
played in high schools and middle schools female suicide bombers in Chechnya and
across the country, Ling said she was able Lisa Ling talks to the audience in McGarvey Commons about her life Israel's occupied territories, and revealing
to travel to more than two dozen countries, experiences and offers advice. the secret and highly dangerous culture of
report on the social aspects and devastations each of this reaction from the American public that made her America's prisons. "They empowered me and were
the countries, and gain a love for bringing the suffer- want to continue covering international events as a very open,
ing she saw to life. way to bring light to happenings outside the United
Ling spoke of the story she said impacted her most, States. The audience responded well to Ling's Continued on page 2.
...1-3
A Penn State Behrend Student Publication
By Lenny Smith
assistant news editor
By Jessica Samol
copy editor
By Ashley Bressler
news editor
fire was started on the second floor of the building
the Civil War in Afghanistan in 1994. "I was 21- descriptions from her time working with Channel
years-old and went with the Red Cross, so I felt a lit- One because most of the students remembered her
tle more safe, but what bothered me the most was from their high school and middle school years.
when I came back and told people about what I saw Ling said after seven years at Channel One, she
in Afghanistan. They were astounded. No one had was ready for a new challenge, so when a friend
"Rest, rest, rest! A virus that wouldn't have bothered you a
at Behrend, which include reducing energy use and promoting cleaner fuels, using
water in a conservative and respectable manner, minimizing solid and liquid
waste, increasing the healthfulness of food and reducing its waste, protecting nat
ural areas, incorporating "green" practices into the construction and renovation of
facilities, and promoting ecological stewardship within the college community.
The Greener Behrend Task Force is making great effort toward creating a more
environmentally friendly and sustainable environment. In 2003, the creation of
the Arboretum at Behrend brought a much greener scene to the campus. More
than 200 species of trees are represented in the Arboretum, making it a haven by
Continued on page 2
,UO7
Vol. LIII No. XXI
Students living in Niagara Hall were
Mike Sharkey/THE BEHREND BEACON
evacuated when a
got some water from