BEHREND BEACON YEAR IN REVIEW
A look back at the stories that define the 2009-2010 academic year at Penn State Behrend
(ALL STORIES PRINTED WITH AUTHOR, THEIR STAFF TITLE AT THE TIME AT WHICH THE ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED, AND DATE THE ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN IN THE BEHREND BEACON.)
THON
SHAWN ANNARELLI
managing editor
April 9, 2010
I am a survivor," giggles
Rylee Dorer. Her voice has a pe
culiar tone, surely too mature
for an 8-year-old. But Rylee is
just that, a mature, curiously in
tellectual 8-year-old cancer sur
vivor.
Two years ago, Rylee at
tended her brother Corbin's
soccer game and snacked on
Goldfish while coloring under a
blanket. Suddenly, she felt her
chest burn, and tears crawled
down her cheeks. Amanda
Dorer, Rylee's mother, had her
sip some water, only to have
Rylee cry desperately while her
chest aches intensified.
"I began loading the kids
[Rylee, Corbin and their little
sister Dalaney] into the car, but
Rylee was okay when we were
ready to go," Amanda said.
Despite sleeping comfortably
overnight, Rylee awoke the
next morning with severely
bloodshot eyes and abnormal
breathing. The family pediatri
cian prescribed her amoxicillin,
but a visit two days later and a
chest X-ray exposed a mass the
size of an egg pressing against
Rylee's trachea.
Her life took a turn sharper
than her chest pains.
On Oct. 17, 2007, at PSU Her
shey Medical Center, doctors
diagnosed Rylee with T-cell
lymphoma, a white blood cell
cancer. When the Dorer's told
Rylee, her first question was,
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Thirteen students trapped in elevator
Thirteen Behtend students became trapped in
the outdoor elevator on the way to Senat Hall
after eating at Dobbins.
According to Ted Sopher, a second semester
chemical engineering student, the elevator be
came stuck around 7 p.m.
"At first, we thought it was pretty funny. We
weren't really sure what to do," said Sopher.
"After five to 10 minutes, we realized it could be
a while."
Vince Tarquino, a second semester student,
said that he "wasn't too worried" about being
stuck in the elevator. He said they were one per
son over the 12-person limit on the elevator and
about 300 lbs. over the 2,100 limit. Tarquino said
that he believed being over the weight limit
caused the elevator to stop.
"It was a weird psychological thing, because
we talked for a long time," Sopher said. "Even
tually, people got really sick of it. It started to
smell really bad in there. Vince just seemed re
ally aggravated. He was really fed up and wanted
to be down really fast."
"It was kind of surreal, we used the call box in
the elevator eventually," Sopher said.
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Goo Goo Dolls rock a sold-out crowd at hunker Center
RACHELLE THOMPSON
news editor
NEIL PETERS
opinion editor
April 23, 2010
The Goo Goo Dolls Concert,
held April 17, in the Junker
Center attracted a sold-out
crowded, ranging from those
who traveled from a far to the
student body of Penn State
Behrend.
On the morning of the con
cert the temperature was at a
low of only 37 degrees, but that
wasn't stopping three young
women.
Traveling a total of 6.5 hours,
between the two, to see their fa
vorite band.
Stacy and Abby Shrater, from
Cleveland, Ohio and Kari An
dros, from Detroit, Mich. were
the first three girls to arrive st
the doors outside of the Junker
Center. Arriving at 9:30 that
morning, making it show num
ber 17 for Keri.
"We were stoked when we
heard the Goo Goo Dolls were
coming. We haven't seen them
in three years. Coming today is
such a great thing," said Stacy.
Another avid fan, Caroline
Vanna, from Cleveland, OH
Rylee
"Am I going to die?," the hard
est question they've ever tried
to answer. Amanda says they
never told her "yes" or "no,"
just that she could be cured.
"It was really scary," Rylee
said, as she reflected on over
two years of treatments. "The
worst thing was when they put
tubes down my nose into my
belly. It was the tape I didn't
like. The tape meant I had
tubes and needles in me."
Around the same time that
Rylee began treatments,
Behrend THON members, led
by then club president James
Wolfe, applied to have a THON
child. During Thanksgiving,
Wolfe and Molly Thomas, who
is currently Behrend THON's
president, received letters con
gratulating them on their "first
child."
"I was so excited," Wolfe said.
"But I also thought, 'Holy crap,
we have a responsibility to sup
port Rylee as best as we can. I
wondered if we could do it."'
Wolfe contacted the Dorers
and arranged to meet them at
THON's annual Family Carni
val, which benefits the Four Di
amonds Fund. It was the
beginning of a learning experi
ence for two families soon to be
"It was really cool to finally
meet the Behrend kids," said
Shannon Dorer, Rylee's father.
"We were curious about what
THON was, so we tried to learn
a lot about them."
Wolfe said the feelings were
mutual and that it was amazing
MIKE 0. WEHRER
news editor
February 5, 2010
lined up just behind the
Shraters around 3 in the after
noon, but she has been to a few
more concerts.
"In the last four years, proba
bly, I've gone to 14 concerts,"
said Vanna, mentioning that
distance hasn't been an obsta
cle to see them play. "The fur
thest I've traveled to a concert
is Las Vegas. I'm probably the
oldest fan here," said Vanna in
a joking tone.
In order for a concert to be
this successful it requires a
large amount of planning and
devoted volunteers to get this
going.
The concert committee
chairs, those in green 'director
shirts' at the concert, began
meeting last semester, with the
first task being: Find an act.
The lengthy process begins
with an initial survey to get a
general idea of what students
want. The committee looks to
see what genre, ticket price
range, etc the students are
looking for.
Once the first survey is com
pletely done a discussion is had
with the middle agent through
concert ideas, then they are
able to narrow down their
search to several performers
Dorer's fight for life
how proactive the family was.
"When Kelly [Cardos], Erin
[Keisel], and I met them at the
carnival we were welcomed
right away," Wolfe said. "We
were surprised at how lively
Rylee was. She ended up danc
ing on stage for us and just hav
ing fun. We made an immediate
bond."
The first get-together may
Behrend Police Officer McCaslin said that Po
lice and Safety received the call about the
trapped students around 7 p.m., at which point
they called the elevator company to free the stu
dents.
Mike Murphy, a technician for the Otis Eleva
tor Company, arrived at the scene shortly before
8 p.m. to fix the elevator.
When the students were freed at 8:21 p.m.,
after nearly an hour and a half in the elevator,
they were briefly interviewed by Officer Mc-
Caslin. According to the students,
After recording their information, McCaslin
questioned the students briefly, making sure that
no one was injured. He also asked if the students
had done anything that would have caused it to
stop. The students denied jumping in the eleva
tor, claiming that it had slowed down on its own
before coming to a complete stop.
"It stopped because it's a piece of junk," said
Adam Tamilia, a second semester mechanical
engineering student.
Tamilia went on to say that he did not recall
anyone jumping in the elevator.
"It wasn't scary at all," said Brian Gwyn, a
freshman. "It was funny at first."
Gwyn said "We bounced, and then the elevator
bounced."
from various genres. Another
survey is then sent out with
specific artists, all viable, to the
students.
The final decision was be
tween either rapper/actor Lu
dacris or the Goo Goo Dolls.
Based on the results of that sur
vey, The Goo Goo Doll's had a
Molly Thomas and James Wolfe give Rylee Dorer a boost.
Jon Klein / The Behrend Beacon
The Goo Goo Dolls performed for hundreds of Behrend fans.
have gotten THON and the
Dorers familiar with each other.
but the second visit gave Wolfe
and Thomas a humbling, in
depth look at the Dorers lives at
the Hershey Medical Center.
Adorned in medical gowns
and masks, Wolfe said that they
had a preconceived notion that
they didn't want to seem too
happy walking in but were met
Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon
Thirteen students were trapped in Behrend's outside elevator leaving them stranded for over an hour.
majority response and the com
mittee went with them. A deci
sion sophomore, Political
Science major, Jason Kirklin
thought was a success.
"I think the concert was ab
solutely amazing, the Goo Goo
Dolls really performed better
than I expected," said Kirklin.
by an upbeat family, including
Rylee. despite her illness.
"1 was excited to see them,
again," Rylee said. "We already
loved each other a lot, and I
think they were really great for
us."
"They [THONG were a big
pick-me-up, because those first
few months were the most in
tensive and the most difficult
for all of us," Mr. Dorer said.
"Rylee was taking up to 12
pills a day which she could not
swallow whole. She always had
needles and tubes in her, but
she sort of understood what she
had to do to survive."
For over two years, the Dor
ers took Rylee to the clinic two
to three times a week and
watched as she braved through
chemotherapy, occasionally
leaving Corbin and Delaney
with family and Rylee largely
absent from school. Days upon
end spent at the hospital were
especially hard for Mrs. Dorer,
who often tried to hide tears
from Rylee.
"When she saw me cry, she
just told me to come lay with
her," Mrs. Dorer said. "She
quickly gained maturity beyond
her years while losing a little bit
of her childhood."
"The beautiful thing about
Rylee is that she is never differ
ent based on her health,"
Thomas said.
Thomas' relationship with
Rylee pinnacled when Linh
Nguyen, another THON mem
ber, and she had their hair cut
for Rylee at THON 2009.
for over an hour
"A much better choice than Lu-
dacris."
Opening for the Goo Goo
Doll's was The Rocket Summer,
who at the concert was giving
advice. His advice for the aspir
ing artists out there, saying that
any kind of expression vocal
izes an impact.
"Pray for creativity, and it will
come: like in the Field of
Dreams," said Stephen Bryce
Avary. "Build it and they will
come."
When chairmen of the con
cert committee Stephen Burger
was asked how do they even
get such a big name to come to
a commonwealth campus, such
as Behrend made it sound sim
ple.
"We have a middle agent
through concert ideas who we
communicate with and he in
tern contacts band managers
and representatives," said
Burger. "We are able to get
prices and tentative dates."
While arranging the concert
the concert committee faced
one main problem with a pro
duction request, one that the
Junker Center simply couldn't
accommodate.
"One of the biggest difficul
ties was negotiating the Goo
Thomas said they grew their
hair out for almost two years to
get a foot cut off for Rylee, who
was brought to tears by the ges
ture. She then took both
clumps of hair and sported
them to her head.
Eight months later, in late
Dec. 2009, the sweet news
came from the Dorers; Rylee
was taking her last chemother
apy pills and entering remis
sion.
"A few of us that have access
to her Carepage got the update
and could not believe it,"
Thomas said.
"We set out on a mission and
accomplished it," Nguyen said.
"She is my little hero."
The last time the Dorers and
Behrend met, which was at
THON 2010, a simple miscom
munication left Thomas and
other Behrend THON members
in tears.
"Amanda [Mrs. Dorer] texted
me that it was Rylee's last walk
across the stage," Thomas said.
"They didn't understand that
once they are a Four Diamonds
Family they are a family for life.
They will be back at THON
every year to celebrate our
journey."
"It was thrilling to be in re
mission at THON," Rylee said.
"I had so many people help me;
my doctors, THON and my
family. Without them I would
not have made it."
As if conquering cancer was
not enough, Rylee has set her
heart on new ambitions. "I am
going to be a rock star."
Goo Dolls' production request.
Originally, they wanted to have
a quite elaborate light show,"
said Burger. " A. it was quite ex
pensive and B. it was a little too
much for the Junker Center to
accommodate."
In order to run the concert
smoothly, besides directors, the
concert committee comprised
of approximately 20 students,
who met Friday night, assem
bled the stage and reconvened
at 8 in the morning the day of
the concert. Returning left
ahead of them was to complete
assembling the stage, lights,
and sound.
"When it's all said done, we
had around 100 volunteers that
were needed in order to prop
erly run the show," said Burger.
After the concert, sophomore
biology major Emily Harring
ton , had only one complaint
but enjoyed her experience.
"As a short person it was re
ally hard to see, but it sounded
great enough to blow my ear
drums out. Since I'm from New
York it's nice to hear a band
from my area."
Despite the difficulties faced
the hard work of those involved
with the concert turned a suc
cessful evening.