V ii ir •• iiiii‘ it • , 141111:44% : ‘ . . 4 • vi V t Kissing, Page 8 ,„ , ( , 4 'Hitch' preview, 7 , , Is Page 7 li 4., Amok . , 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
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