I The Behrend Beacon
The Behrend
Beacon
Founded in 1948
Penn State Erie,
The Behrend College
Reed Union Building
4701 College Drive, Erie PA
16563
RoomloH
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Christopher LaFuria, Editor-in-Chief
Andy McLachlan, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Scott Muska, Managing Editor
Tiffany Flynn, Advertising Manager
Michelle Quail, Advertising Editor
Kim Young, Faculty Adviser
Editorial Staff
Lenny Smith, News Editor
M. Schwabenbauer, asst. News Editor
Rachel Reeves, Opinion Editor
Jess Carlson, Sports Editor
Scott Muska, Student Life Editor
Ryan P. Gallagher, Music Editor
Chris Brown, Copy Editor
Jennifer Juncosa, Copy Editor
Evan Koser, Copy Editor
Jeremy K„ Humor/Photography Editor
Connor Sattely, Entertainment Editor
Keegan McGregor, Photo Editor
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The four year to-do list:
Bv Chris LaFuria
editor-in-chief
csls(X)s (o'psu.edu
Take a hike in the Gorge. Wateh an
LEB movie on a Friday night. Jog a
couple laps around Junker Center.
Wateh a baseball game. Play tennis at l()
p.m. Sit in the grass outside of Reed
Union Building and wateh people walk
Go to a Logan Series Music at Noon
performance. Attend an improv night,
hosted by Matchbox Players. Visit the
Smith Chapel and listen to a poet read
his latest collection.
Stop by a professor's office just to
shoot the bree/e. Hang an interesting
poster about an upcoming event. Play in
a Friday night pickup soccer game in
Erie Hall. Listen to a visiting scientist
speaking about a new telescope.
Contribute an article for The Beacon or
some literary art for the Lake Effect.
Ride a bike to class instead of strug
gling with the parking labyrinth. Eat
some free food at a volleyball or soccer
game. Watch people on the balcony
enjoy the company of their friends and
play some Magic: the Gathering.
Stop for a couple seconds and listen to
the Carillon Bells. Sit with the adminis
tration at noon in Bruno's and talk about
Cartoon In Rachel Rcc\cs
Bv Matthew Schwabenbauer
asst, news editor
mjss3B7(« psu.edu
Two weeks. The words Hying out of
everyone's mouth. Two more weeks of
school. Two weeks and all of this is
It's almost like switching lives, leas-
ing a new one for an old one.
Everything that has happened during
the past eight months gets put on hold,
hut just for a little w hile.
It seems like just yesterday I was
moving in. It felt like a dream, at the
time. The bed 1 woke up in thru morn
ing wasn't the one I slept in that night.
Despite a large number of people com
ing here from my high school. Behrend
felt like a whole new world. There I
was. a dumb, nervous kid that was
completely unsure of himself, sur
rounded by thousands of other new
people his same age. I was terrified and
enamored at the same time.
The first day of school was a scram
ble to meet girls. I had just broken up
with my girlfriend of over a year and
was ready to get myself out there.
Looking back on it. it was almost sad.
Actually, it was very sad.
The highlight of the day was when
Want writing exprience?
Want a resume-booster?
Hiring for next year:
• e-mail rcrsos7@psu.edu
OPINION
Behrend in general. Take part in LEB
open mic night at Bruno's
Bring coffee to someone that looks
like they're going to fall asleep in the
Library computer lab. Eat a bagel or
two at the Clark Cafe in RE DC. Let
somebody cross the street without hesi
tation. Turn down your radio and bass
when you're driving to class.
Memori/e the names of all the build
ings in the Apartment complex. Fait
lunch in the Wilson Picnic Gro\e. Pick
up an empty cardboard beer box outside
of Ohio Hall and throw it in the dump
ster.
Get some coffee in the Bruno's calc.
Avoid the coffee from the sending
machine in Kochel Building. Peruse the
display of books written by professors
and maybe ask to read one. Rent some
dvds for FREE from the library. Take
off your iPod headphones and listen to
the natural sound of the campus.
Check out the ja// band take on a dif
ficult number. Attend the Behrend's
chorus' holiday concert. Ride along
w ith the Police and Safety and see what
their job's about. If. for some reason,
you're in Reed tiller midnight, help a
maintenance worker pick up some
garbage
Put on a Behrend t-shirt. Buy a
Behrend bumper sticker. Don't say.
f ii . >OB [
Two weeks
one of m\ friends and I were corralling
members of the opposite sex to go to a
party his brother was throwing at his
house. At the time, there was an iee
cream social tiointi on in front of one of
the dorms.
"Hey ladies, where you headed'.’" my
stouthearted friend asked a couple of
girls. "We’re going to the iee cream
social." they replied. My friend saw his
opportunity and blurted. "Well 1 know
about a keg social down the street if
you're interested!" Needless to say. we
sunk faster than the Titanic.
Now that the initial awkwardness of
school is oxer, this place feels like
home. Not the tiny redneck town south
of here where I was born. At home, it
seems like the only person I have any
thing in common with is my mother,
but here. I've met countless people
who share the same interests as me. the
friends I've been waiting to meet for
what seems like my entire life.
After nine months of getting to meet
new people, try new things, hear new
music and go to classes that actually
interest me. it's lime to leave. Time to
leave the faces I've seen daily for the
past eight months and accept the fact
that I won't be seeing many of them for
a while.
"Well, it's just Behrend. Who cares?"
Don't deface the signs that preach of
inequality. Don't throw trash in the ele
vators. Walk down from your dorm
instead of driving down. Donate your
textbooks in one of the bins. Visit the
MC’C. hang out and tell stories.
As I reflect on the last four years 1
have spent at Behrend. I have been able
to compile this list of activities.
Roughly l )0 percent of the items on here
I have done. Surprisingly. I have done
all of these in the last two years.
The first two years. I lived at home. I
w ent to class, came home. ate. then went
to work. That was my routine until I
moved closer to campus and discovered
the many things that are available on
campus. To those who go home every
weekend and stay in their dorms during
the week, read this list and then picture
yourself doing the activities. I think
\ou'll find some time to fit them in.
When I walk to get my diploma, end
ing my four-year career at one of the
best colleges in the area. I'm not going
to think of till the things I regret missing
out on: 1 don't have that kind of time.
Rather, what I'm going to remember is
the people that changed my life by sim
ple contact or conversation, and. hope
fully the people that I have impacted
through such experiences.
I.ookiiig hack on il all. the real
things I'm taking away lront my first
year of college aren't the things 1
1 earned in my classes, they're the times
I had with my friends. From getting
absolutely hammered drunk in dorm
rooms and hiding from RAs. to walk
ing for miles in the woods and laugh
ing at the kid who just jumped in the
creek naked hut is so drunk he doesn't
put his clothes back on. there are just
some things you need to do that you
don't get taught in class.
Looking back even harder. I can't
believe how many things I did that my
mother told me not to. I hope she does-
n't read this
Two weeks. In two weeks there will
be another day that I wake up in a bed
different than the one I'll be sleeping
in that night. Although Behrend was a
place that took a while for me to warm
tip to (partly due to the fact that I was
freezing to death the majority of the
time). I have to say this has been one of
the best years of my life. I'm going to
miss all the new friends I've made, but
at least I get to do a lot of visiting this
summer. I'm dreading only having two
more weeks of this, but next year can
onlv be better.
I think the world needs ...
Ceremony. A celebration of past accomplishments and
what is to come. Especially as another school year is
coming to a close, and some of us are heading out into
the wide world. Everyone needs a minute to be able to
step back and see just how far they’ve come.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Packing
up the
year...
By Rachel Reeves
opinion editor
rcrsos7(?' psu.edu
I'm starting to pack up my room
already. Well, there is a pile in the back
of my closet that stands about three feet
tall, which consists of all of the winter
stuff I no longer need. When I go home
for the weekend, my car will be riding
low. It's a strange feeling. I packed up a
little bit for winter break, but I knew
that I would be unpacking right back
into the same room. This time I don’t
know where I'll be unloading every
thing again.
At the very beginning of this year I
wrote an article about being a new
freshman. Struggling to figure out din
ner. wandering to classes, sitting in a
strange box of a dorm room with a
stranger of a roommate. Everything was
so foreign, like a language you only
barely knew.
I remember the first time I was com
fortable in my room. It was early in
November, and it was the first really
cold day. It had been raining, and I
came in from math soaking wet. I
tlieked on the lights, heated up a cup of
coffee, and put on some jazz. After
grabbing a book and hunkering onto my
bed. I realized that I was actually con
tent to be there.
I remember the first time I missed
something about Behrend. Rather, real
izing that I would be missing some
thing. I decided to pack up for winter
break in one night, so it was a four-hour
marathon packing session including
Chinese food and John Tucker Must
Die. I had taken a break to eat. and I
was sitting in the middle of my floor
surrounded my half-full totes and
clothes that were thrown everywhere. It
occurred to me that for the next three
weeks. I would not be able to go next
door to watch a movie and have a good
laugh. For once it felt like I was leaving
something behind.
And I remember the first time I felt
completely at home here. I was walking
to the library not too long ago. and it
was warm and the sun was out. I kept
walking past people that I knew, friends
that I had made. I kept seeing things on
campus that made me remember things
that made me laugh. It was one of those
moments when you can actually see
how far you've come.
I have made good friends here, some
I hope that I'll be friends with for life.
I've established patterns of living, tradi
tions. One, for example, is the fish
quotes board my roommate and I have.
The whiteboard on the inside of our
door used to be for messages, and
somehow it evolved into someplace to
write quotes pertaining only to fish. It
takes time to build a tradition as weird
as that.
I know what the bad food is at
Dobbins and the mostly safe food. I
haven’t tripped over the stairs in the sci
ence building for the longest time. I can
walk to any destination without think
ing about it. Scheduling I have down to
a science, and I even know some of the
classes and professors to avoid. I have
places I like to be and places I dread
walking into. There are people I avoid,
and there are people I like bumping
into.
Yesterday I was throwing the football
on the grass in front of my dorm with a
good friend. The sun was warm, and my
flip flops were abandoned a few feet
away. And I was proud at what I have
done. I’m not a lost freshman anymore.
I’m a person. I'm me.