The Lion’s Eye a
Vol. 1, Issue 4.
Penn State Brandywine
Media, Pennsylvania
October 28, 2009
PENNSTATE
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PE INNST/ ATE
Honors Program
Service Project
Helping Ghana
Leaders in Civic ngugument ey: to Fight)
By Andrew Shaner
Lion's Eye Staff Writer
ads5249@psu.edu
Each year, Penn State Brandy-
wine’s Honors community is tasked with
fulfilling a service project for the com-
munity. This project typically pertains to
a common honors theme for the semes-
ter. This fall, Penn State Brandywine’s
Honors Program is continuing to reach its
goal of civic and community engagement,
this time focusing on the global commu-
nity. The theme of the Honors Program
for this semester is “Achieving Universal
Primary Education,” and students are
working on a fundraiser toward this goal.
The money raised will be sent to the Her-
itage Academy, a school for youngsters in
Ghana (http://schoerkefoundation.org/).
Honors student, Carl Doonan (DUS ’12)
said, “This is a great way to fulfill our
honors theme for the semester.”
The Heritage Academy is a
co-educational primary day school for
students in Ghana. It provides students in
Ghana an opportunity to succeed on both
their national exams (a requirement for
all students in Africa) and in their lives.
The Honors group decided that raising
money for such an organization would
be an effective service project, especially
given some of the honor students’ per-
sonal knowledge and friendship with the
teachers working in Ghana. The Heritage
Academy has a great track record of
achievement; their students have a 97%
success record on the national exams.
Honors students met to decide on a par-
ticular activity.
Spearheaded by Honors scholars
Benjamin Bean (Letters Arts and Sci-
ences, ‘11) and Kavita Chaudhry (DUS
‘13), the effort to raise money for this
cause and organization was well received
among Honors students. “I think that the
upcoming honors service project is very
ambitious,” said Lauren Orner (DUS
>12). “The projects
Career-ing it up at the
Career Fair
Discourse and Driving:
PA’s New Cell Phone Law
By Jenn Knowlton — Lions Eye Campus Editor
jak5450@psu.edu
Beginning on Novem-
ber 1, 2009, Pennsylvania will
be forced to abide by a new law
and if you’re a driver who can’t
find your destination and want to
call a friend for directions, think
again. Police are strictly enforc-
ing this new law: no talking on
the cell phone while driving. The
law was signed to start in May,
but administration decided not
to enforce it until November.
Pennsylvania wanted its’ citizens
to adapt to the law, which is why
a five month gap occurs.
Officials say that $75
fines will be issued to anyone
driving while talking on their cell
phone. Also, if you need to talk
to someone on the phone you
may not do so while stopped at a
Coa NE Ca
red light or stop sign because that
too will be breaking the new law.
Texting-while-driving
laws are pending as of October
3, 2009. Yet, in order to be fined
for texting while driving, if the
law goes into effect, it is merely
a second offense. An officer must
see a person recklessly driving or
doing other illegal activities to is-
sue the fine. It is said that texting
or e-mailing on a personal phone
has the same effect as driving
with a 0.08 BAC (blood alcohol
content) level. So, when you’re
driving home and you hear that
“Make it Rain” ring tone, think
twice. Right around the corner
could be a cop, and that’s $75 out
of the college fund and that’s not
something we can all afford.
~Continued from Left Column~
we are doing could do a lot to further
the honors program theme of achiev-
ing universal primary education.” This
theme is a relevant one too - the United
Nation’s Millennium Development
Goals had hoped for equal and univer-
sal primary education by 2005. It is
now 2009, and the UN still considers
this goal unmet. However, a school like
the Heritage Academy is an example of
a step in the right direction.
The Honors group encourages
students on campus to get involved in
this process in any way they wish to
help. Although officially National Hon-
ors Service Day was on October 16th,
the Honors project for this semester
stretches beyond the limits of merely
one day. In fact, the fundraising will
take place over the course of one week
at Penn State Brandywine. On Monday
October 26th, a representative from the
Heritage Academy will speak at the
Voices of Innovation seminar showing
students firsthand how their donations
and assistance can and will help the
students of Ghana. The following day,
the Honors group will host an Open
Mic session, where students are free to
speak out on various issues, not only
through speech, but song and poetry as
well. Donations will be accepted at this
event, and students are asked to give to
this worthy cause.
On October 28th, in order to
raise further funds, Penn State students
will be encouraged to place quarters
along a marked mile path on cam-
pus over the course of the entire day.
This “Quarter Mile” will be a good
visual representation of the service
project’s effectiveness and help to put
the process into perspective. Finally,
on October 29th, Penn State students
will be provided with the opportunity to
write encouraging letters to the children
in Ghana by visiting a “letter-writing
station” overseen by Honors repre-
sentatives. These letters will be sent
directly to the Heritage Academy and
will be read by learners nearly half a
world away.
The opportunity to serve is
one never to be missed by Penn State
Brandywine’s Honors group. This
semester’s effort is shaping up to be an
exciting and well-organized endeavor
toward achieving universal primary
education.