16 Collegian Magazine Friday, Oct. 9, 1981
Alumni return to
their alma mater
By SCOTT FRITSCHE
Collegian Staff Writer
Fall weekends bring color, falling .
leaves, crisp air, football games and
Halloween. They also bring Winnebagos
and vans full of alumni of all ages
anticipating Penn State football and
reunions with friends, and looking for an
all-around feeling of nostalgia.
One has to wonder why these people
come back after years away from the old
alma mater to take part in football
festivities and alumni celebrations.
"We come back to be with our friends
and get together a tailgate party for the ,
football games," said Susan Papaioannou,
class of '7l, from New York City. "We've
been coming for the last four years from
New York to go to the bars and to visit the
places that we used to go."
Some people arrive in town for a variety
of reasons other than football. Some come
to visit the town, campus and old hangouts
that were a favorite when they went to
school.
"I wish I were back," said Daisy Rieter
of Philipsburg, class of '57. "We have 13
alumni in our family and have been
returning for the last 23 years. I have a few
nephews that go to this school and when we
come over to State College for a tailgate,
we always get together.
"I just really love the town of State
College," she said. "The town is so
genuinely Bohemian and the campus so
great, it's really like coming home."
There must be a world of difference in
411 , •
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both the campus and the town of State
College since alumni went to school here.
The attitudes and aspirations of students
today must be far different from the
outlooks and goals of students who were in
the graduating class of some of these
alumni.
The depression in the late '2os prohibited
many young people from receiving any
type of higher education. State College is
far from large cities like Pittsburgh - and
Philadelphia and it was this distance that
kept the college and agricultural
community f~•~m being hit too hard by the
depression.
"Well, its a lot smaller, of course," said
C.L. Erickson, class of '35. "In those days,
we used to dress up for classes and a
necktie was worn almost all the time
because we were proud to be going to
school. Kids today are so much more
casual about class. Back when I was going
here, kids didn't sleep together or anything
like that."
Rieter said: "There was more spirit, it
seems. We had a huge cheering section for
the football games. All of our friends would
go out and cheer the team on. I don't think
today's students are making tight friends
the way we used to."
"During our freshman year, we had to
be in the dorms at night at 9:15," she said.
"It was being forced to be together in the
dorms that kindled these friendships. One
day a year, we were allowed to entertain a
male guest for a two-hour 'open house.'
Dorms sure were strict."
The '6os were a time of confusion for
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many students. They had to deal with the
war, Nixon, drugs and peer pressure to be
as active politically and socially as
possible.
"It seems that kids today don't have any
social awareness," said George
Papaioannou of New York City, class of
'69. I think that students today are stictly
after that 30-grand a year job. The apathy
around college campuses today is terrible.
I don't think that kids today have anything
to rally around "
Larry Kay of Port Matilda, class of '7l,
said: "There was a mixture of people in
their '2os, '3os and '4os who used to go and
drink together in the bars. Now, I guess,
people in their '3os and '4os, like us, can
afford to go to nicer bars."
When one stops to think, the caravan of
cars, vans and Winnabagos doesn't really
cause an annoyance to those who are still
in school, and they don't really tie-up
traffic that much. The drivers and
occupants of those recreational vehicles
were here before most of us were even
thinking of college.
There have been a lot of changes since
these alumni went to school some good
and some bad. Students who think that
dorm life is strict, social awareness is high
and college life as a whole isn't too casual
should talk to an alumnus from years ago
and they will find out, that in most cases,
going to school in these times is much
easier.
The majority of the alumni that come
into State College for football and
nostalgia are successful representatives of
the working world who show, indeed, that
college does work.
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