I Tuesday, July 27,2010 Tiie D\ i 1.1 Collegian Elizabeth Murphy Editor in Chief Kelsey Thompson Business Manager About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian and The Weekly Collegian are pub lished by Collegian Inc., an independent, nonprofit cor poration with a board of directors composed of stu dents, faculty and profes sionals. Pennsylvania State University students write and edit both papers and solicit advertising for them. During the fall and spring semes ters as well as the second six-week summer session, The Daily Collegian publish es Monday through Friday. Issues are distributed by mail to other Penn State campuses and individual subscribers. Complaints: News and edi torial complaints should be presented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be pre sented to the business man ager. Who we are The Daily Collegian's edito rial opinion is determined by its Board of Opinion, with the editor holding final responsibility. The letters and columns expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of The Daily Collegian, Collegian Inc. or The Pennsylvania State University. Collegian Inc., publishers of The Daily Collegian and related publi cations, is a separate corpo rate institution from Penn State. Editorials are written by The Daily Collegian Board of Opinion. Members are: Kevin Cirilli, Jenna Ekdahl, Bill Landis, Elizabeth Mur phy, Laura Nichols, Edgar Ramirez, Andrew Robinson, Heather Schmelzlen, Jared Shanker, Katie Sullivan, Alex Weisler, Steph Witt and Chris Zook. Letters We want to hear your com ments on our coverage, editorial decisions and the Penn State community. ■ E-mail collegianletters@psu.edu ■ Online www.psucollegian.com ■ Postal mail/ln person 123 S. Burrowes St. University Park, PA 16801 Letters should be about 200 words. Student letters should include class year, major and campus. Letters from alumni should include year of graduation. All writers should provide their address and phone number for verification. Letters should be signed by no more than two peo ple. Members of organiza tions must include their titles if the topic they write about is connected with the aim of their groups. The Collegian reserves the right to edit letters. The Collegian cannot guaran tee publication of all let ters it receives. Letters chosen also run on The Daily Collegian Online and may be selected for publi cation in The Weekly Colle gian. All letters become property of Collegian Inc. More clubs needed at meeting Student body President Christian Ragland met with the director of the Penn State Presidential Leadership Academy last week, discussing ways to combat dangerous drink ing in State College. It’s a curious mix of stu dent leaders to combat an important issue and Ragland deserves praise for taking the first steps in his term as University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) presi dent to tackle the issue. But he needs to go fur ther. These conversations should include members ©Taylor Jones • all rights reserved Volunteering offers unique summer opportunity By Shannon Simcox Is anyone else aware that there is only a precious few weeks left in our sweet summer time before classes start up again? I knew the clock was ticking, but wow. So as the inevitable thoughts of the fall semester come swim ming into my head, I can’t help but think what have I been doing all sum mer? . MY OPINION I held down a job. I worked an internship. I laid out on the beach. I partied. The list doesn’t really seem like anything special. If you are with me, wondering where your summer went to, there is still about a month left to do something. What about volunteer ing? Something that’s not always on everyone’s to do list (sure it looks good on a resume but what is there actually to gain) might be just what and leaders from the greek community, stu- dent-athletes and various other Penn State organi zations and clubs. Clubs and organizations should also invite guest speakers to discuss the dangers of excessive drinking. While Penn State Presi dent Graham Spanier’s hand-picked elite fresh men group have the potential to be campus leaders in the future, Ragland should also be working with students who are already in a posi tion to launch all-encom passing drinking initia tives. “When the fall comes around and you’re thinking back on your summer, I’m willing to bet a memory of something like volunteering is going to stick out beyond the $lO movie that possibly ripped you off.” you need to make this summer a memorable one. In 2009, only 22 percent of the population ages 16 to 24 volun teered. A pittance really, and what’s worse is that once the age group reached college level, it dropped. Twenty six percent of the popula tion ages 16 to 19 volunteer, where as only about 19 percent of people ages 20 to 24 volunteer. Finding somewhere to lend a hand can be as simple as a Google search for “volunteer opportunities in (insert area here).” There are a wide variety of opportunities to find just the right fit —just look for something interesting. Someone could deliver meals with the local Meals on Wheels program, visit a soup kitchen, help out at a blood drive the possibilities are end less. Maybe a Google search is a little The borough should also meet with students to dis cuss dangerous drinking. Instead of proposing ques tionable ordinances, like the Nuisance Gathering Ordinance, borough lead ers should reach out to students to better foster town and gown relations regarding excessive drink ing. Dangerous drinking is an important issue that deserves to be discussed at all levels within the community. It’s one that requires better relation ships amongst the public not just public relations spin. Search caglecartoons.com too much preparation. Lending your time to aid the needs of some one else could be as simple as knocking on the door of an elderly next-door neighbor and chatting for a few minutes or offering to babysit for a new mom. Simple tasks like this, the sacri fice of a night here or an afternoon there, are truly miniscule in the grand scheme of things. But for the elderly gentleman longing for some conversation or the mom who really needs a night off, it could mean the world. Maybe you will get to hear some old war stories from the old man, or one of the children you vol unteered to babysit will turn out to be a pretty cool kid. Yeah, there’s work the next day, a party or bar that you could go to, a movie you could see or a couch that is simply calling your name. But those things are always there. The Daily Collegian FOOTBLOG Lineman Mangiro picks PSU Angelo Mangiro, an offensive lineman from Roxbury High School, committed to Penn State on Sunday, Fight on State reported. xThe 6-foot-3 lineman also con sidered Rutgers, Ohio State and Pittsburgh before narrowing his choice down to the Scarlet Knights and Nittany Lions. The New Jersey native received 12 collegiate offers, including one from Florida. Mangiro, who weighs 290 pounds, liked Penn State because of its family feel. He is the fourth 2011 recruit to commit to Penn State. Osborne attending meetings Despite Nebraska not joining the Big Ten until 2011, Cornhuskers' Athletic Director Tom Osborne will be joining the Big Ten’s preseason meetings in Chicago. Osborne's attendance at the Aug. 2-3 event in Chicago was reported by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg. ... Cornhuskers coach Bo Pelini will not attend the meeting. ... However, Osborne won’t have an official say in anything the conference does until Nebraska officially joins next July. But, the former Congressman will surely have plenty of ideas and sugges tions to make.... BLOGGING, KICKING AND SCREAMING American women eliminated The United States women’s U-20 World Cup run is over. After winning its group, the Americans faced off against Nigeria on Sunday in Germany. Depsite an early go-ahead goal, the United States fell 4-2 on penalty kicks after tying Nigeria 1-1 in regulation and extra time. Penn State midfielder Christine Nairn was the first PK-taker for the United States but saw her attempt saved by Nigerian keeper Alaba Jonathan. ... The loss marks the earliest exit in a U-20 World Cup by the United States since the bi-annual competition began in 2002. Previously, the Americans had never lost before the semi-finals. Read more of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucollegian.com/blogs. Wanted: Web Intern The Collegian is seeking a web intern for the fall semester to join its award-winning web team. This position offers a merit based $l,OOO scholarship per semester. We are diving into several new web ini tiatives this fall including a brand new website, and are looking for applicants with a working knowledge of HTML, CSS and proficiency in at least one of the fol lowing: Javascript, Flash, PHH Perl, ASPnet, or C#. We are also looking into mobile applications, as well, so a knowl edge of or interest in learning about mobile development is encouraged but not required. You will be working with the Web Editor, who also has a knowledge of these tech nologies. This position requires a flexible but steady time commitment. Your respon sibilities will vary based on your skills, but could include designing pages and/or interactive pieces for our site, writing scripts to parse and reformat old stories or communicate with public APIs (Twitter, Tumblr, etc), or designing back-end man agement systems, among other things. An interest in journalism and being a part of an independent student newspaper is highly encouraged, as well. To apply, send a resume and cover letter to Editor in Chief Elizabeth Murphy at edltorinchlef@psucollegian.com. When the fall comes around and you’re thinking back on your sum mer, I’m willing to bet a memory of something like volunteering is going to stick out beyond the $lO movie that possibly ripped you off. I was recently at the headquar ters of the Chestnut Hill Meals on Wheels program writing up a story for my internship. I was there as the volunteers were returning with updates for the staff members. I watched as the group of people all came in with smiles. There are going to be tons of movies, parties and workdays in the future none of those things are going to give the satisfaction that comes with lending a helping hand. At the end of the day, you will know that you made the difference in the life of a total stranger, family mem ber or neighbor. What did you do this summer? The answer could be, “Same old, same old,” or it could be a lasting memory of a toddler you babysat. Shannon Simcox is a senior majoring in journalism and political science and is the Collegian's Tuesday columnist. Her e-mail address is scsso96@psu.edu. Audrey Snyder Football reporter Andrew Robinson Sports co-editor
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