THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Researchers discuss Marcellus By Nathan Pipenberg COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER State College community mem bers concerned about the effects the Marcellus Shale could have on the area had a chance to express their concerns Wednesday after noon. One day after the 2010 Marcellus Summit wrapped up at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd., the co-directors of the uni versity's Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (M-COR) headed downtown to discuss the impact the gas industry will have on the state. The audience at the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, mostly older community members. lis tened to co-directors Michael Athletes bond through tennis clinic By Alyssa Bender COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Bright yellow tennis balls soared across three of the Sarni Tennis Center courts on a crisp fall Wednesday night as 15 Special Olympics Centre County athletes participated in a tennis clinic with the Penn State men's team. Special Olympics Centre County tennis coach Mike Wolff said participation has increased every year since the clinic started. He said the event started over 15 years ago with the women's team. Over the years, the event had fizzled out, but the men's team brought it back four years ago, he said. Penn State team members led various drills for the first part of the evening, joking with the Special Olympics athletes and sharing words of encouragement. Special Olympics athletes lined up in groups to practice their fore hand, backhand and other basic skills while team members served balls from across the court. "We really learn to appreciate it," men's tennis player Jason Lee (junior-economics) said. who has helped with the clinic every year he has been on the team. He said they've started to view tennis as a job because of the amount of pressure they have to do well. "It's a good way to give back to the community, - he said. team well + Live well lionscrossing.com Arthur and Tom Murphy and asked pointed questions about safety concerns and industry vio lations. The tough questions may have surfaced because of the co-direc tors' perceived loyalties to the gas industry. While M-COR's research is internally funded by the univer sity Arthur said his own research as a professor is often funded by pro-drilling groups. His goal is to give students the best training possible and eventu ally help them find jobs in the industry, he said, and he doesn't think the funding affects his objec tivity. But the main point that Arthur and Murphy made Wednesday was that delving into the Marcellus Shale is a calculat ed risk Equipment is going to break, Penn State tennis player Harry Seaborn (freshman-marketing) watch es Heather Thomas, 34, of Altoona, during the annual tennis clinic for Special Olympics of Pennsylvania on Wednesday evening. Penn State men's tennis head coach Todd Doebler told partici pants that he hoped they all had a lot of fun and learned something new - If you can hit our players with a ball, that's even better. You'll defi nitely get a high five from me," he said. After an hour and a half of ten nis drills. participants had one final challenge—to hit just one ball over the net. Then each partici pant high-fived their team mem bers and received a Penn State rally towel. Athletes from both teams concluded the night with a pizza party. Wolff said that this event is really about getting ath- nitt anycrossingpa.corn collegeparkpa.com LOCAL hoses are going to fail," Murphy said. "There is no question there." The event was well-timed, com ing at the heels of increased con struction regulations passed on Tuesday by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which Murphy said will also bring about more drilling inspections by DEP officials. All of this will enhance the safety of gas extrac tion from the Marcellus Shale, a resource former Penn State pro fessor Robert Watson said could power the country for 100 years. That energy would be accompa nied by an estimated 150,000 wells scattered across the country Arthur said. So far, no one knows how that will affect Pennsylvania's landscape or economy. To e-mail reporter: ndpso4s@psu.edu letes together, and the connection Special Olympics has with Penn State is just a bonus. He said he thinks it's important for his team members to get the chance to play with elite athletes. Doebler said he thinks his team enjoys it just as much. "The athletes that come just light up. They think it's the coolest thing anytime a Penn State varsity athlete takes time out of their day to spend time with them," he said. "It's an honor to have those ath letes come." James Nichol contributed to this article To email reporter: ambsB74@psu.edu gm to thme/ Wn OP kw ) c i f o ge 0 44. A o f ~, RI floweureep-? Audition on Saturday, October 23rd 3pm in the Bryce Jordan Center ust be available to work all home games. ncer and Emcee are both paid positions) Courtesy of Kevin Stecko Kevin Stecko, Class of 1999, has found large success with his online T-shirt business, 80sTees.com. Alumnus thrives with T-shirt site By Nathan Pipenberg COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Not many people can boast that they make more money pur suing a side project than their career, but Penn State alumnus Kevin Stecko has managed to do just that. Stecko, Class of 1999, started to sell T-shirts online in his time off work, but after finding suc cess he quit his full-time engi neering job and focused on the T shirt business full-time instead. "I was making more money selling T-shirts than I was at my full-time job," Stecko said. Thus, 80sTees.com came to fruition in 2002. Originally, the website featured what its name implies shirts bearing refer ences to classic 'Bos pop culture like Pac-Man and A-Team. Today, the store has expanded to sell modern gear, too as Stecko said, "nothing new is coming out from the '80s" but the majority is still influenced by "it" trends. References to televi sion shows, movies and music groups dominate the homepage. The business has become a multi-million dollar venture, employing 15 full-time and 10 part-time workers, and selling 25,000 to 30,000 items per month. Stecko partly credits his suc cess to an influence he came across in State College the THURSDAY, OCT. 14, 2010 I 3 House of Kashmir store, 130 Calder Way, which is famed for selling a similar style of T-shirt. One day at the Kennywood amusement park, Stecko said he received an alarming number of comments on a He-Man shirt he bought from House of Kashmir. If people liked his shirt, he said, he figured they would buy simi lar ones online. Before he graduated, Stecko returned to the House of Kashmir one last time to buy a bulk order. His first foray into online sales was reselling those T-shirts on eßay.com Tulay Girard, a Penn State professor and expert on buying behavior, said a disadvantage of shopping online is dealing with the inconvenience of mailing back a product the consumer wants to return. But Stecko has avoided that pitfall by making the store feel like a brick and mortar shop instead. He tries to take the risk factor out of online shopping. He set up a generous return policy and has a size chart for every shirt style that is available. Plus, he said he's lucky because most of his sales are in men's T-shirts. Apparel is something that's really hard to describe online, but most men aren't too picky as long as the shirt fits all right, he said. To e-mail reporter: ndpso4s@psu.edu 0/4/tdem Skie.e? ons will begin around 3:3opm wing the PA/Emcee auditions. Please email Bonnie Clarke with Penn State Sports Marketing at bncl @psu.edu if you plan on auditioning ree parking available in Founders Lot
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