Posts filed under ‘Hintz Family Alumni Center’
Adam Taliaferro Comes Home for Homecoming
It’s nothing like the freak snow storm we had two years ago, but the rain has done its best this week to put a damper on Homecoming 2011. Everything up here is pretty well soaked, but did that stop students from camping out for prime parade-watching spots on College Avenue before the sun came up Friday morning? Of course not — and it didn’t stop a great time Friday afternoon at the Hintz Family Alumni Center.
Adam Taliaferro '05 greets the Homecoming crowd
The alumni center was packed Friday, thanks to the presence of the homecoming court and Alumni Blue Band, untold gallons of Creamery ice cream, and a very special guest: 2011 Homecoming grand marshall Adam Taliaferro ’05. Now working as a lawyer in southern New Jersey, Taliaferro is in the midst of an exceptionally busy fall. When he gets home next week, he’ll be in the stretch run of his first political campaign (this short video has more on how he got into politics). I caught up with Adam for a quick interview shortly before the start of the parade.
I’ve seen you back on campus a few times over the years, and every time you get the same overwhelming response from everyone who knows your story. Does that ever get old?
AT: No, it’s amazing. The support I’ve gotten over the last 11 years has been second to none. It’s an honor to come back, see a lot of familiar faces, and I’m thankful that (more…)
A Very Penn State Wedding
The bride and bridesmaids on the Old Main porch. Click to see a larger, crisper version.
We’ve written about Penn State weddings before—here, here, and here, for example—but this past weekend was the first time I was actually involved in one.
I had a bit part, really. My brother Chris was the wedding photographer, and I served more or less as assistant photographer—as well as second assistant equipment schlepper.
(Chris’ wife, Paula, was first assistant equipment schlepper; she’s been doing weddings with him for years.)
My brother has all the talent, the experience, and the gear. My role was to fill in the gaps by taking whatever candid shots seemed to present themselves.
It was a Penn State wedding through and through: Both the bride and groom—Cameron Klementik ’07 and Daniel Ertley ’07—are Penn Staters, as are the bride’s parents, Judge David Klementik ’70 and Ruth Whalley Klementik ’70, and so were many of the bridesmaids and groomsmen.
Over the course of about 12 hours, Chris shot photos at a host of campus spots: the Nittany Lion Inn, the alumni center, Old Main, the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center (where the ceremony was held), the Nittany Lion Shrine, and Beaver Stadium (where the reception was held, in the Mount Nittany Club). We were also scheduled to do shoots at the Obelisk, the Joe Paterno statue outside the stadium, and other spots, but it was rainy and we just plain ran out of time.
If that’s not Penn Statey enough for you, (more…)
Fully Charged, Free of Charge
So I just took my first spin in a Chevy Volt. I was one of a few dozen people who got that chance Thursday afternoon, when Penn State’s Center for Sustainability unveiled its very own Volt, donated to the center by General Motors. Penn State is one of just two schools in the country (the other is Michigan Tech) to receive the vehicle, which will be used by students and researchers working on measuring and improving energy efficiency in cars.
It’s no accident that Penn State got its own Volt. Gregory Slusher ’85, Chevy’s Engineering Group Manager of Body Structures, was on hand to present the car to Center for Sustainability executive director David Riley ’91, ’94g and College of Engineering dean David Wormley. And as we pointed out on our blog a couple of years ago, one of the people who has helped make this environmentally friendlier vehicle come to fruition is Mel Fox ’05, a GM battery engineer.
The folks from GM brought three Volts to State College for a ceremony at Foundry Park, right behind our offices in the Hintz Family Alumni Center. One was the actual donated vehicle; the other two were made available for test drives, which, after showing my license and taking my very first breathalyzer, I lined up for. I took a five-minute ride around campus and up College Avenue, finding out that driving a Volt feels (refreshingly) like driving pretty much any other car. The big difference? Man, is that thing quiet. I’m hoping to get behind the wheel of one of these again soon. I’ll keep you posted.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
It’s a Nice Day for a Blue and White Wedding
Back in early June, our editor Tina Hay stumbled across a wedding ceremony at the gazebo outside the Hintz Family Alumni Center. The lovely photos of Emily Haworth ’11 and Ben Finch ’10 drew lots of attention—including some from engaged couples who contacted the Alumni Center hoping to book the alumni gardens for their own weddings.
Well, good news and bad news: Weddings aren’t officially permitted on the Hintz lawn (or in the Alumni Center itself), but there are plenty—and we mean plenty—of other spots on campus where lovebirds can tie the knot or hold a reception. A sampling of options:
Tables set for dinner during a wedding reception at the Mt. Nittany Club in Beaver Stadium.
Given Beaver Stadium’s gargantuan size and sentimental appeal, it’s unsurprisingly a popular wedding venue. For receptions, the Mt. Nittany Club is the largest available space in the stadium, seating 176 with a head table and dance floor. The Letterman’s Lounge features high-top tables and leather chairs, suitable for a cocktail reception of about 65 people, with room for a dance floor and buffet table. The President’s Suite, which seats up to 104, is popular for its view of both the field and Mt. Nittany.
When it comes to the ceremony itself, Eisenhower Chapel is an obvious first choice. Thousands of couples have tied the knot at the intimate venue since it was built in (more…)
A Wedding in the Gazebo
I was minding my own business in my office this afternoon, gnashing my teeth over some copy I’m struggling to write for our July-August issue, while out in the alumni gardens a couple of Penn Staters were getting married.
I was oblivious to the goings-on until my coworker Linda Whitlock, who works upstairs from me in the Hintz Family Alumni Center, popped her head into my office to tell me that a wedding was in progress in the gazebo.
I grabbed my camera, hustled downstairs and out the door, and sure enough, there was a small, informal wedding taking place right there in the gazebo. What a lovely setting, and a beautiful day, for a wedding, even if the choice of a Thursday afternoon may seem a bit odd.
I took some photos of the ceremony from a discreet distance, trying to be unobtrusive. (Well, I did wade into the bushes next to the gazebo at one point in hopes of getting a better angle.) I was hoping the folks in the wedding party wouldn’t mind my presence and chase me away.
After it was over, I introduced myself to everyone; it turns out that the bride and groom are Emily Haworth ’11 and Ben Finch ’10, and they were happy to let me post some photos of their wedding.
In fact, since they didn’t actually have an official photographer for their wedding, they asked if I would mind taking a few photos of all of them. Which, of course, I was happy to do:
The guy in white is local goldsmith Erroll Wilson, who served as the officiant—and made the wedding rings too.
Congrats and good luck to Emily and Ben!
Tina Hay, editor
P.S. One of our most popular blog stories ever is this one, about a snowy New Year’s Eve wedding a few years ago in the same setting.
Some Almost Alumni Look Back
Photo by Sarah Bond/The Daily Collegian
Though the free food at Thursday’s Senior Sendoff was enough to please any college student (days before finals week, no less), the warm, sunny weather certainly didn’t hurt. At the annual event sponsored by the Alumni Association, hundreds of seniors gathered on the Hintz Alumni Center lawn, and I spent some time mingling with the soon-to-be alumni, who—in between mouthfuls of Creamery ice cream—answered one simple question:
What are you going to miss most about Penn State?
“The sense of community. Being around a bunch of people my age who I can relate to.” —Katelyn Kendall
“Mike the Mailman.” —Kaitlin Vassoler
“All the free food and free T-shirts.” —Rachel Reed, who’s been collecting free T-shirts since freshman year (she’s up to nine or 10).
“The bonds you create with the people you live with and see everyday.” —Matthew Van Vuskirk
“Spring afternoons on the HUB lawn.” —Sarah Broomall
“Walking around campus when the weather is nice.”—Jennifer Reitz
“The East Beach. It’s the beach volleyball pit behind East Halls. Hanging out there is awesome—when it’s not overrun with freshmen.” —Katie Lyons
“The proximity to my best friends. I can just walk across the hall and see them, and I know I’ll really miss that.” —Amanda Karl
“The creative atmosphere. People here push you to think outside the box.” —Peter Ginzburg
Mary Murphy, associate editor
We Love These Signs of Spring
Photo by Eric Weiss/OnwardState.com
The folks over at the student-run blog Onward State have posted an album of spring photos to their Facebook page. The photos all were taken in the gardens outside the Hintz Family Alumni Center, and they’re excellent. The photographer, Eric Weiss, did what smart (and limber) photographers do: He got down on his stomach and shot the flowers and ducks at ground level.
Looking at the photos, I wasn’t 100 percent sure they could be from this year—Eric found a lot more color than I would have thought was out there at this time of year. (The gardens are right outside my window, and I walk past them almost daily on my way to and from lunch.)
So I went out just now to look more closely, and ran into Theresa Barger, a groundskeeper from Physical Plant who happened to be planting some annuals. And Theresa said that, sure enough, the blooms I saw on the Onward State album are right here—she pointed out the primrose near the gazebo, for example, and the daffodils near the “Olympic Wannabes” sculpture. They all just popped up this week.
Anyway, thanks to Onward State for giving us a much-needed infusion of spring.
Photo by Eric Weiss/OnwardState.com
Tina Hay, editor
Waiting On The President
The view from the press area
So we’re camped out on the east end of the floor at Rec Hall, along with dozens of (or maybe a hundred?) media members, a few hundred invited guests, and about 3,000 additional folks in the stands. And while I can’t say for sure it’s the hottest ticket of the week on campus — “Weezyville” seems to be a pretty big deal — I can say the excitement level for a visit from the President of the United State is pretty high.
Barack Obama is scheduled to land at University Park Airport sometime after 11 this morning, after which he’ll tour a few campus labs (including, apparently, the engineering buildings that surround the Hintz Family Alumni Center, which explains why those of us in the Alumni Association aren’t allowed in our offices until this afternoon), and then head over to Rec Hall for a speech focused on energy innovation. The theme ties in with the “Winning the Future” mantra Obama introduced last week in his State of the Union address; Penn State earned the visit in large part due to its lead role in the Philadelphia Energy Innovation Hub, for which it recently received hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal funding.
It’s worth acknowledging that, for a lot of people in the old gym today (which by the way looks terrific after recent renovations), the specifics of Obama’s speech may be less compelling than the simple fact that the leader of the free world is on our campus. According to our friends in Public Information, Obama is the ninth U.S. president to visit Penn State, a run that started when Dwight Eisenhower dropped in for his brother Milton’s 1950 inauguration as University president. Obama of course, was on campus in 2008, when he was a senator campaigning for the job he now holds.
Our editor Tina Hay, senior editor Lori Shontz and I got here around 9 a.m. to go through security, although Tina, who doubles as our crack staff photographer, actually showed up at 4:45 to hold a spot for her camera equipment. Thank goodness for the wireless service in Rec Hall, as there’s otherwise not much to do until the president shows up (and it’s looking like he might be running late to boot). It looks like you’ll be able to watch his speech live on the Big Ten Network, and we’ll post again this afternoon to let you know how that goes.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
This Year, Arts Fest Has a ‘Bookfest’
The Helmut’s Strudel booth is back in its traditional space on Allen Street, so clearly it’s Arts Fest Week. I love how the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts mixes the tried and true with the brand new, so I’ll be enjoying myself Saturday when I get some strudel for breakfast and then head up the street for the festival’s latest addition: BookFest. (more…)
Senior Sendoff Takes Over the Alumni Center
For those of us working in the Hintz Family Alumni Center, it’s the one afternoon each year we’re guaranteed not to get any work done. More important, for hundreds of soon-to-be alumni, the annual Senior Sendoff is a last, great chance to do things all college students love: Listen to music (loudly, and right outside our office windows…), eat free food, and not think about the finals they’ve got next week.
The Alumni Association and Lion Ambassadors hosted the aloha-themed 2010 Sendoff Wednesday afternoon. The weather cooperated, the food and tunes were plentiful, and interested students had a chance to learn more about the association they’re about to join. Also, they got to see our executive director, Roger Williams ’73, ’75g, ’88g, wearing some awesome shades. You can check out more fun photos here.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
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