From Brooklyn to Happy Valley
April 19, 2016 at 9:21 am Bill DiFilippo Leave a comment
It’s been a while since we’ve had an update on the first graders at Brownsville Elementary School in Brooklyn, N.Y. On Monday, we found out the students are coming to State College later this month. Their teacher, Dan Guthrie ’10, posted the following update on his GoFundMe page:
As I mentioned previously, my next goal is to take them on a visit to the Penn State campus in State College, PA. I am hoping to make this happen on Thursday, April 28, 2016 from about noon to 6:00 pm. Thanks to your generosity, we have funds from the original GoFundMe for this trip. I am not writing to you to ask for additional donations, but rather to get the word out and see who may be able to facilitate the day’s activities. For example, it would be amazing if we could get a campus tour from Lion Ambassadors and maybe even see the inside of the Bryce Jordan Center or Beaver Stadium. I’d love to take the group for a meal in a dining hall and to get some treats at the Creamery. Most importantly perhaps, showing them a real college classroom and, if possible, a live class would truly hit the mark. And of course, the day would not be complete without a class photo in front of the Lion Shrine.
As a refresher, Guthrie is an elementary school teacher who has fostered a love of Penn State in his class. The school isn’t known for sending many kids to college, but a few of Guthrie’s students have told him that they want to attend Penn State down the line.
Through an extremely successful GoFundMe campaign, Guthrie was able to bring his students to the Nittany Lions’ basketball game at Madison Square Garden against Michigan. If you haven’t seen the video of them singing “Hail to the Lion” on their subway ride over to the game, we cannot recommend it enough.
Guthrie has said in the past that he wanted to make this trip and mentioned that he hoped to put some of the extra GoFundMe money towards making it a reality. It sounds like most (if not all) of these children have never been to Happy Valley; maybe we’ll see some of them back for new student orientation in 2027.
Bill DiFilippo, online editor
Entry filed under: University Park. Tags: Brownsville Elementary School, Dan Guthrie.
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