When sportscaster Kirk Herbstreit announced, “This is the best student section in the country” while covering a Penn State home win against Michigan in 2019, he didn’t mention Lion Ambassadors or Blue & White Society, but he was singing their praises nonetheless. The two student organizations of the Alumni Association contribute in unique ways to the eye-catching, electrified student section during every home game: Lion Ambassadors organize the end zone’s iconic S-Zone, while BWS volunteers distribute shakers to every student entering the stadium.
“The shakers have a really big impact on the game,” says Lindsay Edelman, a junior majoring in public relations and vice president of programming for BWS. Team members and past coaches have said that hearing those shakers really makes a difference. “It feels like everyone’s united,” Edelman says of the sound and fury of roughly 22,000 shakers being waved by students along the south end zone. “It adds to that ‘We Are Penn State’ energy.”
Meanwhile, Lion Ambassadors coordinate and outfit 800 students in the lower section of the end zone to don blue or white shirts in order to form a block “S” (for “State”) that’s visible throughout Beaver Stadium. First facilitated by Lion Ambassadors in 1998, the S-Zone was for several years created using blue and white flip cards, which were replaced with T-shirts in 2004.
It takes 28 Lion Ambassadors volunteering before the game to get everyone wearing the right colored shirt and standing in the correct seat before kickoff. “I think it’s a really cool thing,” says AJ Carabello, a fifth-year senior in the integrated bachelor’s and master’s program in architectural engineering. Carabello has helped to lead the effort in past seasons. “Just seeing pan-overs of the S-Zone [on TV], it’s kinda cool to see that I helped with something that means something for Penn State and Penn State football.”
The Alumni Association pays for the shakers, shirts, and game tickets for the student volunteers—so even if they’re not in the stadium, dues-paying members are contributing to the best atmosphere in college football.
Read more about how the Alumni Association helps to create the best environment in college football.
