IS IT MARCH YET?Penn State and Rutgers provide some regular season madness as the Nittany Lions

held on for a 65-64 win thanks to Myles Dread’s game-winning 3-pointer

Photo by Aabha Vora/Collegian

Feb. 27-March 1, 2020Vol. 120, No. 44

By Matt LingermanThe Daily Collegian

It should come as no surprise that the play which ended in Myles Dread’s game-winning 3-pointer was designed for Lamar Stevens.

But when Rutgers cluttered the lane to prevent Stevens from getting the ball, which then al-lowed a John Harrar screen to release Dread to the top of the key, it didn’t matter that the team’s leading scorer didn’t touch the ball on the most crucial

possession of the night.And rather than be frustrated

by his relatively quiet offensive performance, Pat Chambers said Stevens was “thrilled” in the postgame locker room.

“Lamar now has real confi-dence in his team, like ‘I don’t have to be the hero every night,’” Chambers said.

On the surface, Stevens’ nine-point output on 4-of-13 from the field came at an inopportune time for the Nittany Lions.

The team was in danger of watching a close loss to Illinois last week snowball into another three-game winless streak, just as teams around Penn State in the Big Ten standings gained ground on the No. 16 Nittany Lions. But in his inconspicuous performance, Stevens gave his teammates the opportunity to an-swer a call to action presented by Chambers earlier this week.

“We can’t be a great team with him being the only one who can score for us,” Chambers said on Monday. “We were fortunate one game, we got a win, but it can’t be consistent. He needs help.”

While every team builds its defensive schemes to try to limit Stevens, it seldom works as well

as Rutgers’ gameplan did on

Wednesday. He took only one shot — a left-corner 3-pointer which he made — in the first 15 minutes of the game and turned the ball over five times.

“In two days’ prep, we didn’t have a lot of time, we did a really good job of making his catches deeper and making it difficult when he put the ball on the deck,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said.

With Rutgers defending Ste-vens effectively, Chambers’s team still without its second-lead-ing scorer in Myreon Jones and the Nittany Lions momentarily blowing a 21-point lead, Penn State’s supporting cast rose to the occasion.

Dread finished with 11 points on 2-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, and his clutch 3-pointer was the sole Nittany Lion make from deep in the second half.

The decision to go for the win with the 3-point attempt by Dread — who has been streaky over the course of his young career — was an example of the kind of belief Penn State will need to have in players other than Stevens down the season’s final stretch.

“To feed me like that when the play is designed for Lamar, that just goes to show how much my teammates believe in me,”

Dread said. Dread’s heroics were made possible by the surge from sophomore swingman Izaiah Brockington, who finished with a game-high 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

Following a strong start to his first season in blue and white, Brockington has been quiet of late.

Heading into Wednesday’s contest, he had scored in double figures only twice in the previous 11 games, but the lefty was able to provide a game-high 16 points.

The overall team shooting per-formance — 39.3 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from 3 — was still not as strong as Cham-bers would like it. But Penn State should glean plenty of confidence from pulling out a victory even with its leader not at his best.

“There wasn’t any space out there for [Stevens],” Chambers said. “Him and I talked last night after film, it was about, ‘Look, they’re gonna crowd you. You might have to give the ball up to your teammates, and that’s OK, we’re trying to get it back to you.

“He’s so fired up for his team. So fired up for Myles.”

To email reporter: mcl5374@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @linger_man.

By Evan PatrickThe Daily Collegian

Myles Dread is full of confidence.

Whether that comes from himself, his coaching staff or his teammates, it’s what fueled the sophomore shooting guard’s game-winning shot on Wednes-day.

With under 30 seconds to play and his team trailing by two points, Dread came off a screen and drilled what may be the big-gest shot of his young career.

“We ran it all year, we ran it all summer, that progression, coming off the down-screen they were over-helping on Lamar [Ste-vens],” Dread said. “The play was for us to get a two, go into over-time, but they left me, my team-mates trusted me, and I did what I do best.”

But prior to that moment, Dread had shot just 2-of-8 from the field, and 1-of-6 from deep — and in the previous game he shot just 2-of-8 from three.

He’s had streaks this season where he has had major stretches without making a three, he’s been moved from starter, to the bench, and back to the starting lineup, yet he always keeps shooting.

“I just think it’s confidence,” Pat Chambers said. “He knows that I’m confident in him, he knows the players are confident in him, so when you have a green light like that, when he came off that [screen], as soon as it left his hand you knew it was in.”

Dread has attempted the

second-most three pointers in the Big Ten this season despite shooting just 31 percent from be-yond the arc.

A lot of players who struggle to consistently shoot wouldn’t have the confidence to rise up and take the biggest shot of the game at a crucial point in the season, but Dread has never wavered in his confidence, and it paid off.

“It’s not necessarily my con-fidence, but my teammates’ confidence in me,” Dread said. “Whether I’m making or missing shots, they’re always telling me to keep shooting the ball, so to feed me like that when the play was designed for Lamar and I come off and knock it down, it just goes to show how much my team-mates believe in me.”

While Dread has made a name for himself as a knock-down, spot-up shooter, he has diversi-fied his game in his second year with the Nittany Lions, especially since Myreon Jones has been out with an injury.

The Detroit native has taken on a bigger role as a playmaker — he tallied a career-high seven assists, all of which came in the first half when Penn State’s of-fense was running smoothly.

Dread made a handful of savvy skip-passes out of the pick and roll, finding his teammates in the corner for open threes.

“I think going back to confi-dence and knowing your role in this team, now we’ve evolved his role ever since [Jones] has been out.” Chambers said.

The sophomore also finished

with two steals in the game, and showed a solid ability to switch onto multiple positions on the defensive end.

On the season, Dread leads the team in assist/turnover ratio at 2.32, and also leads the team in free throw shooting at 84 percent.

The bottom line is that Dread has been solid in all the areas outside of what his main job is,

but there is no question that he is focused on impacting the game with his performance on the perimeter.

“It’s my job to shoot the ball,” Dread said.

“If I don’t shoot it I don’t play. It’s kind of like if you don’t play defense, you don’t play.”

Dread was as prepared for this moment as anyone on this Penn

State roster, and when he was stepping up to take the shot, it wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling.

“I probably shot a thousand of those shots easily, just that specif-ic shot, over the summer,” Dread said. “So it was just me, by myself in the gym, one shot.”

To email reporter: ejp5401@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @evan7patrick.

Aabha Vora/Collegian

Guard Izaiah Brockington (12) dribbles the ball during the game against Rutgers at the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Role players step up in Stevens’ quiet night

Aabha Vora/Collegian

Guard Myles Dread (2) looks for an open shot during the men’s basketball game against Rutgers at the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday, Feb. 26. No. 16 Penn State defeated the Scarlet Knights 65-64.

local The Daily CollegianPage 2 | Feb. 27-March 1, 2020

Student searches for ET lifeBy Kyle Hutchinson

The Daily Collegian

Graduate student Sofia Sheikh is leading a research project titled “Breakthrough Listen,” which aims to discover extrater-restrial life from across the stars.

Breakthrough Listen started while Sheikh (graduate-astro-biology) was an undergradu-ate student at the University of California Berkeley.

The project, which is funded by entrepreneur Yuri Milner and has a budget of $100 million, took about three years. This in-cluded months of going over data and narrowing down the field of where to search.

To start, she uses photometry, which is a process used to discov-er exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system.

“Photometry just means ‘mea-suring of light’ — it’s when we point a telescope at a [star] and see how it changes in bright-ness over time. If everything is lined up just right, we’ll see the star get dimmer every time the [exo]planet passes between us and the star in its orbit,” Sheikh said.

Her belief is that advanced ex-traterrestrial life may have dis-covered Earth by the same meth-od researchers here use, but just from their own planet. Since only certain parts of the night sky could see the Earth from other planets, just as we can’t see everything there is out there, Sheikh focuses on the Earth Transit Zone — the area where the Earth can be seen from elsewhere.

Next, after narrowing down the night sky and where to look, Sheikh looks for radio sources that may be coming from beyond.

“I was looking for radio transmitters — like radar, cell

towers, GPS satellites here on Earth — transmitting at a single frequency,” Sheikh said, “Single frequencies are nice because there’s nothing natural in space that produces them — we know that they have to come from technology.”

A factor that she takes into account is that any alien civili-zation that can be found would have to be relatively around the same level of advancement as humanity. If too primitive, there would be no way to detect them, and if too advanced, we may not even be able to interpret their futuristic technology.

“If the [extraterrestrials] didn’t know about radio yet, we wouldn’t see them, of course,” Sheikh said, “and if the [extraterrestrials

were] way older than us, it’s pos-sible that they would have moved on to something more technologi-cally advanced than radio waves for communication — but we have to work with our current best guess.”

Although this was not some-thing she always wanted to do, Sheikh is glad that she hopped aboard on the project.

“I’ve grown to like it more be-cause it’s a really unique chal-lenge, and allows me to look at many different facets of astron-omy all at once as I try to come up with new projects and ideas,” Sheikh said.

Jason Wright, a Penn State professor of astronomy and as-trophysics, serves as Sheikh’s ad-viser, and he spoke highly of her

role in the project.“Sheikh has an outstanding

work ethic, this is a project she’s been working on as an undergrad-uate since she was at UC Berkley, and she’s contributed a lot to the field, not just in this project, but with other projects she’s done, thinking about the best ways to look for radio signatures,” Wright said.

Wright said he believes that Breakthrough Listen serves a very important role. He said he admires the effort put into it.

“The main goal of Break-through Listen is to perform the most sensitive search ever for signs of extraterrestrial technol-ogy,” Wright said.

“I am interested in working with them because they are the

biggest search that has ever hap-pened, and I think they’re thinking really broadly about all the dif-ferent ways that we could detect signs of extraterrestrial life”

With so many different searches by various groups, Wright believes that only positives can come from the search beyond.

“There’s a lot of work to do, lots of things to look for,” Wright said. “We want as many people work-ing on it as we can, and I think it’s great the way Breakthrough Listen has created a place [and] a community where we can all share ideas and work together even as we do different projects.”

To email reporter: kkh5359@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @kylehutchhutch.

Collegian creative

University researchers study mushrooms

Collegian file photo

The Westgate Building on Wednesday, April, 18, 2018.

By Madigan LuboldThe Daily Collegian

Penn State researchers often grow and study different foods, and a facility on north campus researches a certain kind — mushrooms.

The Mushroom Research Center is the only academic facility in the country that con-ducts mushroom research and one of few research facilities in the world dedicated to it, accord-ing to John Pecchia, the center’s manager.

“Most of our research is for production efficiency and mushroom disease,” Pecchia said. “And not the diseases [mushrooms] can give people, but the specific condition of the mushroom.”

The MRC focuses on improv-ing commercial mushroom pro-duction through disease control and manipulating microbial ecology, according to Pecchia.

He said mushrooms can have different pathogens.

However, the good ones end up at the Penn State Creamery and sometimes in Penn State students’ meals in the dining hall, he said.

“We sometimes have to throw away mushrooms, but the safe ones we sell to the [Berkey] Creamery. It provides the MRC with a little extra income, and it’s something we’ve been doing for decades,” Pecchia said.

He said the center sells the mushroom to the Creamery in bulk, and the Creamery repack-ages and sells the mushrooms retail.

“Occasionally we will sell to the dining halls on campus, but the extra will go to food banks,” he said.

Mushrooms are one of Penn-sylvania’s top agriculture crops, as about 63 to 64 percent of all mushrooms are grown and farmed in Pennsylvania, Pecchia said.

The current MRC was

constructed in 1960 from state and federal monies. In 1973, an addition was put onto the MRC, providing a more efficient and bigger research facility. Then, a new composting facility was completed in 2016.

There were two previous mush-room growing facilities at Penn State. One, built in the 1930s, was located at what is now the Palmer Museum. The second was built around the 1940s or 50s, accord-ing to David Beyer, a professor of plant pathology.

The current facility also em-ploys ways to screen several biopesticides, according to Beyer.

This research can help nutri-tional work for various companies that, back in the 1900s, started growing mushrooms in southeast Pennsylvania, Beyer said.

However, the MRC building is primarily focused on the white button mushroom currently.

According to Charlie Stanton, a part-time student-employee at the MRC, a new crop is prepared every three weeks on a Friday.

“When we start a new week, that Friday consists of taking raw material and preparing it to be cultivated,” Stanton (senior- agriculture business science) said.

The production process begins with phase 1 composting, which takes six days. However, the en-tire process takes 14 to 16 weeks from beginning to end to fully grow, he said.

The building consists of nine climate-controlled production rooms, a laboratory space and a bioreactor system, which pro-vides a way to study the biol-ogy and biochemistry of the composting process in controlled environments.

The cultivation of mushrooms poses some challenges, however.

“The most difficult part of mushroom growing is finding consistency,” Beyer said.

To email reporter: mll5648@psu.edu.Follow her on Twitter at @madiganlubold1.

Center to study social responsibility of AI

By Melissa MannoThe Daily Collegian

This spring, Penn State’s Cen-ter for Socially Responsible Ar-tificial Intelligence will open to study the societal impacts of arti-ficial intelligence and promote its use to solve social issues.

The center will be open to stu-dents, faculty and staff members of all colleges. It will be located in the College of Information Sciences and Technology.

Prasenjit Mitra, associate dean for research and a professor for the College of IST, will serve as the inaugural director of the cen-ter and will help guide its future direction, with the help of the executive committee.

“The goal of the center is to bring together scholars from all disciplines and figure out how ar-tificial intelligence technologies should be designed in a socially responsible manner and how ar-tificial intelligence technologies can be used to change society for the better,” Mitra said.

Mitra said Penn State has a va-riety of artificial intelligence (AI) activities, such as the Nittany AI Alliance, the Center for Immer-sive Experiences and the Insti-tute for Computational and Data Sciences. But there is currently no center that allows researchers across various fields to work col-laboratively with this technology.

“The center will enable a con-centrated effort on artificial in-telligence across the university, bringing everyone together and hopefully the sum of the parts will be greater than what we can do individually,” Mitra said.

Mitra said there is no limita-tion to the types of research the center can conduct, referring to AI initiatives in areas like

healthcare, agriculture, climate modelling, business operations and labor issues.

Hari Osofsky, dean of both Penn State Law and the School of International Affairs, said she and the two colleges she leads are excited to be partnered with the center.

“The approach of this center, which brings together a wide range of disciplines through the partnership among the partici-pating units, is crucial for getting at these important ethical ques-tions emerging as this technology emerges,” Osofsky said. “As this technology develops, questions of privacy, bias and a slew of other ethical questions arise as well.”

She said the center is focus-ing on how to solve important societal problems and positively impact the world using AI.

Mitra emphasized that the goal of the center is to use and develop technology, and conduct research responsibly, as he said too often technology is built before “we fig-ure out what the ill effects of the technologies are.”

He used the internet and Face-book as examples, saying that security was considered after the internet had already been creat-ed, which made developing a se-curity system difficult. He added that Facebook was built without the understanding of its future societal harms.

“We cannot make the same mistake again,” Mitra said. “AI is, and will be, immensely more powerful and more disruptive than e-commerce or social net-works. We need to get it right. And in order to do so, we need ev-eryone to get together and be at the table and actively shape the future together.”

The topic of socially

responsible AI has become more prominent in public debate, as many have questioned the dangers associated with developing AI.

Mitra said in order for AI to be used in a “socially responsible” manner, one has to understand the social costs and benefits associated with the technology.

“When we develop AI, we need to be able to figure out how society will be affected by it and adapt the design to do the most good,” Mitra said. “We cannot let the genie out of the bottle and not be able to contain it.”

To limit potential dangers with AI, he said it’s important that a code of ethics, policies and regulations are developed. Mitra expressed his excitement for the unveiling of the center, but emphasized how critical it is that the center gets it right, something he called “a great responsibility.”

“If all of Penn State comes together and uses our joint ex-pertise and wisdom to design an AI ecosystem with the proper safeguards, we can reduce the dangers of AI to the minimum while enjoying the maximum benefits,” Mitra said.

Although he acknowledged in-herent dangers of AI, Mitra said he believes this center and the overall use of AI have the abil-ity to change the world for the better. “We need to enable re-search into AI that shows the world that we can use automa-tion responsibly, that we can solve intergenerational prob-lems, that we can cut across in-tellectual silos and work toward the common good,” Mitra said.

To email reporter: mzm607@psu.edu.Follow her on Twitter at @melissm8.

Ken Minamoto/Collegian

The Mushroom Research Building, located on Big Hollow Road, on Monday, Feb. 24.

LOCALThe Daily Collegian Feb. 27-MarCh 1, 2020 | Page 3

From cancer battle to THON dancerBy James Langan

The Daily Collegian

Zach Long comes from a Penn State family. In fall 2018, he had high hopes and big aspirations for his freshman year at the university.

Little did Long (sophomore- actuary science) know that adjusting to college would be far from the biggest challenge he’d face that year.

On Nov. 12, 2018 Long was diagnosed with leukemia.

“It was one of the scariest days of my life,” Long said.

Long spent what is supposed to be one of the most exciting years of a person’s life undergoing constant treatments. Due to a poor immune system and seemingly endless treatments, Long said he was unable to attend THON 2019.

“A year ago today, I was probably getting a needle stuck in me,” Long said.

Four Diamonds was with Long and his family every step of the way, according to Long, and because of this he made it his mission to give back to THON.

After undergoing his last treatment on Aug. 5, 2019, Long said he gave himself three goals — first, to join a THON organization; second, to dance at THON; and third, to give back to Penn State.

Six months later, Long has accomplished all three of these goals.

“I’m just so happy to be here,” Long said as he stood in the Bryce Jordan Center as a dancer. “It’s an honor to be able to represent all the THON kids who weren’t as lucky as me.”

Dancing for Hershey Kiss-es, Long recalled when, a few days ago, the organization’s “grievance team” made ribbons with the names of THON children who had died.

Long came across a ribbon with the name Damian, a child who died when Long himself was battling cancer.

“I thought about how easily that could’ve been me, so I’ve been thinking about Damian a lot this weekend,” Long said.

Long said dancing at THON meant a lot to him. He said he was honored to be able to give back to Four Diamonds and THON because of how much they helped him during his battle not too long ago.

“The rest of my life I’m going to be working to make [Four Diamonds] proud,” Long said.

Long’s parents, Dennis and Shelly Long, said it was difficult for Long to accept the diagnosis

because his lifelong dream was to go to Penn State.

“He went from living his dream of going to Penn State to laying in a hospital bed fighting leuke-mia,” Long’s parents said in a statement via email. “That is not how his life was supposed to be at 19.”

Upon hearing the diagnosis, the first thing Long said to his mother was, “Mom, I’m going to be okay,” his parents said.

Dennis and Shelly noted that Long’s strength and sense of hu-mor during the hard months was “amazing” and his usual spirit and energy returned once he was able to reconnect with friends and family.

When Long told his parents

about his plan to dance at THON 2020, his parents said they were initially skeptical and hesitant.

“When he first told us, we were nervous, because he can’t dance,” Long’s parents said. “And also, because he is only six months out of treatment.”

They were concerned that Long’s body had still not not fully recovered from the treatments, and that he therefore wouldn’t be able to withstand dancing for 46 hours.

However, their caution and initial worry turned to excitement as they saw how eager and amped up Long was to dance on Friday night.

“He wants to give back and as he said, he dances for those

that can’t,” they said. “That is a powerful statement.”

Long’s parents said Long took up the challenge of doing push ups by the hour for every hour left in THON.

Regarding how THON 2020 impacted Long, Dennis and Shelly said Long has turned his experience into “a purpose FTK.”

Concerning the impact THON and Four Diamonds had on their family during Long’s battle, Long’s parents said Four Diamonds was with them from the moment Long landed on the helipad at the hospital in Hershey.

They mentioned the servic-es offered by Four Diamonds, whether it be financial assistance or therapy for the family.

“Our son went from laying in a hospital bed to dancing in THON in just one year and three months and all because of the new treatments available due to that research,” the couple said.

They added Four Diamonds allowed them to focus on Long and his recovery rather than worrying about paying for the treatment or figuring out where they would sleep and what they would eat.

Long’s parents described hear-ing that one’s child has cancer as a “parent’s worst nightmare.”

Shelly said the pain and sadness got to her at first, but soon “the fighter in her” pulled through. She emphasized the importance of relying on a strong support system as a key to working through these tough circumstances.

She also said it is important to cry when necessary, but laugh just as much.

“There is nothing more fierce than a parent trying to save their child,” Shelly said. “Be strong and fight on.”

To email reporter: jpl6143@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @jameslangann.

Courtesy of Shelly Long

Zach Long (sophomore-actuary science), a dancer for Hershey Kisses, poses at THON 2020. He is danced at THON after battling leukemia in 2018.

Members of FOTO discuss why they THONBy Kira MohrThe Daily Collegian

State College Borough Manag-er Tom Fountaine never imagined that his son’s experience with cancer would spark the founding of an organization responsible for raising money to fight for a cure for pediatric cancer.

In 1998, Fountaine’s oldest son, Tommy, was diagnosed with leukemia. After beating cancer, Tommy went on to graduate from Penn State and the Penn State College of Medicine, and he completed a residency and fellowship in pediatric oncology — inspired by his own journey with cancer.

Eleven years since Tommy’s diagnosis, FOTO celebrated the success of its cancer-free THON child and its collective total of over $1 million raised overall in support of THON.

Cancer is a disease that affects the entire family, according to Fountaine. FOTO was founded by Tommy brother Adam, who was inspired by Tommy’s persevering journey.

“Through Tommy’s fight against pediatric cancer, his youngest brother Adam was so inspired that he and his friends started FOTO in 2009,” Fountaine said via email. “The name FOTO comes from the first two letters of his last name (Fountaine) and the first two letters of his first name (Tommy).”

According to Fountaine, FOTO has consistently been one of the top fundraising special interest orgs.

Having so many valuable memories with FOTO through-out the years — including FOTO marriage proposals and THON experiences with Fountaine’s son Matt — Fountaine considers the organization as part of his family.

Tamra Fountaine, Fountaine’s wife and Tommy’s mother, is heavily involved with FOTO fundraising as well — including her business endeavors in the initiatives of the organization.

“Each year, Tamra makes candles from her business, Lights of Hope~Candles for Kids, for FOTO fundraisers, and she donates directly from her candle sales to FOTO,” Fountaine said.

“She has participated in the FOTO videos to recognize the 10th anniversary of FOTO and the $1 million milestone

in FOTO fundraising.”FOTO president Brooks

West joined the special interest organization during his freshman year at Penn State.

He has spent the last four years following in the footsteps of his older sister, a past president of the organization— who is his inspiration to give back to FOTO.

Alongside Brooks West is his twin sister and Foto’s acting family relations captain, Jenny West, who was also inspired to continue her family’s legacy through involvement and dedication to the special interest organization.

FOTO’s close connection to its families is the most impor-tant part of the organization, according to Brooks and Jenny West.

“When [our families] think of THON, they think of us. It’s a really special bond that we have with them,” Brooks said. “We almost doubled our organization in size this year, so we’ve been able to fundraise a lot more and I’m hoping we get a higher total than last year — even without canning.”

The organization collects donations to support three Four Diamonds families: the Eslingers, the Knapers and the Tramels. Being involved in the lives of these families has allowed FOTO to continue its growth as an organization and provide ever-present support for the families and children battling pediatric cancer.

“Something special that we do is we have a really, really close bond with our families. We visit them a lot, and it’s really cool to see them go off treatment,” Jenny said. “One of our families isn’t here this weekend because he’s competing at a national American Ninja Warrior competition. To see him be so strong and so successful after beating cancer — that’s what we’re all about.”

During THON 2019, Brooks and Jenny took the extra step with their support of the philanthropy and attended the 46-hour event as dancers.

Creating one of his favorite memories, Brooks spent the week before THON 2020 honor-ing his dancing experience by getting a tattoo in honor of the West family dancing legacy.

His most impressionable

memory, however, was with the Tramels family at the end of his THON 2019 journey.

“Probably my favorite memory, though, was sitting down last year with the Tramels, our family,” Brooks said. “It was their first time at THON because [Matty Tramel] wasn’t able to come here before when he was on treatment. Just having them jump on top of us when we sat down, just experiencing that moment, was really special for me.”

THON 2020 was the first year that Matty Tramel, one of FOTO’s Four Diamonds children, was able to fully experience THON.

Seeing Tramel playing around the Bryce Jordan Center and ex-periencing life “as a kid” is what keeps FOTO so dedicated to sup-porting each Four Diamonds fam-ily, according to Jenny.

“Again with the Tramels, my favorite memory would probably be this year because this is the first year [Tramel] is completely happy and healthy.— last year was his first year off treatment, so he was still experiencing the side effects,” Jenny West said. “Watching him walk around the BJC and play with all of us, it’s

really cool to see.” To support their passion for

finding a cure for pediatric cancer, FOTO integrates the organization into the everyday lives of its families.

As the family relations chair, Jenny emphasized the importance of creating a long-lasting connection because of FOTO’s never-ending mission to provide hope and support to its three families.

“Each year we visit and take a group of about 20 people to each family’s house. We have the Knaper family, and we get to play basketball with them and go to their Ninja Warrior competitions,” Jenny said. “The Tramels — with Matty who just got off treatment — we go run around and play with them… So we get to see them really of-ten and that’s always been our relationship with them. Two of them are here now and get to support our dancers for the Final Four.”

As the organization continues to grow in size, the amount of money that FOTO has been able to raise has increased, as well.

Within this past year, the special interest organization

celebrated $1 million collectively raised over the course of FOTO’s THON involvement.

Looking to the future, Brooks said he hopes FOTO continues to pursue its passion and empathy for the lives of each Four Diamonds family and grows as an organization.

“I just hope [FOTO] keeps growing and growing,” Brooks said. “I hope 10 years from now, we’ve raised another $1 million and they’re still doing the same thing as one, big family with the same values we still have now.”

For Fountaine, he hopes to watch the organization that has become such a vital part of his life continue to grow for years to come.

“FOTO has been an important part of our family for the past 11 years. We are inspired by the work that FOTO does to support the three THON families they have,” Fountaine said. “We hope that FOTO continues to grow and continues to be an important part of the fight against childhood cancer through the Four Diamonds fund.”

To email reporter: kjm6453@psu.edu.Follow her on Twitter at @kirajessa.

Aabha Vora/Collegian

A student from the special interest organization FOTO performs on stage during Penn State THON on

Saturday, Feb. 22.

OPINIONColsen AckroydBusiness Manager

Grace Miller Opinion Page Editor

Elena RoseEditor in Chief

Balancing self-improvement and self-hatred

For me, it begins with this:I have an unpleasant week. I

put off assignments and get no sleep. I let my room become unorganized, I eat snacks all day instead of having three healthy meals, or I become irritated with something stupid I said at a party.

Then I become upset with myself — my whole self.

I tell myself that I can start over tomorrow and that I will never again do the things that make me hate myself; I will act perfectly from here on out.

Not shockingly, I fall back into these habits within the next few weeks, and the whole process of hating myself before vowing to start over begins again.

So clearly, I am no stranger to self-improvement.

I have read self-help books, followed advice from people who inspire me and tried to improve almost every aspect of who I am.

Self-improvement is a brilliant thing if you do it right, but unfortunately, I sometimes find myself taking a more nega-tive approach.

There is a fine line between constructive criticism about what you want to improve upon and being so hard on yourself that you turn to self-hatred or other bad habits.

I do believe that every person can always improve themselves and work to become proud of themselves.

There are a million ways to improve yourself or your abilities, but my favorite is through learning (which I know is broad, but hear me out).

I am currently trying to break this vicious cycle of wanting to restart whenever I do something I am not proud of.

It sounds good in my head (and to my anxiety) to start fresh, but when I want to do this with literally everything I do, it’s simply not realistic.

That fine line has been crossed many times in my life, and I have learned and still am learning how to deal with it.

Crossing into the area of self-hatred, in my experience, makes me feel helpless.

I set standards that are impossible, like telling myself that I will magically wake up one day, like I’m in a movie, and all of a sudden I be a whole new, better person.

Absolutely no one can change themselves overnight — you need time.

This type of criticism about myself is clearly not helpful because in the end I always feel lousy about myself.

Realizing that I often allow myself to be overly critical under the guise of “self-improvement” has been a long process, and it’s one that still lingers in my mind.

My brain is automatically too hard on myself, so these negative thoughts are like second nature.

Walking that line is a tricky thing. It’s difficult to find a stable balance, and sometimes the lines can get blurred.

I realized that when it comes to self-improvement, I need to be realistic.

If I get mad that I had a horrible day, I just have to

accept it happened and move on.

Which, as I am writing this, is not something that sits right with me.

But I know the doubtful part of my brain is being irrational and that I will not wake up tomorrow, perfect — I will have to work on things over time.

For example, if I want to set a realistic goal regarding my eating habits, I won’t put pres-sure on myself to eat perfectly.

Removing this pressure helps me achieve that goal in the long-run.

I can focus on figuring out what is and isn’t working and take whatever steps I need to improve.

I am also a firm believer that we improve ourselves and learn something from each person we meet, form deep relation-ships with, or just have a conversation with.

Other people can introduce you to new ways of thinking, new perspectives on a range of topics, new music, new movies, new culture, new interests, and generally a new perspective.

I know that even if I meet someone once and never talk to them again I will take some-thing new with me, good or bad (either way you learn

and grow).In this way, we are

improving all of the time, whether we know it or not.

I believe this is a blessing.

This is one of my favorite aspects of self-improvement, and a real reason why I chose to study abroad.

To meet people from some of my favorite countries/cit-ies in Europe and to just learn all about their culture and that person.

This is something that being in my comfort zone at Penn State cannot offer (no offense to Penn State, I love our university).

Everyone has different things that they want to improve about themselves, and really, it is a cycle that will never end.

That sounds scary, but I actually think it’s comforting to know that I will be able to learn until I die (sorry to get so dark).

I am aware that I can easily slip back into self-hatred if I am not careful about staying balanced and level-headed.

Everyone faces their own struggles and has their own relationship with their inner self, but this is my story with finding that ever so difficult balance that I am learning to find.

Adriana Guidi is a junior majoring in public relations and is a columnist for The Daily Collegian. Email her at aag5477@psu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @adrianaguidi5.

MY VIEW | Adriana Guidi

“I do believe that every person can always improve themselves and work to become

proud of themselves.”

Adriana Guidi

“Peace out nj.com,” reads one of over 3,000 comments on a recent NJ.com article, announc-ing the closure of its comment section.

Starting today, NJ.com will end their near 25-year history of allowing readers to comment online, directly below posted articles.

What was initially created years ago as a means to foster produc-tive conversation has now, in some instances, become a breeding ground for hateful com-ments from internet “trolls.”

NJ.com — along with other outlets that have done away with their respective comment sec-tions — referenced this shift in their comment section that they claim has now caused its own demise.

However, there’s

clearly gray area that comes with a move like this: why disable com-ments when journalism is supposed to spark discussion?

The Society of Profes-sional Journalists Code of Ethics states that it is a journalist’s duty to “support the open and civil exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.”

In the case of hateful speech, though — which NJ.com cited as unfortu-nately occurring too of-ten within their comment section — limiting com-ments isn’t unethical.

“At their worst, our comments were a place

none of us would want to spend time. They were a place for racism, misogy-ny and hatred — a place to perpetuate the worst stereotypes about our state, our neighborhoods and our people,” NJ.com wrote in their article.

Outwardly racist, homophobic and misogy-nistic comments have no place in thoughtful discussion. Responsible and ethical journalists won’t budge on that.

Comment sections exist to help connect citizens to journalists, and vice versa — a place where citizens can re-flect on content they may have consumed, leave

comments regarding any concerns they might have with content, facili-tate discussion between opposing perspectives and more.

Other outlets have been grappling with the existence of their own comment sections — some, like the New York Times, have designed systems that heavily vet comments on their posts.

Some have been known to fully turn the comment function off for specific articles.

Of course, there’s no plan of action that will work for every outlet.

Comment sections aren’t inherently bad —

in the cases that they’re used as intended, they’re often very productive.

Not all readers are commenting on stories, either — in their article, NJ.com said that only .03 percent of their reader-ship ever comments, with roughly two percent reading them.

At the end of the day, a crucial part of any democracy is providing a voice to those not in positions of power — in this case, perhaps the commenters.

The decision to get rid of comment sections might not be easy, and the last thing a journal-ist would want to do is silence thoughtful discussion. But if hateful speech is persistent in an outlet’s comment sec-tions, a morally-sound outlet may not be left with any other choice today.

Outlets are right to disable misused comment sections

In response to hate-fueled remarks, outlets have the right to revoke reader commenting.

OUR VIEW

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Feb. 27-March 1, 2020Page 4

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By Benjamin FerreeThe Daily Collegian

The terms for James Franklin’s new contract that was approved by the Compensation Committee of Penn State’s Board of Trustees in December were announced on Wednesday.

Franklin’s new contract, which runs through the 2025 season, features $35.4 million in guaranteed money.

Franklin has a buyout this sea-son at $5,000,000, that drops by

$1 million each year.The base salary for the

new deal is $500,000 for all six seasons.

Franklin also has supple-mental pay ranging from $4.9 million to $6 million each year throughout the length of the contract.

Franklin also has various in-centives built into the contract, including a $350,000 bonus if Penn State wins the Big Ten Championship.

Another noteworthy bonus is

$800,000 should Penn State win the College Football National Championship game.

There is also a retention bonus that starts at $300,000 and grows to $500,000 at the end of the con-tract.

Franklin will also be given up to 50 hours per calendar year of a private aircraft for personal use.

The full terms of the contract can be viewed here.

To email reporter: bcf5167@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @BFerree.

Contract TermsBase Salary: $500,000Supplemental Pay: $4,900,000 (2020) — $6,000,000 (2025) Total Guaranteed Compensation: $5,400,000 (2020) — $6,500,000 (2025)Retention Bonus: $500,000Buyout: $5,000,000 (2020) — $1,000,000 (2025)

By Benjamin FerreeThe Daily Collegian

The details of James Frank-lin’s new contract were released on Wednesday, and the $35.4 mil-lion deal puts Franklin as one of the highest paid coaches in the country.

USA Today produces a da-tabase every year with the coaching salaries for nearly all of the 130 Division I football programs.

Franklin is guaranteed to make $5.4 million in 2020, and without including various possi-ble bonuses, this salary would’ve made him the 11th highest paid coach in the country in 2019.

In 2019, Clemson’s Dabo Swin-ney was the highest paid coach in the country with a total pay of $9.3 million.

According to the database, Jim Harbaugh had a total pay of $7.5 million in 2019, making him the highest paid coach in the Big Ten.

The new contract would make Franklin the third highest paid coach in the Big Ten behind Harbaugh and Purdue’s Jeff Brohm.

In 2020, Franklin will have a buyout of $5 million, which will drop by a million per year of the contract.

The $5 million buyout would be the 53rd highest in the country in 2019 and is lower than the buyout for Maryland’s Mike Locksley and Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst.

Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher currently has the largest buyout in the country at $60.6 million.

Franklin’s new contract has a maximum incentive bonus of $1 million per year.

According to USA Today, only three FBS coaches received more than $1 million in bonus in 2018-19. They were Fresno State’s Jeff Tedford, Swinney and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops.

To email reporter: bcf5167@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @BFerree.

Where Franklin ranks nationally

Pen to PaPerJames Franklin has officially signed his extension that will keep him as

Penn State’s head coach for five more years

James Franklin is still underpaid in new deal

James Franklin’s latest contract extension was meant to quell the annual rumors that emerge each December about the Penn State head coach be-ing linked to other top-tier jobs around the country — Florida State, USC, Texas A&M, etc.

Franklin has continuously reiterated his desire to remain in Happy Valley, but yet rumors continued to resurface.

Some speculated that it was just Franklin trying to gain lever-age in order to get more money for his assistants and facilities upgrades.

Whether or not Franklin had any real interest in even looking at other jobs, there was certainly some unrest within the Nittany Lion fanbase that Franklin might already have one foot out the door. But the contract extension he signed in December, which runs through the 2025 season, was supposed to mitigate those concerns. For a while, it worked.

Then the terms of the contract were released on Wednesday morning.

Under this new deal, Franklin is only getting a slight bump in pay by the end of the contract — he’s actually now making less in 2020 than he did in 2019 — and the buyout numbers, while increased, certainly won’t be a deterrent for the types of programs that would be pursuing him anyway.

You can find a list ranking the highest paid college football coaches at a variety of places on the internet, but I’ll break it down in simple terms for you.

Franklin’s 2019 salary of $5.6 million ranked him 11th in the nation. That’s the third-highest in the Big Ten behind Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and Jeff Brohm at Purdue (Ryan Day is getting an extension from Ohio State that could put his annual salary higher than Franklin’s).

Since 2016, Penn State is 42-11,

including three 11-win seasons, a Big Ten title and both Fiesta and Cotton Bowl victories. Of the 10 programs whose coach made more than Franklin in 2019, only four — Clemson, Alabama, Georgia and Okla-homa — have a better record since 2016.

The worst of the bunch is Purdue, who paid Brohm $6.6 million to go 4-8 last season, bringing the Boilermakers’ re-cord to 20-30 over the last four seasons. The fact that Frank-lin’s new contract will see him make a maximum of $6.5 (not including bonuses) by the end of the deal is an absolute steal for Penn State. This makes me wonder what exactly Franklin and his agent were negotiating for in this latest extension.

Obviously, we won’t know how much more money will be al-located to pay assistant coaches and what facilities upgrades could be in the works, but it seems like Franklin left a lot of annual salary on the table, com-pared to the way the market has been trending in recent years.

Who knows, Franklin and Penn State may renegotiate a new deal a few years down the road and he’ll get a bump in sal-ary that accurately reflects his place among the elite college football coaches around the country.

He’s yet to play out either of his first two contracts at Penn State, so that seems likely.

Regardless, Penn State fans were hoping for security with Franklin’s new contract.

But the terms of this contract likely won’t stop those rumors from swirling at the end of each year.

To email reporter: tbk5155@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @King_TylerB.

Jonah Rosen/Collegian

James Franklin and AD Sandy Barbour were in attendance for the match between Penn State and Minnesota at Rec Hall on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018.

Collegian file photo

James Franklin and Jim Harbaugh shake hands after Penn State’s lose to Michigan 28-16 at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015.

MY VIEW | TYLER KING

SPORTSPage 5Feb. 27-March 1, 2020

Photo by James Leavy/Collegian

The Daily CollegianSPORTSPage 6 | Feb. 27-March 1, 2020

By: Matthew KnaubTHE DAILY COLLEGIAN

As a toddler, Mason Snell hated lions.

His father, Chris Snell, was concluding his p r o f e s s i o n a l hockey career in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga –

a top league in Germany. Chris played five of his six sea-

sons in the DEL with the Frankfurt Lions, playing with the club from 1997 to 2000 and again from 2001 to 2003.

As a young child, Mason would spend the hockey season in Germany with Chris and his mother, Dayne Snell. However, when Mason and Dayne went to see Chris play, it wasn’t always a pleasant experience when the mascot was in the building.

“He was absolutely petrified of him. Most kids were,” Chris said. “[One time], he scrambled up three or four rows from my wife’s

hands to get away from the lion.”Having a dad who played

professional hockey led Mason to the sport that he now plays at Penn State, showing he outgrew his fear of felines.

Before his stint in the DEL, Chris played the majority of his career in the American Hockey League and the now-defunct International Hockey League from 1991 to 1997.

However, he did get his chance in the NHL, playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1993-94 and with the Los Angeles Kings the following campaign.

While Mason, who was born in 2000, doesn’t recall watching Chris play, his father still had a big influence on him playing hockey. During Chris’ final seasons in the DEL, Mason used to sit in the dressing room and throw balls of tape around.

“I guess I wanted to play hock-ey since I was just a little kid, too,” Mason said.

“I love the game now, so I’m

happy I got into it back then.”While Mason began playing

hockey at a young age, he had a passion for all sorts of sports.

The Ontario, Canada native also played soccer, basketball, t-ball, volleyball, lacrosse and karate, among others.

Chris served as his hockey coach when he was seven and eight years old.

As a former pro, Chris instilled Mason with advice he learned during his time in the profession-al ranks, including two crucial principles.

“Be the best player you can be,” Chris said. “To be the best person you can be is also important.”

After working his way through the youth and junior ranks, Mason committed to play hock-ey at Penn State for the Nittany Lions.

“This is the first school I visited [and] I fell in love with it since I got here,” Mason said. “It wasn’t too hard of a decision.”

As a kid and now at Penn State, Mason is always reminded by

his father to “push the play.” However, Mason’s relationship with his father, who is now an amateur scout with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, goes way beyond what happens on the ice.

There is one particular piece of advice engrained in Mason by his father and grandfather that sticks with him every day.

“If you’re not going to put 100 percent into something, then don’t even bother doing it,” Mason said. “I want to put 100 percent into hockey, school — ev-erything that’s important to me — and that’s how I live.”

As a freshman, Snell appeared in 26 regular season contests for the Nittany Lions, recording two goals and three assists. The defenseman has become a familiar face within Penn State’s lineup and its core group of up-and-coming freshmen.

“He’s always had a pretty unique knack of moving pucks out of his defensive zone,” Guy Gadowsky said. “His biggest as-set is his ability to make plays out

of the defensive zone, which he’s always done pretty well.”

Mason’s two goals were both game-winners, and he ranks fourth among all Nittany Lions in that category. According to his teammate Alex Limoges, Mason is a joy to be around both on and off the ice.

“[He] works hard all the time, so it’s a lot of fun seeing him on the ice,” Limoges said. “[He’s] always got a joke up his sleeve.”

Despite his busy schedule, Chris has gotten to see Mason play for Penn State in-person a few times.

With the regular season in the books and the postseason around the corner, Chris couldn’t be more excited for his son and his journey to the highest level of collegiate hockey.

“I’m extremely proud,” Chris said. “He’s earned everything up until this point on his own. He put in the work.”

To email reporter: mjk6111@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Knaub.

Father shapes Mason Snell’s time at PSU

Penn State’s road to title will be tough but not impossible This season has been one of

the most uncharacteristic Cael Sanderson’s had in his 11 years

at the helm.In November,

his team suffered its first dual meet loss in nearly four years and followed that up with a rare second loss to Iowa nearly two

months later.The two losses are the most

by a Sanderson coached team since the 2014-15 season when the Nittany Lions lost four dual meets.

In addition to the out of the ordinary losses, there was also lineup uncertainty for much of the season — the Nittany Lions only fielded the same lineup in four out of 14 duals and only used the same lineup in con-secutive duals once.

All of these events have led to doubt surrounding Penn State’s national title aspirations, and that’s reasonable.

Iowa’s lineup is as deep as ever, with every one of its starters ranked inside the top-10 in their respective weight class, plus the Hawkeyes went 13-0 this season and dominated every team on their schedule except Penn State.

NC State seems to be the preeminent team in the ACC, with the Wolfpack going 15-0, picking up four ranked wins along the way, including three top-10 wins in their last four duals.

The national landscape is shaping up to be interesting with several teams poised to potentially stop Penn State’s dominance and keep the Nittany Lions from winning a fifth straight NCAA title.

I wrote earlier in the season about how the Nittany Lions couldn’t be discounted simply

because they incurred some speedbumps along the way.

But that was before the sea-son ended.

Now, with the regular season over and the benefit of hindsight, plus some more sample sizes to go off of, I stand by what I wrote — don’t write off Penn State when the postseason gets underway in just over a week.

Nick Lee burst on the scene this season and has dominated all but three opponents he’s faced, going 18-0 so far with 15 bonus point wins and five

ranked wins, including a win over former top-ranked Luke Pletcher of Ohio State.

The junior 141-pounder for the Nittany Lions seems primed to make a deep run in both the Big Ten and NCAA Tournament and if all goes well, should be a title favorite for the Nittany Lions, especially given his growth in recent weeks.

Penn State’s other national title contenders are Vincenzo Joseph and Mark Hall, both of whom have been to the finals every year and captured an NCAA title at least once.

Hall will likely have to avenge a regular season loss to Iowa’s Michael Kemerer, while Joseph is undefeated on the season and will have to once again hold off Iowa’s Alex Marinelli to claim his third NCAA title.

The Nittany Lions will also likely turn to sophomore Roman Bravo-Young at 133 to make a deep run and score points, and he certainly has the skills to get it done, but there are a few wildcards who could be the keys to any Penn State title hopes.

At 149 pounds, Jarod Verkleeren has come into his

own and after taking two top-10 opponents — including Ohio State’s top-ranked Sammy Sasso — into sudden victory before finally picking up a top-10 win in the Nittany Lions’ regular season finale against Ameri-can’s Kizhan Clarke.

Sanderson feels Verkleeren could be an under-the-radar point scorer for the Nittany Lions based on these results and if that holds to be true, Penn State could be in a good spot.

The Nittany Lions will need the Shakur Rasheed of two years ago — the one who was an All-American at 197 — to return to form in March and will need heavyweight Seth Nevills to get on the podium to replace Anthony Cassar’s national title.

The biggest wildcard might be Aaron Brooks at 184.

He’s been having a stellar freshman season, with impres-sive ranked wins and impressive bonus point wins and was likely thought of as an All-American contender.

But with Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia getting sus-pended indefinitely for failing a drug test, that opens up the field more at 184 pounds and gives Brooks an opportunity for a high finish and potentially even a title at 184 pounds.

I know these are a lot of hypotheticals and a lot needs to go right for Penn State, but based on recent results and the fact that it’s just generally hard to bet against any Cael Sanderson coached team, another national title will be tough, but not impossible.

Sanderson always stresses the importance of his team peaking in March.

In about three weeks, we’ll see if that’s happened.

To email reporter: jxa5415@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Aferiat51.

MY VIEW | JAKE AFERIAT

MEN’S HOCKEY

Lindsey Toomer/Collegian

Penn State defender Mason Snell (16) looks for the puck during the game against Notre Dame in Pegula Ice Arena on Saturday, Feb. 1. Penn State lost to Notre Dame 2-4.

Lily LaRegina/Collegian

Head coach Cael Sanderson questions a call by a referee during Shakur Rasheed’s match against Jordan Pagano during Penn State wrestling’s white-out meet against Rutgers in Rec Hall.

The Daily Collegian SPORTS Feb. 27-March 1, 2020 | Page 7

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By Gianna GalliThe Daily Collegian

The Big Ten Championships are right around the corner and one of Penn State’s persistent

wrestlers is see-ing consistent im-provement.

Jarod Verk-leeren overcame two of his recent losses in Penn State’s final home match of the 2020 season against American with a win by decision 3-1.

With the ability to not only stick out the entire three periods, Verkleeren got a takedown when it was needed and earned his sec-ond ranked win of the season.

Although Verkleeren wasn’t one of the wrestlers in the spot-light on senior day, the sopho-more had one more shot before the regular season closed out to prove he was more than a youth-ful Nittany Lion that couldn’t re-bound from two falls to sudden victory.

“It feels good, I think I’m get-ting better so that’s the goal just keep getting better come march,” Verkleeren said. “I wasn’t really baiting him, he just kinda shot a straight on double and I just passed it by and got the takedown down the edge.”

Verkleeren felt it all along.The Greensburg, Pennsylva-

nia native was the second match of the afternoon for Penn State at 149 and American’s No. 7 Kizhan Clarke was about to suf-fer his third dual match loss of his redshirt junior season.

“We were in that body lock posi-tion early on and I felt he was kin-da hesitant and a little there and I thought if we did get there again I could squeak one by,” Verkleeren said.

And that is exactly what Verk-leeren did. According to Sander-son, the victory for Verkleeren was nothing he didn’t see hap-pening, but Sanderson was wait-ing for the recent positive atti-tude the sophomore has shown to finally come out.

“I definitely think we have seen a little more enthusiasm and ex-citement the last couple weeks from him and a big win tonight over a ranked guy, heading into the postseason, is where we want to be,” Sanderson said.

Verkleeren has zero experi-ence under his belt when it comes to the postseason but will now be entering with loads of confidence.

After splitting time at 149 last season with sophomore Brady Berge, Verkleeren finished 15-6 overall with a 5-2 dual meet

record and going 3-2 in Big Ten dual action.

Sanderson felt more comfort-able with Berge filling the start-ing role of competing in postsea-son last year for Penn State in this weight class after finishing 20-5 overall with a 6-1 mark in duals and 4-1 record in Big Ten duals.

Berge placed sixth at his first Big Ten Tournament allowing him to qualify for the NCAA’s. The then-redshirt freshmen went on to help lead Penn State to its

fourth-straight NCAA title.This season it will be Verk-

leeren however, who gets the chance to shine on the nation-al stage with Berge no longer competing at 149.

“I think you can look at him right now, he looks pretty good. He’s got the right look and knows he can compete with anybody and he’s ready to go,” Sanderson said.

Along with the confidence un-der Verkleeren at 149, Sanderson is overall satisfied with where Penn State is at as a whole as

the most important preparation of the season begins for these Nittany Lions.

“These guys are wrestling well and I think we will find out as we get to the Big Ten and Nationals,” Sanderson said. “I feel like they are wrestling the best that they have and I think that the attitude and and perspective is on point right now and where we need to be.”

To email reporter: gpg5167@psu.edu.Follow her on Twitter at @giannagalli84.

Lily LaRegina/Collegian

Jarod Verkleeren wrestles Nick Santos during Penn State wrestling’s white-out meet against Rutgers in Rec Hall on Sunday, Jan. 19.

Verkleeren is gaining confidence

WRESTLING

The Daily CollegianlocalPage 8 | Feb. 27-March 1, 2020

The Band Junkies helps local musicians

The best places to shop for State Patty’s merchandise

By Lindsey ToomerThe Daily Collegian

Luke Cimbala has been a committed member of the State College music scene for years, but in the past year he has ex-panded the local music communi-ty even more through his created network, The Band Junkies.

The homepage of the The Band Junkies website describes the or-ganization as a “local networking for a thriving musician commu-nity.” Cimbala tasks himself with connecting musicians with ven-ues for shows, as well as photog-raphers and graphic designers to help artists promote their brands.

Cimbala started the website just under a year ago and has in-creased his outreach immensely since. There are currently around 100 artists promoted on The Band Junkies website.

“I think all the work I’ve put in for the past year is all worth it now, because the infrastructure is there,” Cimbala said. “I’ve al-ready worked with the bands, they trust me, they know if I say I’m going to do something I’ll do it [and that] I’m going to be as fair as I possibly can.”

For each band he represents with The Band Junkies, Cimbala will take photos and videos for them to use as promotional mate-rials at every show.

This provides artists with low budget, semi-professional con-tent they may not have otherwise had for their websites and social media.

He will also pay to boost artists’ social media posts and also pay designers to create and print fly-ers to advertise shows.

“Without someone really taking the time to do that with the pas-sion for it like Luke does, people like me wouldn’t have the same opportunities to perform and do their thing,” William Ryan, one of The Band Junkies’s artists and a life-long friend of Cimbala’s, said.

The biggest project that has come from The Band Junkies is the weekly concert series hosted at Zeno’s Pub. Each Saturday, The Band Junkies presents two local artists who play their

original music from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Cimbala is invested in this project solely for improving and expanding the local music scene, with little to no personal return for himself.

“In the end, the most reward-ing thing for me is just being at the show and being able to enjoy the music, and then of course the business being happy and ultimately the band that says thanks,” Cimbala said.

He even joked about the little on-stage “shout out” perform-ers will give to Cimbala and The Band Junkies when he helped them book the show.

Cimbala said he tries to work with bands who want to “invest in themselves.” If the band mem-bers are willing to pay a small price for Cimbala to create a pro-fessional video for them, they will go farther and see more success.

Before becoming the network-ing platform it is today, The Band Junkies was the name of a make-shift band Cimbala had with

other local musicians. They used to meet whenever and wherever possible just to play music.

Ryan (senior-environmental resource management) was one of the original Band Junkies, and is an artist featured by network who has known Cimbala since they were sophomores in high school.

He said Cimbala has been “in-strumental” in helping him fur-ther his music career, encourag-ing him to play his original music as much as possible.

“It’s given everyone a shot to perform, beyond just open mics,” Ryan said.

“I don’t think I would get the chance to open for a band at a place like Zeno’s if it weren’t for The Band Junkies and everything he’s doing. He brings artists to shows and shows to artists.”

Another advancement Cimbala is excited about is the opening of the new Stage West music venue, located at 420 E. College Ave. This venue has gone through many owners and managers since

it was the Crowbar in the late 1990s, most recently as Envy and REBar.

Cimbala said the new management at Stage West has brought state of the art sound and lighting systems to give local artists the opportunities to open for national touring acts.

The first big show of this nature will be held on Sunday, March 8, 2020 when rock band Trapt will perform at Stage West with The Band Junkies’s supported group Donny Burns and the 3rd Degree as the opening act.

Donny Burns is the lead singer of Donny Burns and the 3rd De-gree, and has been good friends with Cimbala prior to the start of The Band Junkies.

Burns said his band was there to help Cimbala get off his feet when starting up last year and has now seen mutual benefits from their relationship. He said eventually, he hopes Cimbala is able to make some form of profit for his work, since he is mostly doing this for little to no money.

“Anything he would [make off] of a show, he’s reinvesting into growing the scene,” Burns said. “If everyone else is playing and getting paid, he should have some sort of deal in that, too.”

Burns also noted that through-out this past year, Cimbala has honed his knowledge of the types of acts best suited for the differ-ent venues in State College and will help both ends book shows based on that knowledge.

Jonnie Baker is another singer and photographer who has been working with Cimabala and The Band Junkies, noting the impor-tance of a figure like Cimbala to the local music scene.

“It’s really easy to see how fair and level-headed of a promoter he is,” Baker said. “He is a vital piece of the puzzle in rekindling the original music scene in this area. It takes somebody who is willing to put in that time and ef-fort to see it come to fruition.”

To email reporter: lxt344@psu.edu.Follow her on Twitter at @lindseytoom.

Ken Minamoto/Collegian

Luke Cimbala, left, and William Ryan, center, of The Band Junkies, watch a performance by Donny Burns and the 3rd Degree at Zeno’s Pub on West College Ave. on Saturday, Feb. 22.

By Morgan MillerThe Daily Collegian

With State Patty’s day right on the horizon, Penn State students are looking to prepare for the up-coming festivities. These are the best local spots in State College for students to head if they’re looking to find festive gear before the weekend begins.

5. Rapid TransitWhile they do only have lim-

ited style options, consisting of mostly standard t-shirts, Rapid Transit does offer some gener-ic green happy valley options. However, they don’t have any spe-cific State Patty’s branded options. Nonetheless, the green “happy valley” styles are unique from most other prints that you could find at some of the more typical downtown spots.

4. Friend’s Dorm RoomWe all knows that friend who’s

a sports aficionado. The guy or girl in your friend group who re-ally loves jerseys is bound to have some green looks that you can

sport. Whether they’re a fan of the Eagles, Celtics, or Jets, it’s almost guaranteed that you can find a green jersey somewhere in State College before the weekend arrives. While this may not be the most stylish option, borrowing a jersey from a friend is cost ef-fective and guarantees that you won’t be stuck with some green clothing that won’t be very use-ful during every other weekend of the year.

3. Student BookstoreWhile The Student Bookstore

used to be one of the biggest pur-veyors of clothes for State Patty’s weekend, in past years the store has opted not to carry explicitly State Patty’s themed gear. How-ever students will be able to find plenty of green and shamrock-covered items to fit with the State Patty’s theme. Even though The Student Bookstore doesn’t have explicitly State Patty’s merchan-dise, it does carry a wide variety of items that extend outside of the typical tank tops and t-shirts. While the bookstore may not have the lowest prices around, it does

have a reasonable number of op-tions all within a reasonable price range.

2. Family ClotheslineFamily Clothesline is the place

to be when it comes to State

Patty’s merchandise. Conve-niently located downtown, Family Clothesline has the widest variety and largest volume of different State Patty’s styles and articles of clothing. If you’re looking for something outside the realm

of plain green t-shirts and tank tops, Family Clothesline would be the best spot to find something unique. However, all this variety clearly comes with a price, as Family Clothesline’s more trendy items definitely fall on the more expensive end of the State Patty’s spectrum.

1. McLanahan’sA classic spot for all things

Penn State, McLanahan’s is guar-anteed to be hooking students up with a variety of inexpensive State Patty’s merchandise head-ing into the weekend. McLana-han’s is known for its volume and variety of different Penn State clothes, and its relatively low prices compared to other options in the area. While it may not have too many different styles beyond basic t-shirts, students who are looking to get crafty and create their own unique State Patty’s looks will find McLanahan’s to be a great option for all things green.

To email reporter: mam8025@psu.edu.Follow her on Twitter at @morganamiller00.

Collegian file photo

State Patty’s Day merchandise on display at Metro, a clothing store in Downtown State College, on Feb. 21, 2019.

Ranking the best places to get Bubble Tea in downtown State CollegeBy Lilly RiddleThe Daily Collegian

My first time trying bubble tea — or boba — was around two years ago. It was a very new ex-perience — I wasn’t sure how to order it or what the small tapioca pearls even were.

Since then, I’ve had milk tea

from every place in downtown State College. Here are the top four favorite places I go to get my boba fix, ranked.

4. Kung Fu TeaKung Fu Tea, located on West

Beaver Avenue right between the Evolve Studio beauty salon and John’s Shanghai, is part of a

chain, with other locations in the United States, Canada, Cambo-dia, Taiwan, Australia and Japan. The location, at least for me, is a little inconvenient, since it’s the furthest from campus. However, for people living off-campus, it’s likely the closest option.

The tea here is on the sweet-er side, so keep that in mind when adding milk and sugar. There are a lot of menu options, and it is relatively easy to under-stand if you’ve never had boba before.

That being said, it usually takes an average of 10 minutes before my drink is ready. Also, the light-ing isn’t the best, and they keep the building very dark.

3. MomotaroIf I were going off of aesthet-

ics alone, Momotaro — located on West College Avenue in the small parking lot near Five Guys — would have it in the bag. The chalkboard walls, the stuffed animal-lined booths and the col-orful straws make the experience of dining at Momotaro a great, enjoyable place to come with friends.

Despite the cutesy interior de-sign, there are some downsides.

One is that the cafe is on the pricier side, and there is a credit card minimum, which has led to credit card-sharing and Venmo transactions.

The bubble tea itself is fine, and when you get certain drinks — such as the peach cheese tea — they give you your own cup to keep.

There’s also a ton of variety in their menu, which includes rolled ice cream, pastries and tons of drink flavors.

2. Tea TimeTea Time, located on East

Calder Way, is a bit harder to find if you’re not actively looking. The aesthetic of the actual building is nice, though, and the cafe has colored lights on the decorated walls.

As for the boba, it’s definitely bitterer here, so if you hate the taste of tea, Tea Time might not be for you. And the tapioca bub-bles are smaller, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your preference.

Tea Time, like Kung Fu Tea, tends to run out of menu items as the day goes on. Though, personally, I love the tea here, and the prices are much

cheaper than Momotaro’s.

1. Cafe WowLast, but not certainly not least,

we have Cafe Wow, located on East College Avenue. Cafe Wow really delivers on all fronts — the prices aren’t high, the tea is great (and on the sweeter side), and the at-mosphere is incredibly relaxing. The wooden tables and comple-mentary Jenga set really bring it all together.

The tapioca pearls are chewier than Tea Time’s, which I pre-fer since it makes the tea last longer.

And there are a ton of menu op-tions here as well, including fruit teas, smoothies and crepes. It’s lit nicely, and the wait times are relatively short.

So there you have it, the four downtown State College boba places, ranked on factors rang-ing from customer service to tea taste.

This list is based completely off of my personal opinions and ex-periences, so don’t be hurt if your favorite spot didn’t come in first — boba is boba, after all.

To email reporter: lir5125@psu.edu.Follow her on Twitter at @lilly_riddle.

Collegian file photo

Momotaro, a bubble tea shop, is located on West College Ave. in State College, Pa. on Feb. 27, 2017.