Photo by James Riccardo/Collegian

Feb. 10-12, 2020Vol. 120, No. 39

SIX STRAIGHT

Penn State flexes its depth without Myreon Jones and picks up another Big Ten win in defeat of Minnesota at sold-out Bryce Jordan Center

By Caleb WilfingerThe Daily Collegian

About 30 minutes before tip-off, it was confirmed that sophomore guard Myreon Jones — an emerg-ing star for Penn State — would miss Saturday’s game against Minnesota with an illness.

Suddenly, the 22nd-ranked Nittany Lions would be without their second-best player and an integral part of their offense in a game that they needed to win to keep pace at the top of the Big Ten standings.

But unlike in past years, Penn State didn’t flinch when one of its stars went down.

Instead, Pat Chambers’ group embodied the phrase “Next Man Up” on Saturday, getting contri-butions from up and down the lineup en route to an 83-77 victory.

“Obviously Myreon [Jones] be-ing sick, and kind of hurt our end-of-game stuff because usually he has the ball in his hands,” Cham-bers said.

“And then Mike [Watkins] be-ing in foul trouble meant that we basically had two starters down and we were able to find a way...I thought everybody contributed to the success.”

Prior to the contest, Jones was averaging over 14 points per game on 46 percent shooting from the field.

He was also shooting 41 per-cent from beyond the 3-point arc and had gone over 15 points in four of the last five games.

However, the Nittany Lions were able to replace that produc-tion, and then some, thanks to strong efforts from Izaiah Brock-ington, Myles Dread and Seth Lundy.

After a couple of quiet games,

Brockington tallied 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including a couple of key layups when the Gophers cut the Penn State lead to single digits in the second half.

He was joined by Dread and Lundy, as the tandem combined for 16 points and 12 rebounds on the day.

Additionally, Lundy was 6-of-6 from the free throw line and Dread’s 29 minutes were the most he’s played in weeks.

Curtis Jones Jr. has been more productive at other points this season, but he chipped in seven points off the bench, and even Jamari Wheeler knocked down a 3-pointer as part of a 25-12 run that gave Penn State a double-digit lead at the half.

“They’ve got a lot of talent, they’ve done a good job of re-cruiting guys like [Seth] Lundy, [Myles] Dread and [John] Harrar has gotten much better,” Minne-sota coach Richard Pitino said. “Obviously, with Myreon Jones out, they’re not as good of a team, they’re better with him, but they still have some really nice piec-es.”

This type of production also shone through in the second half, even as Lamar Stevens began to take over the offense.

Lundy opened the second half with five quick points, quickly pushing Penn State’s lead out to 45-28 and giving his team a sig-nificant cushion.

And when Minnesota inevitably made a furious run to close within striking distance, Dread hit one of his biggest 3-pointers of the sea-son to put Penn State up 77-68 with 3:13 remaining.

“He’s a big loss, don’t get me wrong, especially with the way he’s been playing all year long,”

Chambers said. “Really, he’s been very consistent on the offen-sive end and I thought our guards got key rebounds. [Lundy] had six rebounds, [Myles] Dread six rebounds, [Brockington] had five rebounds and some real timely layups that we sorely needed at that juncture of the game.”

Saturday wasn’t the first time that Penn State was able to win a key game in the Big Ten because of its depth.

In fact, the Nittany Lions have made a point to balance out their

scoring across the lineup, as op-posed to past years where the likes of Stevens or Tony Carr had to shoulder the majority of the load.

And while Stevens has deliv-ered two of his best performanc-es of his career in consecutive games, he hasn’t been alone in either.

On Tuesday against Michigan State, it was Jones who came to the aid of his teammate, splash-ing six 3-pointers in the road victory.

Four days later, Jones’ team-mates collectively did just enough to give Penn State its sixth straight win.

“We can’t go out and be Myreon Jones,” Chambers said,

“He is unique. He’s a scorer, and they call him ‘Buckets’ for a reason, but you have to do what you do. Don’t go outside your lane and try to do something you’re not.”

To email reporter: cjw5768@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @caleb_wilfinger.

James Riccardo/Collegian

Guard Curtis Jones Jr. (4) drives to the hoop during Penn State’s game against Minnesota at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday, Feb. 8. The No. 22 Nittany Lions defeated the Golden Gophers 83-77.

local The Daily CollegianPage 2 | Feb. 10-12, 2020

IconIc duo to dance ‘FtK’The Nittany Lion and Beaver Stadium mic man will dance at THON 2020 together

By Michael SneffThe Daily Collegian

Two of the most recognizable Penn State icons — the Nittany Lion and the Beaver Stadium mic man — are not only best friends, but will dance together in THON this year as an independent dancer couple (IDC).

Zach Sowa is the man “behind the mask” of one of the most fa-mous collegiate mascots, the Nit-tany Lion — a position he’s held since the spring of his freshman year.

One may recognize Eric Gas-pich as the man who hypes the crowd up before every Penn State football home game with the question, “Are you ready for Penn State football?”

While they are both seemingly larger than life when it comes to cultural recognition on cam-pus, Sowa (senior-cybersecurity analytics and operations) and Gaspich (senior-enterprise risk management) said their friend-ship and decision to dance in THON this year is indicative of the people they really are: people who want to give back and help others.

Participating in THON Both Sowa and Gaspich have

been involved with THON be-fore committing to dance in the

46-hour dance marathon. Sowa first attended THON with

Club Gymnastics his freshman year before becoming the lion and appearing at the event the last two years in costume. Gas-pich was a family relations chair for an organization.

Both went to high schools that were heavily active in mini-THONs, so the love for the cause was with them long before they came to Penn State.

“Coming to Penn State, I mean THON is just an amazing experi-ence, it’s been the most incredible thing, just being able to interact with the families and see all the help the organization gives has inspired me to do this thing, be an IDC, fundraise and do everything to help,” Gaspich said.

Sowa said he enjoyed being the lion during THON because kids “gravitate” toward him.

“The biggest thing to me is this natural affinity for the lion that all the THON children have. It doesn’t matter who I am, but they see me and just run to me with open arms, so excited,” Sowa said. “When you see these kids that have to wear masks be-cause they can’t be exposed to anything and their faces just light up because you’re there, it’s an unbelievable experience to be so impactful.”

THON 2020 will be Sowa’s last event as the Nittany Lion — which means, yes, he will be dancing as the lion, switching in and out of the costume depending on when he’s needed.

He is the second Nittany Lion to dance in THON after Michael Valania in 2015.

“That’s why it’s crazy, because he’s still doing the lion, that’s his last event as the lion ever,” Gaspich said.

“We just became inseparable”

Sowa and Gaspich first met on their dorm floor freshman year,

citing Sowa’s chugging of a box of cereal as the spark for their friendship.

“I just said, ‘Yeah, this guy’s hilarious,’” Gaspich said.

Sowa and Gaspich added that going to church together every week strengthened their friend-ship with each other, as well as with others.

“When we got close, it really wasn’t even to do with the lion at all,” Gaspich said. “It was the fact that we would just go to church and do something new every night after.”

Sowa did not officially reveal his identity as the lion to the world until Penn State football’s last home game of the 2019 sea-son, in which he unmasked him-self to the crowd on senior day. He has held the position as the Nittany Lion for three years, the longest of any other lion.

He said about 100 people — including Gaspich — ever knew about his “secret identity.”

“I have an insanely busy life and can’t manage it all on my own. I would go to my most trust-ed friends, and [Gaspich] was one of, if not the first one, I had to ask a favor of because of it,” Sowa said. “He was just such a great and reliable friend to me that I ended having to tell him like, ‘Hey I do this and need your help,’ and he was just so helpful.”

Gaspich’s reaction to the news of Sowa being the Nittany Lion “didn’t change anything” about their friendship. They both said the revelation made them

stronger friends. “We already had a ton of fun

together before, but through his help we just became inseparable,” Sowa said.

They said Sowa being the lion was sort of an “inside joke,” ex-plaining it was fun to have oth-er friends not know before he revealed himself to the world.

Because Sowa was so busy, Gaspich said if he wanted to spend time with him, he had to be flexible enough to make it work.

He would go out of his way to make it work and try to spend time with him.

“[I would] be the water boy if he needed it, pick up towels, ad-vocating for him, and I became the person that would speak for him because he literally couldn’t speak,” Gaspich said.

Gaspich got the job as the Bea-ver Stadium mic man and a posi-tion on the cheer team because of his connection with Sowa, some-thing he said that he is extremely grateful for.

Last time as the lionThe lion’s “handoff” date is

typically later in the spring, but Sowa said he wants THON 2020 to be his last event as the lion because of its special meaning to him.

Sowa had always wanted to dance in THON but didn’t want to take any dancer spots from cheer or dance, which is why he asked Gaspich to be an IDC with him.

“We had talked about it, and we essentially decided to IDC,” Sowa said. “That’ll challenge us to raise as much money as we physi-cally can, and we’re trying to set records.”

When they found out they had been accepted as an IDC, they both had one thought.

“Mission’s not complete,” Sowa said.

Gaspich said getting accepted to dance was only the beginning, explaining they have a lot more work to do and a “long way to go” to achieving their fundraising goals.

“Now it’s go-time. We’re at push, push, push,” Gaspich said.

Sowa and Gaspich’s dancer fundraising page can be found online.

To email reporter: mbs5797@psu.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @michaelsneff.

Brendan Todd/Collegian

Zach Sowa, left, and Eric Gaspich with the Nittany Lion cut-out in the HUB-Robeson Center on Feb. 6.

Brendan Todd/Collegian

Zach Sowa, top, and Eric Gaspich pose next to the seal in the HUB-Robeson Center on Feb. 6.

Past and upcoming dancers on why they THONBy Kira MohrThe Daily Collegian

According to THON dancer Laura Hurtado, standing for 46 hours straight during Penn State’s annual dance marathon is incomparable to what a child en-dures within the cancer treatment process.

Helping chil-dren with cancer is what led Hurta-do (junior-human development and family studies) to THON in the first place.

She became involved with THON her sopho-more year when she joined Penn State’s choral en-semble Essence of Joy (EOJ).

After her experience as a spec-tator at THON 2018, she said she wanted to become involved with the philanthropy and join its “humongous impact.”

“It was very admirable to see that all these people are here to fight for not only their families, but all these families that are involved,” Hurtado said.

“I thought, ‘I have to be involved next year, there’s no way I can’t be.’”

EOJ’s THON child, Abby, was one of Hurtado’s biggest inspira-tions for her reason to dance at THON 2020.

At nearly five years in re-mission, Abby is an example of a THON success story, according to Hurtado.

“We’re very fortunate to have [Abby],” Hurtado said. “But, fellow organizations have lost their kids, and that was very shocking for me to see, espe-cially with social media being such a great place to expose those kinds of things and show it happens a lot more than you realize.”

Hurtado emphasized the im-portance of community within the philanthropy and how the impact of many within THON continues

to grow. She said the actions made by each person involved with THON will continue to increase its community and worldwide influence.

“To me, [THON] is something that can be spread throughout our communities [and] our so-

ciety, and it’s such an amazing cause — and the fact that it’s this big means it’s only going to get bigger,” Hurtado said.

“The bigger it gets, the more people are going to get involved and the closer we are to fin-din a cure. We’re hoping for more smiles rather than tears.”

Similar to Hurtado, EOJ president and former THON dancer Mariah

Ivery became involved with THON through the choir’s philanthropic effors.

However, Ivery (senior-psy-chology) said she experienced the THON community before beginning her career at Penn State.

At her high school, one of Ivery’s classmates was diagnosed with cancer.

Witnessing the community’s impact as it came together to raise funds for his treatments in-spired Ivery to become involved with a similar outreach at Penn State — THON.

Ivery said she is both thank-ful and humbled by her danc-ing experiences and the oth-er philanthropic efforts she has been involved with through THON.

“There’s more to life than just me or you,” Ivery said. “We go through this life just trying to get by, but there’s a lot more to life than that and we have to be considerate of others and

what they’re going through — especially with the kids. Seeing the kids, it’s a hard thing to think about. It’s definitely made me very grateful for what I have.”

Mya Gladysiewski, a dancer at THON 2019, became con-nected with THON through Crossfit Club. She said her close connection with the organiza-tion’s THON family has kept her active within the club’s dedication to philanthropy.

Gladysiewski (senior-kinesiol-ogy) said dancing in the 46-hour marathon event is a gratifying experience. Being surrounded by families who are experiencing their child’s battle with cancer has given Gladysiewski a new ap-preciation for the world around her.

“These kids are so inspira-tional and it helps you to appre-ciate your life and your health, and it helps us all be more em-pathetic. It’s really made me appreciate my relationships

more than ever,” Gladysiewski said.

Gladysiewski’s favorite THON memory involves her experience with Crossfit Club’s THON child, Lily Jordan.

She was able to witness the happiness that came with Jor-dan’s love for Mason Ramsey and her ability to experience his performance live at THON 2019.

She said her THON experi-ence has demonstrated the importance of supporting THON families and bringing the uni-versity together to collectively support the philanthropy.

“THON to me is emotional support and compassion for the families — connecting with them and being there for them through tough times,” Gladysiewski said. “It’s also the unity of all Penn State and so much farther beyond for one cause.”

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

Graphic by Noah Riffe

“The bigger [THON] gets, the more people are go-ing to get involved and the closer we are to finding a cure. We’re hoping for more smiles rather than tears.”

Laura HurtadoTHON 2020 dancer

OPINIONColsen AckroydBusiness Manager

Grace Miller Opinion Page Editor

Elena RoseEditor in Chief

Iowa fiasco is latest attempt to limit Sanders’ credibility

Bernie Sanders has long been the subject of unfair scrutiny from mainstream

media outlets for his ideas and beliefs.

Often, he’s dismissed or cast aside as some crazy lib-eral who’s out of touch with where the American people are

ideologically.But his recent showing at

the Iowa Caucus at least partially disproves all of these tired, drawn out notions.

Sanders, along with Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, are projected to be the big winners from Tuesday’s Iowa Caucus.

As of this column being written, Buttigieg lead Sanders by 0.1 percent with 97 percent of the votes in, but Democratic National Committee chairman and former United States Secretary of Labor Tom Perez ordered a recanvassing after there were inconsistencies with the votes.

This year, caucus goers

could vote via an app called Shadow, which malfunctioned and caused major delays and is one of the main reasons for both the late release of voting totals and the general distrust of the Democratic establishment.

It was recently revealed that the app’s founder, Tara McGowan, has deep ties to the Democratic establishment and is married to a top strategist in Buttigieg’s cam-paign, so it stands to reason Mayor Pete would like to see this app do well and would benefit from its existence.

The fact that this app exists and was a main source of voting for the Iowa caucus already put Sanders at a disadvantage, coupled with media coverage doubting Sanders’ ability to win, shows that the Democratic main-stream had it out for Sanders from the beginning.

The Associated Press came out and said they can’t declare

a winner, which makes it slightly disingenuous when both Buttigieg and Sanders came out and gave victory speeches, though both were expected to walk away with 11 delegates apiece.

While both Sanders’ and Buttigieg’s speeches seemed premature and arrogant to some, Sanders’ speech highlight-ed an important point — he got 6,000 more votes than Buttigieg and yet he wasn’t declared the outright winner.

Only in America can we have two electoral systems — the caucus and the Electoral College — where the person who received the most votes doesn’t win their respective election.

If that’s not stymying democracy and people’s voice, then I don’t know what is.

But this isn’t the first time Sanders has had the system rigged against him in a presidential election.

In 2016, when he was running against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sand-ers endured similar attacks on his record and his policies from both Clinton and the media.

The real caveat, however, came in the form of super-delegates — these were prominent Democratic party officials whose votes carried more weight than normal pledged delegates.

So while it appears Clinton beat Sanders by over 1,000 delegates, the count when excluding superdelegates was 2,271 for Clinton and 1,820 for Sanders — a margin of just over 450 and putting Clinton short of the 2,383 total delegates needed for nomination.

These attacks and attempts to prevent Sanders from winning aren’t new or surprising, but it’s clear now more than ever, if progres-sives intend to govern and have a voice, they need to coalesce behind and stand in solidarity with Sanders, the same way he has done so often with marginalized groups.

Otherwise, we’ll be left with either Trump or the status quo and given that Sanders has the most diverse coalition along racial lines, class lines, educational lines, gender identity and basically every other marker, the status quo likely won’t be good enough in bringing about progressive change.

So when people say Sanders isn’t electable, think about what position of power they hold and their motives — because it’s often these people with the most power and the most to lose from Sanders winning who are the ones calling him out.

Jake Aferiat is a senior majoring in journalism and is a columnist for The Daily Collegian. Email him at jxa5415@psu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @Jake_Aferiat51.

MY VIEW | Jake Aferiet

Aferiat

“... the status quo likely won’t be good enough

in bringing about progres-sive change.”

Jake Aferiat

As co-chairs of Penn State’s Waste Stream Task Force, we agree with the importance of improving our recycling programs highlighted in piece by a Daily Col-legian opinion columnist Jan. 27, titled “Local efforts to combat climate change should be more extensive.”

Our Task Force was formed by university leaders in 2018 in recognition of the rap-idly evolving challenges and opportunities associated with creating a sustainable circular economy.

Over 20 students, faculty and staff spent most of the past year working to assess the status of our purchasing, waste reduction, recy-cling, composting and specialty waste programs, and develop-ing recommendations for improvement.

This effort involved extensive consultation with the university com-munity, including a public meeting in April with over 75 partici-pants; a follow-up survey with more than 825 respondents; and a website posting the full

report and inviting engagement: wastestream.psu.edu.

The report on the website details the analysis and the recom-mendations.

Additional feedback is welcome, as the oppor-tunities for innovation in waste management continue to evolve.

Since the summer, we have been working with university leadership to implement the recom-mendations, and on Jan. 27 — the same day of the Collegian opinion column was published — a summary of the

task force recommenda-tions was provided to the President’s Council, resulting in strong support for the immedi-ate action items listed for this year.

Many of the initial improvements listed require deep system-lev-el transformations that may not be obviously apparent, such as restructuring the uni-versity’s procurement processes to reduce purchases of hard-to-recycle materials and adjusting contracts with vendors and other partners.

Other recommenda-tions will be implement-ed over the next few years as we streamline the bin system; enhance recycling and reintro-duce composting in the residence halls; and develop the educational systems and signage needed for program success.

Penn State has been and will continue to be a leader in sustainable waste management. We look forward to working with the entire community to achieve this important goal.

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Letter to the Editor: Task force “will continue” to lead sustainable efforts

Letter to the Editor | Phillip Melnick & Tom Richard

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Stevens and PSU have come a long wayWith just under two and a half

minutes to play, Lamar Stevens backed his way into the post,

leaned into his defender, spun to-ward the baseline and released one of his patented turnaround jumpshots.

The ball hit the front of the rim and rolled to the

back of the rim, hitting off the backboard before falling through the cylinder.

That bucket gave Stevens 31 points on the afternoon –– a new career-high –– but more impor-tantly, it was the dagger in Penn State’s sixth consecutive win.

It was a win that pushes the Nittany Lions to 8-4 in the Big

Ten, just one game behind first place, and it came in front over 15,000 people at a sold out Bryce Jordan Center.

Stevens has had big games over the course of his four years in Happy Valley.

There have been big home crowds in recent years. But none of those performances by Stevens, none of those 10,000-plus crowds, were as important as Saturday’s.

Because more than anything, Penn State’s performance shows just how far the program has come since Stevens stepped on campus.

This isn’t a Penn State team picking up a nice win in front of the only good crowd it has all year.

This is the new Penn State

basketball –– just ask Minnesota coach Richard Pitino.

“When you get buy-in from the community, that team can beat anybody,” Pitino said after Penn State’s 83-77 win. “But you can’t do it in front of an empty arena. It’s so hard. This is a tough place to play. Before, it wasn’t.”

Pitino is exactly right. The BJC isn’t a kind environment when it’s packed and filled with energy like it was on Saturday af-ternoon. But this is how it needs to be all the time.

Pat Chambers has worked too hard to get this team in this position for this to only last a few months. Pitino knows that, too, and he went to bat for the Nittany Lion program moments after the loss.

“It can’t be the chicken or the

egg with any team, with any fanbase,” Pitino said. “Don’t wait for them to be good.”

“This is a really good team. They know they’re in the NCAA Tournament, now. They’re 18-5. They’re playing for a potential Big Ten title. Now that you’re getting a buy-in from the com-munity, there’s another level that every program can get. In this league, that’s what it’s all about.”

But this isn’t just about how far Penn State as a program has come. It’s also about how much Stevens has matured and the type of player he has become.

Before the game started, he was honored for recently becom-ing the third player in Penn State history to score 2,000 career points.

If he stays healthy, he’ll likely

leave as the program’s all-time leading scorer and he’ll finish top 10 in rebounds.

Beyond the stats, Stevens has been a culture-driver for the Nit-tany Lions and has continuously delivered performances worthy of his status as a star in college basketball.

But none was bigger than Saturday’s.

The Nittany Lions needed every one of his 33 points.

They needed every big defensive stop he delivered. They needed all of it.

Afterward, his coach said it best.

“It has to be one of those top games of his career.”

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

MY VIEW | TYLER KING

Harrar takes advantage of increased workload

A special time for Penn State fans

By Evan PatrickThe Daily Collegian

Prior to tip-off, John Harrar was going through his routine rebounding drills with more en-ergy than everyone around him combined.

The junior forward swatted a ball volleyball-style nearly 30 feet into the stands, knocked over a manager with a boxout and let a scream into the air — the tone was set from that point on.

Harrar was as locked in as he has been for any game all year, and for good reason. The center opposite him, Minnesota’s Daniel Oturu, ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring, first in rebound-ing and second in blocked shots.

For the past seven games, Harrar has replaced Mike Wat-kins as Penn State’s starting cen-ter, but Watkins would still see the majority of minutes at the posi-tion. Against the Golden Gophers however, this wasn’t the case.

Penn State’s big man started the game off with solid defense against Oturu and four of the Nit-tany Lions’ first eight points via two solid post moves.

When Watkins checked in ear-ly in the half, Oturu saw more

success and was able to get Penn State’s big man into early foul trouble. After that first stint from Watkins, he barely saw the floor again.

Harrar checked back in and on the first possession guard-ing Oturu, he forced a missed jumper. On the other the junior would grab an offensive rebound and kick it back out for a Lamar Stevens three.

Harrar became integral to the Nittany Lions’ success as the pri-mary defender on Oturu, making him work tirelessly for the even-tual 32 points he would put up.

“Even though he had 32 points, I thought he had to work for most of them, he had to earn those 32,” Pat Chambers said. “He’s a big time player… I still thought John [Harrar], Jamari [Wheeler], and Lamar [Stevens] did the best they could with Watkins being in foul trouble.”

Watkins would play only a to-tal of six minutes in this game, and the only other big man who sees consistent minutes for Penn State is Harrar — and he saw a ton against Minnesota.

The Delco native would play 33 total minutes, 12 more than he has played in any game this

season. Chambers needed Harrar out there as much as pos-sible to guard the Gophers’ best player and do all the little things he does so well that give the Nit-tany Lions energy. Penn State started the second half with pos-session, before a quick turnover gave Minnesota the ball.

At the other end of the floor, Harrar stole the ball from Go-phers guard Marcus Carr and started a fastbreak the other way that ended with a layup for Stevens. The start of both halves were dominated by the Nittany Lions’ big man.

Harrar was +23 when he was on the floor for Penn State, the best on the team by far.

He would finish with eight points on an efficient 4-5 shooting, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals — he did a little bit of everything.

“I think Jamari and John did a great job on these guys, frus-trating them, taking them out of rhythm in certain situations.” Pat Chambers said. “John’s ball-screen defense was unbelievable for most of the game.”

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

By Justin MorgansteinThe Daily Collegian

Before 15,261 people entered the Bryce Jordan Center on Sat-urday afternoon, you could feel the juice in the arena as early as an hour before tip-off as students and fans flooded into both the upper and lower bowls.

It’s Penn State’s first sellout since 2011, and fans were eager to be a part of an atmosphere that has not been felt in Happy Valley in a long time.

The fans didn’t want to hold back this afternoon, as they looked to make the large BJC feel like a compact gym that makes the opposition as uncomfortable as possible. But this would all not be possible if not for the ef-fort of Pat Chambers and the rest of the program, as they had to go through years of struggles to climb this rocky mountain.

“The program is on the up-swing,” longtime Penn State fan Joel Confer said. “I think it’s im-portant that we show up because now we are getting recognized across the country.”

That type of support though, doesn’t come if the Nittany Li-ons aren’t putting out a winning product. While this is something the program has been working towards for years, the sense of pride doesn’t come unless the re-sults speak for themselves — and so far this season, they have.

“It’s awesome to see us have

a winner,” Confer said. “When-ever you have a winner you’re gonna get a crowd out of it. We were never looked at as a bas-ketball school, but now we are getting some recognition thanks to coach Chambers who’s done a tremendous job.”

The quick turnaround has not only inspired the Nittany Lion fanbase to show out, but also shed light on the Legion of Blue, Penn State’s student-run fanbase.

“The atmosphere seems crazy so far, it’s been a quick turn-around and it’s looking good for the Tournament,” Penn State sophomore Dylan Orenstein said. “The players are gonna feed off the energy, and it’s cool to see just such a big turnaround.”

Today’s sellout not only dis-plays the passion that Penn Stater has for all of its athletic programs, but also the hunger for basketball that the school has had over the entirety of the program’s history. Plus, it will be an event that could inspire some of the country’s premier, young bas-ketball talent to give Penn State a shot at possibly being a basketball destination.

“It’s the first sellout in eight years, it’s great and it should lead to some good recruiting,” fan Jeff Hoffman said. ”But it’s all about talent and winning, when you do that then you just try to keep it going.”

Visit collegian.psu.edu to read the full story.

James Riccardo/Collegian

Forward John Harrar (21) attempts a free throw during the game against Minnesota at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday, Feb. 8.

James Riccardo/Collegian

Members of the Penn State student section yell during the game against Minnesota on Saturday, Feb. 8.

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Why Kevin Hill returned for one last runBy Shane Connelly

The Daily Collegian

Kevin Hill had high expecta-tions for himself and his team heading into the 2019 season.

He was a se-nior, and he had a feeling that Penn State was primed to do big things in

his last run in blue and white.The Nittany Lions did, of

course, go on to be special. They had their best season in program history, making it all the way to championship weekend before falling just shy of competing for a national title.

But Hill didn’t play the part he expected to.

Instead of leading the mid-field and following up a season in which he was the second-most productive offensive player on the team, Hill spent the year watching from the sideline.

Inside Holuba Hall during Penn State’s season opener, Hill made a quick cut to evade a de-fender but immediately felt that something wasn’t right. He hit the turf and reached for his an-kle. Trainers would help him to the sideline.

He may not have known it in that exact moment, but after just one game, Hill’s senior season was over.

His career, however, was not.“He did not want that to be the

last moment of his Penn State lacrosse career,” coach Jeff Tam-broni said of the injury that de-railed Hill’s original blueprint.

But coming back required a bit of planning. While he dealt with the process that comes with re-covering from injury, Hill had to make sure that he was making the right decision for his future.

“My parents, the support they gave me was awesome,” Hill said. “They said, ‘It’s up to you. Do what you want to do.’”

Hill knew what he wanted to do.

“It was really a no-brainer to come back and play on this team,” Hill said. “We have so much po-tential, and I love the guys, so that made it a lot easier… I really wanted to play another season with them and kind of give them my all, and I know if I didn’t come back I’d regret it for the rest of my life.”

It didn’t take long for him to find out what his coach wanted either.

“Coach Tambroni, he gave me a couple weeks to kind of think about it,” Hill said. “He told me, ‘I want you to come back,’ straight up, and I was like, ‘I want to come back.’”

The decision was made early on, but the process had only just begun.

Hill had a long journey of re-covery ahead. He also had to adjust to watching Penn State’s dream season fall into place from the sideline.

“There were definitely some points during the season that it became very challenging be-cause it was his senior class, his classmates going through senior day or going to the playoffs,” Tambroni said. “I think that was really tough for him.”

Hill didn’t hang his head. He didn’t feel bad for himself.

Instead, he embraced the op-portunity to help his team in a new way.

Hill got to watch a new star blossom in the midfield for Penn State — then-sophomore Jack Kelly. He played an impor-tant role in the breakout of the young star.

“He was helping me the whole year last year with his leader-ship and just what he can tell us with the experience has been through,” Kelly said.

With his sideline perspective, Hill would tell Kelly and his fel-low midfielders what they were missing on the field — holes in the defense, scoring chances they passed up or ways to get

open off-ball.During the week, it was back

to rest and rehabilitation. Hill worked with the strength and conditioning staff to not only en-sure that he was healing properly, but also that he maintained a positive mindset throughout the process.

Hill graduated in the spring and donned his cap and gown with his classmates as they celebrated be-ing named the No. 1 overall seed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

In the fall, he stayed close by. He balanced an internship with making daily stops at the trainer’s office at 6 a.m.

When he was feeling discour-aged, he often turned to one of Grant Ament, Dylan Foulds, Brandon Stern or Tommy Wright — the other four redshirt seniors on Penn State’s roster.

“The guys were just so sup-portive,” Hill said. “The guys I live with and just the teammates overall, they supported me ev-ery day and they made my job a ton easier.”

It had its ups and downs, but having that experience behind him has made Hill into one of the team’s leaders. Though he is not officially one of the four cap-tains, Tambroni recognizes the value Hill brings to the field and locker room.

“Just because you’re a senior doesn’t mean you’re in a position to lead, but it’s a personal choice to just either live your life or to share some of those experiences and mentor,” Tambroni said. “I think that’s where I would say he’s done a great job, because sometimes it works the opposite [way]. You can disconnect be-cause you’re just a little bit older, a little bit more mature.”

“It requires a little bit more commitment or compassion to reach back and communicate, not just necessarily to the seniors and juniors but sophomores and freshmen... I think Kevin’s done a

good job, a great job actually, in a very short period of time.”

With his road to recovery near-ing its end as Penn State pre-pared for a new season filled with new promise, Hill was just ready to get back on the field. He want-ed to have the ball in his stick and contribute in the way he was used to.

It showed in Penn State’s season opener.

The midfielder wasted no time registering his first goal since that fateful day in Holuba Hall.

His fellow fifth-year Ament found him open, and Hill hit twine in a regular-season game for the first time in 364 days.

“Coming back in the lineup is definitely a lot easier play-ing with guys like Grant, Mac [O’Keefe], Fouldsy and Jack Kel-ly, TJ Malone,” Hill said. “It’s re-ally easy to play with those guys. They’re super talented, super unselfish, so it made my job a lot easier.”

And those teammates were

certainly glad to see him out there once again.

“It’s awesome to have ‘Killer’ back,” Kelly said. “We love him as a locker room guy, as a team-mate… He’s hungry. He’s got that fire that is pretty contagious.”

In Tambroni’s eyes, though, it’s not the statistics Hill produces that matter most.

“Riding that wave of emo-tions over the last eight or nine months… it says a lot about who he is and the commitment that his family made to Penn State,” Tambroni said. “So to have him back out there in and of itself, whether he scores a goal or leads our offense in any particular way, it’s just really nice for him.”

“He’s just a well-liked young man on our team, within our coaching staff because of the way he goes about his business. [Hill’s return] was just a very rewarding moment.”

To email reporter: stc5243@psu.edu.Follow him on Twitter at @ShaneTConnelly.

MEN’S LACROSSE

Jonah Rosen/Collegian

Penn State midfielder Kevin Hill (5) moves with the ball during the men’s lacrosse game against Lafayette at Panzer Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 1.

The Daily CollegianLocaLPage 6 | Feb. 10-12, 2020

Penn State alumna running for PA HouseBy Ashley Hayford

The Daily Collegian

To Pennsylvania House of Rep-resentatives candidate Brittney Rodas, her “breaking point” that pushed her to run came when her 65-year-old father died of a heart attack last year that she felt could have been prevented.

“It felt like the system had failed him. He was a veteran, served in Vietnam and came home with a bunch of health issues,” Rodas said. “Toward the later part of his life, I totally saw issues with Medicare and Medicaid and tried to fight for him to have insurance and access the healthcare he could afford, but it never came through. If he had access to the medicine that he needed, I don’t think that would have happened.”

Rodas, a Penn State graduate and policy and research analyst for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, announced her candidacy for the 105th House District seat on Jan. 13.

She is running on a platform focused on issues like veteran care, raising the minimum wage and affordable healthcare.

A resident of West Hanover Township, the 24-year-old married mother of two is seek-ing the Democratic nomination in the hopes of taking on Repub-lican incumbent Andrew Lewis in November.

Rodas’s political involvement began in high school and led her to volunteer for former Presi-dent Barack Obama’s reelection campaign as a door knocker. She entered Penn State intending to major in political science and international relations.

“I had that interest going into

college, but when I was there it became more focused on what I really cared about, which was local politics and normal families,” Rodas said. “That’s when I shifted gears to sociology because it was more relevant to what I was interested in.”

Although Rodas wasn’t involved in any Penn State student government organiza-tions, she remained politically active in her spare time and in her community while she was home.

“I came from an entirely Republican family, so a lot of it was me being kind of stubborn and trying to find my own life in politics,” Rodas said. “After I graduated, I became involved with the Pennsylvania Young Democrats.”

During her campaign, Rodas has emphasized her experi-

ence with drafting policy and legislation during her time in the House since 2016. The amount of time she dedicated to policy and legislation — without seeing much progress — was a turning point in her political career.

“I started to become very frus-trated with the process because I was spending hours, days and weeks researching and drafting and meeting with stakeholders and constituents, just to see if they’ll die in committee or on the floor because our counterparts were not willing to work with us,” Rodas said.

Rodas said she felt nobody was fighting for constituents, so she took it upon herself to step up. Her platform pushes for afford-able healthcare and prescrip-tion drugs, veteran care, quality education, a higher minimum

wage, and government reform, including campaign finance reform and gerrymandering.

Similar to her strong feelings about veteran care, rais-ing the minimum wage hits close to home for Rodas, as it affects her mother.

“My mom works in the private sector right now, part time because she’s retired and makes $9 an hour, and it’s not enough to live on,” Rodas said. “Minimum wage is $7.25. We have tried to get minimum wage passed through the legislature for almost four years now and it’s always blocked by the Republican Party. Working people deserve a dignified wage that they can live on.”

Rodas has been dedicated to running a grassroots campaign in the 105th District and wants to connect with her constituents

and get the community involved in her campaign by solely relying on canvassing.

“I want to meet voters,” she said. “I want to talk to people and find out what the issues that are important to them, and you only get so much of that from social media. You need to get face-to-face with people.”

She has addressed the highs and lows of her campaign so far, saying that she is most fulfilled by meeting voters. She said her struggles lie mostly in financing and running against an incumbent.

“People say thank you for your sacrifice to do this, but it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice to me,” Rodas said. “We just need someone who can step up and is willing to do it.”

Rodas works with Penn-sylvania’s House Democratic Campaign Committee (HDCC) in her campaign efforts. The HDCC hopes to elect Democrats to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and acts as an “official campaign arm” of House Democrats.

HDCC’s digital and communication director Gavin Lichtenstein said Rodas’s background working for the Pennsylvania House of Repre-sentatives makes her campaign “special and unique.”

“She’s constantly in the office at our headquarters in Harrisburg making calls — sometimes very early in the morning and very late at night — and building a grass-roots movement,” Lichtenstein said. “If Brittney flips this district, it will be a game changer.”

To email reporter: alh526@psu.edu.Follow her on Twitter at @theyoungknope.

Courtesy of Brittney Rodas

Candidate for the 105th District Pennsylvania House of Representative seat, Brittney Rodas, canvassing ahead of elections.

Penn State professor advocates for social justiceBy Madigan Lubold

The Daily Collegian

Assistant professor of educa-tion Efraín Marimón is more than a professor at Penn State — he has dedicated his life to social justice education and the restora-tion of justice.

Marimón was honored by the Council of Sustainable Leaders in fall 2019. He was the first faculty member to be honored by a group led by student leaders who aim to

incorporate sustainability within their respective organizations.

Marimón creates community-embedded programs in areas such as social justice, law, human rights and education. He is the founder and program director of the D.C. Social Justice Teaching Fellowship.

He began this project due to a combination of his personal experiences and work as a teach-er in Philadelphia.

“My drive is social justice,”

Marimón said, “and I try to fight the injustice.”

The D.C. Social Justice Teaching Fellowship is a two-semester program which combines theoretical analy-sis and hands-on experience with law, education, policy and systems of inequity by teaching at under-resourced schools in Washington, D.C.

This spring will mark the D.C. Social Justice Teaching Fellowship’s fifth year, as it began

in spring 2016. Deja Lewis,

a teacher for the D.C. Social Justice Teach-ing Fellowship, said her time spent there reinforced her passion for teaching.

“It unraveled more about who I was as a person.” Lewis said. “In everyday conversation, [ M a r i m ó n ] has taught me how to be a better teacher and friend. He also taught me how to turn students into thinkers.”

A c c o r d i n g to Lewis, the fellowship cre-ates lesson plans about social justice and develops civil action proposals.

Classes con-sist of disman-tling intersec-tionality and social justice with a joint collaboration and systematic manner. Ashley P a t t e r s o n ,

director of research for the D.C. Social Justice Fellowship, said this project was Marimón’s “brain child.”

“I thought there was no possible way this project would get organized,” Patterson said. “But he is a magic worker and got this program started.”

The program is designed for participants who want to infuse social justice in their chosen career paths, Patterson said.

Marimón is also the director of the Restorative Justice Initiative (RJI), a program designed to restore and strengthen incarcerated individ-uals by providing educational op-portunities in many Pennsylvania correctional facilities.

“When you see the inherent inequity, you think about the need for change and the moral and social responsibility you have,” Marimón said.

The lack of education access and opportunities is a problem for incarcerated individuals, according to Marimón.

“Systemic injustice has imbedded itself in education and incarnation,” Marimón said.

Marimón’s third project is the Street Law Program at Penn State Law. He conducts train-ing on law-related education for international communities.

Patterson said she calls Marimón her “work husband” because it’s rare to meet someone who works as tirelessly as he does.

“When [Marimón] has to get something done, he does it with the highest level of quality,” Patterson said. “Even when he’s not the direct beneficiary.”

Marimón teaches and super-vises law students in the Street Law Program — a program dedicated to teaching middle school and high school students in the State College and Belle-fonte school districts law-related lessons about the Constitution and human rights.

According to Lewis, Marimón is a “wonderful” person who has dedicated much of his life to social justice.

“Whether you’re an elementa-ry student, a high school student or a law student, [Marimón] is always there to teach and support students,” Lewis said.

For Patterson, she tries to keep her professional life and personal life separate — but with Marimón, she can’t.

“My kids know and love him,” Patterson said. “He’s the type of person you can’t keep in only one space of your life.”

To email reporter: mll5648@psu.edu.Follow her on Twitter at @Madiganlubold12.

James Riccardo/Collegian

Efraín Marimón is teaching his students during his DC Social Justice Fellowship Class on Thursday, Feb. 6.