The Weird, the Wacky, and the Wondrous

Hi everyone!

As the summer is getting started for most of you just graduating, I’m sure you are getting asked about Penn State at every graduation party.  With this being said, I hope to give you some of Penn State’s best kept weird, wacky and wondrous secrets!

The Weird:

Humans vs. Zombies

If you see a random marshmallow or rolled-up sock on the ground, it’s not a result of a ‘Project X’ type party; it’s from the Penn State Urban Gaming Club, Humans vs. Zombies!  This is the most epic nerf gun, marshmallow and rolled-up sock wielding, campus-wide war!  The game consists of players who are humans and players who are zombies that takes place all day and night ALL over campus.  Whether you’ve been caught in the cross fire or participate, it is definitely one of Penn State’s best kept secrets. 

Saxophone and Valentine Serenades

Penn State promotes an environment of creative entertainment!  There are many students on campus that have extraordinary musical ability and like to show it off by serenading (or stalking) people walking around campus and downtown like the Saxophone Man during finals week in 2011.  You can see him in action in the youtube clip below (and even get a nice tour of the campus)! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fd9LOA4plk

Valentine’s day is a time to show your significant other how much you really care about them.  And what better way can you show them than by embarrassing them in front of hundreds of their classmates with a singing valentine during class?!  The week of valentine’s day is always a treat when you have class in forum as you can be sure to hear one of the singing groups singing to a loved one like in the youtube clip below during class!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vc-qdUwCAw

The Wacky:

The Willard Preacher

If you happen to have class in Willard Building next semester, you are in for a big surprise.  You can be sure that Gary Catell, also known as the Willard Preacher, will be at the Willard entrance, rain or shine, giving a sermon to any students who will listen.  You will find that you should not try and challenge his views as you will only get frustrated and be late for class!  However, you have to applaud him for his dedication.

The Gorilla Man

If you find yourself feeling down on a Thursday, you can be sure to find yourself smiling after the Gorilla Man wishes you a Happy Thursday on his bike followed by his gang of skateboarders, bicyclists and unicyclists.  The Gorilla Man is simply a guy in a gorilla suit who is usually accompanied by a guy in a banana suit.  The combination of positivity and fun makes for a ‘Happy Thursday’ and definitely one of Penn State’s best kept wacky secrets!

The Wondrous  (besides THON of course!)

There are two specific words that come to mind when I think of the secret wonderful things at Penn State...

FREE STUFF (even at WEPO)!

FREE T-SHIRTS!!  If you participate in anything at Penn State you will almost be guaranteed to get a free t-shirt!  This includes going to volley ball games, gymnastic meets, paternoville, community service days and so many more. 

FREE HUB EVENTS!!  The HUB has even more free and exciting activities going on.  There is late night (crafting, music, games), movies, comedians, hypnotists, bands like FUN, and salsa dancing!  You can usually find out what’s going on in the HUB in the Daily Collegian or Stall Stories which can be found in the stalls in the dorm bathrooms (another one of Penn State’s best kept media outlets)!

FREE SHOWS!! If you enjoy going to the theater then you will love the No Refund Theater Productions in 111 Forum.  They do sketch comedies like Phroth Phest, dramas including ‘Rope’ and tragedies like Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  The term No Refund comes from the fact that their shows are FREE and are produced entirely on donations!

One other best kept wondrous secret about Penn State are the people you meet.  The ‘staters’ you meet in your 4 (or 5) years at school are some of the best friends you will ever make and whom you will have long lasting friendships with.

Hopefully you have learned some new interesting topics to talk about when people ask you about Penn State this summer and are getting excited about starting a new chapter in your life!  Hope to see you at WEPO!!