While many students spent fall break staring at the television screen with the remote in one hand and a bag of chips in the other, one student spent the weekend clutching rocks at the New River Gorge in West Virginia with nothing but nature surrounding him.

It was a spiritual and meditative getaway for Matthew Harold Sober, something he tries to do as often as he can.

As a trip leader for canoeing expeditions for the Penn State Outing Club, he shares his love for nature with other Penn State students. He is also a member of Green Destiny, an organization that works to create awareness about ecological responsibility.

As he tucks a light brown dreadlock behind his ear and opens his bright brown eyes, Sober excitedly opens the door to his life of nature, energy, friendship and spirituality.

Spirituality and energy were the driving forces for Sober's life and in his junior year of high school, he began meditating. "I consider myself spiritual, not religious," he said. His parents are Roman Catholic and Sober decided he couldn't "abide by those rules." Meditation calmed him and gave him peace of mind during a time when his family life was not going smoothly.

As a child, Sober always wanted to be a superhero -- a Jedi Ninja to be exact. He still pursues that fantasy to this day. If he comes across someone who shows weak or cowardly characteristics or says the words "I can't," Sober responds with, "That's not Jedi."

In his early high school career, Sober said he was the typical teen "trying to impress girls and making friends with the cheerleaders." However, he did not want to adhere to this type of social life for long. He and a friend decided that it was "impossible to be cool. All we want to do is grow."

And so began the "Yo's."

The "Yo's," said Sober, were his group of friends that came together to respect and accept each other's differences. The name of the group, "Yo," meaning "I" in Spanish, represented their unity.

"It was a strong set of eight individuals that were influenced by spirituality and growth."

There were only three characteristics that a person had to possess in order to be a member of the group: honesty, respect and truthfulness.

During his freshman year of college, Sober was meditating about three times a day. He craved more "awareness" and "enlightenment" and in the summer of 1998, he came upon the chance to go to India on a spiritual retreat, offered through an organization that runs under the ideal of providing enlightenment through experience, according to Sober.

Sober was financially unable to attend the retreat but with some help from a close friend, Sober got the chance to accept the opportunity of a lifetime.

The trip was to last one month and Sober did not quite know what to expect. It consisted of constant meditation in various forms and cleansing of the body. Communication between the group was prohibited and he ate very little. Sober slept in a hut and often meditated into the wee hours of the morning. He said during the first few days he would pass out from the pain of sitting in a meditating position for unusually long periods of time.

Sober said that the trip was "part of a path," and that is was the "next step" in his life. "It was the most intense thing I've ever done."

Sober started at Penn State planning on having a dual major of accounting and German. However, he soon realized this would be an extremely large amount of work and decided it was not for him.

"It would feel like I was in jail," he said.

He decided to choose a major that suits outdoor interests.

"I am very outdoor oriented and I wanted an understanding of the world around me," Sober said. He changed his major to landscape contracting, which is based on art with nature.

Sober always knew he would go to college and had saved his whole life for it. He started working when he was six years old, helping his sister with her paper route.

Sober is the youngest of six siblings. "I'm the book end," he said referring to his place in the family's line of children.

He attended high school in Greensburg, a town southeast from Pittsburgh. "I grew up with amazing people and they all came from Greensburg," he said.

Three siblings preceded him here at Penn State and since he pays for his own schooling, the affordability of the institution suited him but he knew Penn State would allow him to "maintain a high level of scholastic credibility."

Meditation and spirituality are major parts of Sober's life and will continue to be. Sober also spends his time drawing and writing. He keeps a notebook in his back pocket and uses it for inspiration. He enjoys writing poetry. "Poetry is a little piece of you, at one point in your life. It is an outlet to express emotions."

Sober surrounds himself with people who accept and respect him. He resides at 432 W. College Ave. in a house filled with posters, music, paintings, drawings and tapestries. He shares a room with his best friend, Matt Machusick (senior-geoscience) and shares the house with 11 housemates.

"Matt provides motivational action and thought in terms of making you think about things in life and in society and acting on your thoughts," Machusick said. "We feed off of each other and we push each other to be better at what we are good at and what we are not."

"Sober brings the most positive energy humanly possible into every experience that he has," said housemate and friend, Tim Dougherty (junior-English).

Sober said, "You can do anything you want in this world as long as you don't disrespect God or others."