There are Penn State students who have more on their minds than just school work and weekends. Some have thoughts about their family and friends who are fighting in Iraq.

Jackie Campanella (junior-accounting) is one of those students. Her brother, Pfc. Jason Campanella, is a soldier in the 101st Airborne Division. He has been part of the division for about seven months and is in the 2nd Infantry Division.

The 101st Division left for Kuwait March 8. They were in Kuwait at Camp New York, 14 miles from the Iraqi border for a few weeks before the group moved its way into Iraq, inching closer to Baghdad.

Campanella said she finds it hard to stay away from the television because she feels as if she consistently has to watch news coverage to have some sort of idea of what her brother is doing.

"It is upsetting hearing [on the news] about what he is doing and knowing he is going to Baghdad -- that is really going to be the worst part," she said. "I constantly watch the news now."

Concern for her brother and his safety has dominated Campanella's time. "I had tests this week, and all last week I watched the news and didn't do anything," she said. "It is very distracting to my school work."

News is on televisions in the gym and the HUB-Robeson Center among other places, so it is hard to avoid it at any time of the day, she said.

"It is hard to get away from it, because it is everywhere you go," she said.

Some of her brother's high school friends from his hometown of Bethlehem also are students at Penn State. They are experiencing many of the same things as his sister.

Jeff Roscher (freshman-psychology) has known Jason Campanella since middle school. He found out a few weeks ago from Jackie Campanella that he had left for Iraq.

"It was kind of weird to hear about him being over there," Roscher said. "It made me think that this is real and it is happening."

Whether the soldiers serving in Iraq are students or veterans of the first Persian Gulf War, Roscher said they are all there for the same reason -- to serve our country.

"There are people there we know and don't know, and they are there risking their lives for our country so we can keep doing what we do from day-to-day," Roscher said.

Christina Butterworth (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) recalled several things about Jason Campanella, from his perfect attendance from kindergarten through high school to sitting next to him during their high school graduation ceremony.

"It is hard to believe that there are people our age over there fighting," Butterworth said. "It is hard to comprehend. It almost seems surreal."

Not many students said they remember the 1991 Gulf War, because most were in elementary school.

Allison Moyer (freshman-film), another high school friend of Jason Campanella, compared her feelings from 12 years ago to today's conflict with Iraq.

"It is definitely weird now, because when we were younger there was the Gulf War and we never really thought about it much," Moyer said. "But now it is hitting me that there are people our age fighting in a war."