Re: "'We are Penn State' but not a community," April 14 column.

To the author and the 13 percent of this school that is not from Pennsylvania, coming from another state I can honestly say that every time I step out of my apartment, I feel like I belong to an extended family. And, as in any large family, you won't know everyone, but you are still bound together, even if it is by a simple idea.

Some of you may be younger and were not around for the 2001 NCAA Sweet Sixteen team, but I remember Beaver Canyon when we beat UNC, and how the drones of sober people were chanting and just oozing out school pride. Or the time we beat Miami in 1999 and marched to the soccer fields; Acme Pizza, where you always met someone in line; or last year's Moving On concert, which turned into a smaller, muddy version of Woodstock.

My point is you can't overlook all the things that make us a large family. We all pay tuition, we all are thrown in here out of high school and forced to adjust. We all go through the same motions of college. We all go through the same thing. It's like an Alcohol Anonymous meeting. We are all friends because we share the same experiences.

I meet people across the country who are Penn State students or alumni, you get a good feeling of camaraderie, a good feeling of belonging. Even if they are two or three times your age, you know at one point they were just like you, and suddenly the world isn't as lonely a place as you think.