Get ready to be hugged.

Today is hug day at Penn State. Participants will hand out a flier explaining the event to another person and then give that person a hug. The receiver can pass on the flier and hug another person to keep the hug chain growing.

Brad Berry (senior-anthropology) created hug day in an attempt to get Penn Staters to raise their spirits and make friends.

"I would just like to see people a little more connected and smiling at each other," Berry said. "The whole goal is for people not to be reserved."

Hug fliers are located on bulletin boards, the library and in classrooms in the Forum, Thomas, Willard, Boucke and Deike buildings. Berry and his friends are also handing out fliers on campus.

Amanda Zickefoose (junior-anthropology) who is helping Berry give out fliers, said this idea is very typical of Berry.

"It's just to break down a lot of barriers. It'll be a lot of fun," she said.

Berry's original plan was to have the day culminate in one big hug in the afternoon on Old Main Lawn, but instead, Berry and Zickefoose think hug day will just be a trial run on its own.

Depending on the success of today's event, the big hug might be introduced next year, Zickefoose said.

One student thinks hug day is a memorable way to end the semester.

"I think in a lot of ways on a Friday afternoon that'd make you feel pretty good," Amanda Mihalko (senior-human development and family studies) said. "The last Penn State memories you have you want to be pretty special."