Ninety-three-year old Grace Holderman told a crowd of people gathered in the Paterno Library yesterday afternoon what Penn State was like when she was a student 75 years ago.

"My warmest recollection was what happened during the first freshman week," she said, referring to the time when her entire class, consisting of only about 900 people, gathered in Schwab Auditorium to learn all of the Penn State cheers. "There was none of this dinky, 'We Are... Penn State'," she said, and the room broke out in laughter. "We really learned the cheers!"

The tiny woman then raised her arm -- and her voice -- and cheered, "Boom! Ah coo, Penn State, yell, yell, yell again! We're from the land of William Penn...!"

Her story was part of the "When I was at Penn State" panel, which featured alumni.

The panel discussion was part of the celebration of Penn State's 150th birthday in the Mann Assembly Room of the library.

"For Penn State, who, for the early years people wouldn't have thought it would have made it this far, it's important to say 'Congratulations Penn State, you did it,' " Jackie Esposito, university archivist, said.

Penn State's birthday was celebrated again later that afternoon with the unveiling of the gift from the class of 2003 in the HUB-Robeson Center's first floor lounge.

The oil and acrylic paint mural done by Richard J. Haas of New York completely covers the three walls opposite the windows. Green limestone drawings make up the background, while red bricks act as windows into different aspects of Penn State.

The mural is a three-part story, Haas said.

The mural to the left features general areas of interest such as athletics, innovations and Penn State community members' accomplishments, he said.

The middle mural displays University Park's buildings, while the right mural depicts the expansion of Penn State into the other Commonwealth Campuses in Pennsylvania.

"This will fade quickly into history," Haas said.

"But all murals are moments of time, that's part of their elegance," Haas added.

Steve Seman, a Class of 2003 graduate, said he was happy with how the mural turned out.

"It's bigger and better than I thought it would be," he said.

"It's very impressive in terms of the level of detail," he added.

To cap off the 150th birthday celebration, people of all ages -- students, alumni, community members and friends -- came to the Hintz Family Alumni Center last night to take a horse-and-carriage ride through campus.

Last night's weather seemed very agreeable, and it seemed to be a perfect night for it.

Snow fell lightly as one of three white and black carriages pulled by a 2,000-pound Percheron horse rolled up to the center to pick up the next set of passengers.

Each carriage was covered, stuffed with blankets, and accompanied by a Lion Ambassador tour guide to tell stories of each building it passed.

"It was wonderful," said Kerry Richards, a State College resident.

"We had the most awesome weather with the snow and the jingle bells on the horses."

"It's like Christmas time," Richards added.