Rain, rain, go away. Paternoville wants to come out to play.
The intermittent rain was keeping most Paternoville campers hidden inside their tents yesterday afternoon, but still, about 100 tents stood outside Gate A of Beaver Stadium, the campers braving the elements to be first for coveted seats at Saturday's contest against No. 1 Ohio State.
Students used cinderblocks and packs of water to secure their tents against the wind and rain.
"Our friends looked all around town getting cinderblocks last night," Leigh Ann Oleykowski (senior-public relations) said. She and Lance Gawel (senior-information sciences and technology) are a part of a group of about 15 students holding a place in line. The group's tent is located behind the large rock in the middle of the gate and is secured with cinderblocks along with rope tied to a garbage can.
The two seniors have never camped at Paternoville, but said they decided to take advantage of their last football season as students.
Tom Boroch, president of Paternoville Coordination Committee, said all the tents that were up at 3:30 p.m. yesterday had been there since midnight Tuesday.
This is the second extended Paternoville campout this year.
Students set up camp the Tuesday before the University of Notre Dame game, and because of campers' good behavior, the administration granted the additional campout this week.
"I think the weather disinterested people to come out," Boroch (sophomore-meteorology) said. "The rain is supposed to end tonight, so it will be gone by daybreak."
Boroch said students were lined up from the rail to the middle of the pavement at the gate Monday night, ready to pitch their tents. He said he expects a few more tents to pop up when the rain ends.
He and a group of about four other students were sitting under a tented area by the front rail, trying to stay dry.
ESPN's College GameDay will be visiting this week as well, but Boroch said he doesn't expect people to come out especially for that.
College GameDay was last in Happy Valley in 2005. They featured commentary about No. 8 Penn State's 17-10 night win over No. 15 Ohio State.
Campers said staying at Paternoville hasn't hindered their class attendance, and Boroch said he hasn't missed one yet.
"I don't go to class any less," said George Beatty (sophomore-accounting), a fellow camper with Boroch. "But I don't ever miss because of Paternoville."
But not everyone who's camping is waiting for front row seats. Other students were camped out at Gate B of the Bryce Jordan Center to reserve group seats in the student section. The ticket office at the BJC will open today at about 8 to 8:30 a.m., when students camping out for a block of seats can get their tickets and leave.
"You get reserved seats and then tailgate and do what you want to do all day," said Pete Diorio (junior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management).
There were about five tents outside Gate B at the BJC yesterday afternoon, and Diorio said his group of 25 people had been there since about 9 p.m. yesterday.
He said he and his friends have known each other since freshman year, but now they live all over State College. The group now uses game days as a way of getting together and staying in touch.
