Penn State's first football game of the season on Sept. 1 against Ohio has students prepared to show their school spirit like never before.
One Facebook event, "Set the Tone ," has big plans to introduce the freshmen class to the spirit of the games.
The event was created by three current Penn State rugby players, juniors Danny Callaghan and Blaze Feury and sophomore Garrett on July 23. It's aimed toward upperclassmen to encourage them to show freshmen "what it means to be Penn State," according to the Facebook event description.
"What inspired my friends and me to create the event was the culture that had been at PSU for years. It's a sense of community, almost family, that you don't see anywhere else," Callaghan said. "We saw the football season, and its tailgates, as a place where that community is developed. If the sanctions 'ruined' the season from an athletic standpoint, we didn't want to see our pride in Penn State go down with it."
Students so far are in favor of this idea and are expecting positive things from the event.
"Overall as a student body it is important to reaffirm what makes us Penn State, what defines the university, and not allow people outside of Penn State to put us in a bad light," said John Zang, chief of staff of the University Park Undergraduate Association.
To those attending the event, the freshmen class is a new wave of support to Penn State.
After negative talk of Penn State, Zang (senior-international politics) said it is important to show students the good things about it.
"Incoming freshmen face a much different university than we experienced just because of the new stigma attached to the university from people outside the university," Zang said. "They experience a different perspective of what their degree represents and it is important for us who have experienced football to show them the positive aspects of Penn State. As we change ourselves, we need to make cultural changes but have the good aspects passed down to the freshmen."
The event is a way to make sure now more than ever freshmen are introduced into the community.
"The more you become a part of the community here, the more you'll understand what it means to be Penn State," Callaghan said.
He said freshmen should take every chance they can to meet as many people as possible in their time here as students.
It is tradition at the first game every year for the Blue Band to play outside of East Halls . To help motivate the freshman class, upperclassmen are being encouraged to join the Blue Band greeting freshmen outside of East Halls.
From there, they will head over to Beaver Stadium to tailgate. To ensure these freshmen have a positive experience of their first game as Penn State students, upperclassmen are also encouraged to invite freshmen to their tailgate.
"Set a precedent for when next year's freshmen get here," Callaghan said.
Part of the hyped-up Penn State experience when attending games is the tailgates. Tailgating is the perfect opportunity for students to come together to get rallied up for the game, Callaghan said.
"I think it's a great idea to get [freshman] involved in the Penn State community," Lindsey Wolf said.
Wolf (junior- media studies) also said that it's important for freshman to see the entire game in order to get the full experience.
