Even people who have never read the books or seen the movies on Harry Potter can say exactly what the phenomenon is about.
Over a year after the last movie was released, Three Broomsticks, the Penn State Harry Potter club, is still active in the Penn State community.
Started in 2004, Three Broomsticks is the fan club for the famous fantasy series Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. The series is about Harry Potter, a boy wizard, who went to the magical school called Hogwarts and fought the infamous Lord Voldemort.
Three Broomsticks is named after the pub in the Harry Potter series that is located in Hogsmeade Village, a town outside of Hogwarts, where the characters would hangout and drink butterbeer, President of Three Broomsticks Kelly Gambocurta said.
“We came here and we’re like ‘Either we are going to join a Harry Potter club or make one.’ We wanted more friends with a common interest,” Gambocurta (senior-advertising and public relations) said.
With about 20 active members, Three Broomsticks meets weekly and also holds multiple events throughout the year.
On Monday nights at 8, the members gather together to hold discussions, do crafts and plan events. The discussions are on topics in the books, movies or recent Harry Potter news, such as J.K. Rowling’s new book “The Casual Vacancy,” Kelsey Rogalewicz, Three Broomsticks secretary, said.
“Harry Potter is something we all grew up with. It is kind of interesting even reading it as an adult, there is so much there in the series that you can take from it. It was a big part of my childhood growing up and something I wanted to stay interested in,” Rogalewicz (senior-English) said.
The crafts that are made during the meeting include wand making, creating dragon eggs and a potion class where members made slime.
Some of the yearly events consist of a sorting ceremony, a Yule Ball and Hogsmeade trips, Gambocurta said.
In the sorting ceremony, the newest members take a test then get divided into the four Hogwarts Houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff, according to the Three Broomsticks website.
The Hogsmeade trips range from go-carting to visiting Hershey Park to laser tag. Last year Three Broomsticks became affiliated with the Interfraternity Council/ Panhellenic Dance Marathon and had a THON team. By making Harry Potter crafts at weekly meetings, Three Broomsticks raised money for THON.
“I am very glad that the THON group got started,” Gambocurta said.
Although last year Three Broomsticks did not have a dancer, there was a Harry Potter theme hour during THON and the Three Broomsticks THON committee went on the dance floor to play Quidditch with the dancers, Rogalewicz said.
The club has raised enough money to enter two potential dancers to dance in THON 2013, Rogalewicz said.
The Penn State Quidditch Team was originally part of Three Broomsticks, but many members wanted to play the sport more than once a semester, Gambocurta, who is also a captain on the Quidditch team, said. Last year, after being approved by the International Quidditch Association, the Penn State Quidditch team became a club sport, Gambocurta said.
Three Broomsticks is not just for the die-hard Harry Potter fans who have read the book 15 times. Many of the members have only seen the movies or just originally joined to see what the club is about, Rogalewicz said.
“Whenever people hear there is a Harry Potter club it makes them smile. It is a happy little thing to have on campus,” Rogalewicz said.
