Camaraderie is a word that, in the college setting, is frequently associated with fraternities.

After pledging, living and hang out together, fraternity members cement a special bond with each other.

The Penn State Glee Club, though it is not a fraternity, boasts a similar brotherhood among its 86 members. This brotherhood grows each year with their annual spring break trip to perform outside of Centre County.

"The tour is a really good time to consolidate the group. It's where we really build our friendships. We're more than just a singing group; we're a brotherhood," Ryan Svoboda (senior-biochemistry and molecular biology) said.

Svoboda, the Glee Club's treasurer and secretary, has been a member since the fall of his freshman year and has traveled with the Glee Club twice before.

"My freshman year we went to California. We have a lot of Penn State alumni out there. We flew out to San Francisco and sang some concerts for the alumni chapter in San Francisco, San Juan and Los Angeles," Svoboda said.

The Glee Club makes it a point to invite alumni on stage to sing the Penn State alma mater. On one instance, a 90-year-old man and his son, both Penn State alumni, joined the singers on stage, said director and assistant music professor Christopher Kiver.

Glee Club president Stephen Wyszomierski (senior-mathematics) has also been a member since his freshman year and has gone on the trip each year.

"Two years ago we went to Texas. Last year, we spent four days in the Virginia-D.C. area and then went up to Philadelphia and sang with University of Pennsylvania," Wyszomierski said.

This year, the Glee Club heads west to Chicago to perform with the Naperville Men's Glee Club as well as some high school glee clubs.

In the past, the club had to search for venues where it could play, traveling as far away as France, Wales, and Trinidad and Tobago for a stage. The plans for this year came about in a different way, however.

"This year is actually different than anything we've done. We're going to Chicago, and we were actually invited out there by a big men's choir. They sent us an e-mail and wanted to do a collaboration," Svoboda said.

Wyszomierski expects the performance with the Naperville Glee Club to be well received.

"I think it's gonna be really nice. The first concert should get a nice crowd; [there will be] a mixture of talent and music. We usually get a pretty good reception at high schools. I think the performances will be well-attended," Wyszomierski said.

In addition to performing with the high school glee clubs, the Penn State singers will do workshops with the high school students.

"[The high school students] like the fact that the Glee Club isn't all music majors," Svoboda said.

Though the trip is largely a bonding experience for the Glee Club members, the main focus is, of course, the singing.

"Primarily, it's to help us become a better ensemble. The other reasons are for outreach and promoting Penn State," Kiver said.

By performing with high school students and for people across the country, the Glee Club hopes to spread knowledge about Penn State and increase applications. Depending on where they travel, the Glee Club tries to stay in the homes of community members rather than in hotels.

"It's nice to stay with people in the community and portray a good image of Penn State Glee Club and Penn State," Wyszomierski said. "It's just interesting to get a local perspective on the places where you stay."

The group will be performing a variety of different songs, ranging from Bach to Billy Joel. They will also perform a version of John Jacob Niles' "Go Way From My Window," arranged by Penn State professor Beverly Patton.

Despite the fun atmosphere of the performances and the traveling, the trip has its difficulties.

"The thing that's always hard is it's really hard to keep your voice because you're constantly going," Svoboda said.

Kiver said he has some trouble picking the compositions for the trip.

"The process starts at summer vacation. It's kind of like picking a dinner menu. It's a really complicated process, but it's rewarding," he said. While making selections, Kiver considers the pieces used over the past few years and tries to pick songs in different genres or languages that haven't recently been represented.

Kiver enjoys the trips as much as the Glee Club singers do.

"My favorite aspects are the chance to really polish the music we're performing. Usually you rehearse for six weeks, and you're done. The good thing with tour is you get to sing the same pieces over and over," Kiver said. "I also appreciate the chance to get to know the young men better."