WE ARE…SPRINGFIELD

After some odd months of stressful planning, Springfield High School shocked Delaware County yet again.  After 12 years of existence, Springfield mini-THON reached its all-time high and captured the title of number 1 mini-THON in Pennsylvania, once again.

With an outstanding total of $224,598 for the 2014 year, Springfield reached an overall total of $1.2 million for the years it’s been around.

Started in 2002, Springfield’s mini-THON was modeled after Penn State’s THON and is held every year in memory of Steve Stefani, a social studies teacher who lost his battle to cancer.  From its first year of raising $11,617, Springfield has come a very long but successful way.  Springfield teacher and THON adviser John Gildea and his team of 12 student leaders, lead the way to make Springfield mini-THON what it is today.

Alumni, especially those who have participated in THON, come back every year to experience the magic one more time.  Springfield alum, Lauren Spires, reminisces on her THON experiences at Springfield.

“I’m absolutely amazed at how far SHS THON has come since I graduated four years ago,” Spires said.  “Going back and seeing it each year just brings chills.  Our community has really come together as one and without our community being involved, I don’t think we would have been this successful.”

Chelsea Pierce, Springfield alum and senior at Penn State Main, who is also involved in Penn State’s THON, couldn’t be more proud of her high school.

“SHS-Mini-THON is amazing,” Pierce said.  “It unites a student body over a common cause and gives people the chance to be a part of something that is not only bigger than themselves, but to make a difference.  They inspire their surrounding community and it’s amazing to see kids their age working so hard to improve the lives of others.”

Springfield High School has touched the lives of many.  No matter how small they may seem to Penn State’s THON, Springfield makes a huge impact.

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer

Amanda Rasley, alr5394@psu.edu

 

New Era Begins

Tailgating, warm weather and the Penn State marching band playing could only mean one thing: football is back at Beaver Stadium.

Students and alumni – 72,000 of them – gathered in Happy Valley on April 12 to watch the blue squad beat the white team 37-0 in the annual Blue/White game. The game, which is essentially a publicized practice, marks the end of spring practices as players and coaches move toward the long summer.

The Blue/White game is a great opportunity for the coaches to evaluate players, unknowns a stage to display their talents and also fans to catch a glimpse of how the team is going to operate under new head coach James Franklin.

Offensive Line Depth a Big Problem:

Going into the game it has become very apparent the Nittany Lions have a serious problem on the offensive line. The group allowed a total of nine sacks in a game that featured shorter quarters and an accelerated clock. As it stands, the o-line is currently seven players deep. Five players need to be out on the field, which leaves only two players to back up.

“I think this [the lack of depth] is probably unique,” Franklin said. “I’ve been places that, when we first showed up, we had some challenges in terms of depth. I’m not sure that I’ve been in a situation where we don’t have a scholarship two-deep [depth chart]. But once again, it is what it is. We’re going to find a way to make it work.”

Unexpected Star:

Cole Chiappialle, a walk-on from a season ago, displayed that he has real staying power on this year’s Nittany Lion squad. Chiappialle, who played mostly special teams last season, had a break out game, rushing for 63 yards on just nine carries and scored two touchdowns. This makes the running back situation even more interesting as the group already has Bill Belton, Zach Zwinak and Akeel Lynch.

“He’s had a great spring,” said Franklin. “I think we have four backs that have shown flashes of some really good things. He’s got great vision, toughness, and balance. I think there’s a role for him in this football program. He’s going to be a huge contributor on special teams. I’m proud of him.”

It should be interesting to see how much playing time the former standout at Blackhawk High School gets this upcoming season.

Moving Forward:

With the Blue/White game in the books, the team will turn their attention to summer workouts and practices. It is important to note that with the arrival of James Franklin, also comes the arrival of new schemes both offensively and defensively. Former head coach Bill O’Brien strongly despised the “Wildcat” offense. The “Wildcat” essentially means that the ball is not snapped directly to the quarterback, rather to a running back or receiver. The “Wildcat” has its pros and cons but on a team with a lack of offensive line depth, Penn State will need to be very creative about how they move the ball.

The 2014 Season will begin on the other side of the Atlantic in Ireland against UCF on August 30.  Some other notable games for this upcoming season: Michigan in Ann Arbor on October 11, Ohio State in Happy Valley on October 25 and Michigan State also in Happy Valley on November 29.

Coach Franklin currently has the #1 ranked recruiting class for the 2015 season so he is certainly making his mark on the program.  James Franklin said he wants to dominate the state; it appears he’s begun that process.

Vito Purpura

Lion’s Eye Writer, VAP5077@psu.edu

Students Elected to Student Government

On Wednesday, April 17, 2014, the newly elected Student Government Association (SGA) President Louie Colella and Vice President Macy Nachman were inaugurated into their new positions by taking the oath of office at Brandywine’s Leadership Recognition Night.

Colella is currently a freshman at Brandywine, and is an accounting major.  He has been active in SGA throughout the year, starting as Freshman Representative Chair, Secretary, and then most recently, he moved his way up to Vice-President.

When the call for candidates for the new SGA leaders was made, Colella chose Nachman as his running mate.  She too is a freshman and a communications major. She has mainly participated in SGA this past year on the executive board as the main secretary.

However, Colella and Nachman did not run unopposed. In previous weeks, the Colella-Nachman ticket had to campaign against their opponents, Moriah Nemiah and Justin Perry. Both Nemiah and Perry also served on SGA as senators, and are currently freshman.

During the debate that was open to the entire campus to observe and participate, students had the chance to ask both tickets questions about their visions, goals and plans for SGA next year. After the debate, the online voting booth was open for all students to cast their vote for the next President and Vice President.

In an interview with Colella about his goals for SGA and the Brandywine campus for the 2014-2015 school year as the newly elected President, he seemed eager to bring the campus community closer together.

“We plan on creating a bridge between the student body and student affairs at Brandywine,” Colella said.  “SGA works very closely with Student Affairs and we hope to spread their knowledge on student life throughout the year by creating fun well thought out events that everyone will enjoy.”

Colella said some of those events will happen outside scheduled class times.

“Macy and I plan to bring big, fun events to campus but we also plan on having small events on a day to day basis to give everyone something to do,” Colella said.

Nachman is anxious to get started as well.

“Our first goal is to bring Brandywine closer together by putting together fun events on campus like spirit days, pep rallies, carnivals and bonfires,” Nachman said.  “We are planning to add a Charity Committee chair so we can better help raise money for on-campus charity organizations, like THON.”

Any students can participate in SGA. If interested, Colella can be reached at lxc952@psu.edu.

New SGA
New SGA

Rosie Owoc

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, rvo5048@psu.edu

Parking Enforcement

Even though the spring semester is coming to a close, some Brandywine students have still not registered their cars nor gotten a parking pass. Despite what some students may think the fact remains: if you do not abide by the parking rules, you will be ticketed.

Brandywine, being a commuter-only campus, has a high volume of students driving to class every day. The parking lot only has a few major rules regarding parking; these include: students registering their car, students not parking in the spots reserved for staff and students displaying their parking passes. Not following these rules — your car will be ticketed.

Freshman Al Boucetta feels that getting a parking permit is not worth the trouble. “There’s no big issue with me parking my car,” Boucetta said.  “I have never gotten a ticket for it and nothing ever happens.”

It seems that Boucetta may have been lucky to this point for not getting a ticket because Brandywine police chief Lewis Sweigartis adamant that campus police do monitor the parking lots and will ticket cars violating any rules.

Chief Sweigart does admit that Brandywine is more lax when it comes to enforcing these parking rules, as they are more concerned with issues regarding campus safety.

“At Penn State Harrisburg if you do not have a parking pass you have a 90 to 95 percent chance of getting a ticket,” Sweigart said.

Tickets are still given out at Brandywine, and the best way to avoid getting one is to simply get a parking pass. Parking passes can be obtained by registering your car on the Penn State Brandywine website. The parking permit application takes about 5 minutes to complete and is free.

Parking rules are not the only rules that students must follow when in the school parking lot; there is also a posted speed limit of 13 mph which students are expected to obey.

And as for the unusual speed limit, Sweigart speculates that it is purely for memory.

“Everyone remembers 13 mph,” Sweigart said.

Keith Petersen

Lion’s Eye Staff Editor,  rkp5118@psu.edu

Men’s Tennis Seeking Championship

As spring time is upon us, spring sports are in full swing.  Baseball, softball and tennis are in season and all are on the quest for a banner year.

Penn State Brandywine men’s tennis team is no different.   After losing last year at the PSUAC championship and Penn College winning the championship, Brandywine is back for some revenge.

The team is led by sophomores Dan Monteverde and Hao Phung. These two players are key aspects to the team’s success thus far.

The men’s tennis team is 4-2.  Wins have come against Gwynedd-Mercy College, Penn State Mont Alto, Penn State Hazleton and a big match win against Penn College of Technology.

Brandywine men’s tennis coach Lloyd Vernon is pleased with what he sees so far.

“We have had a good start, but there is improving that can be done for everybody on the team,” Vernon said.  “If we want to become champions, we have to keep working hard and playing good tennis.”

Penn College has been the rival for Penn State Brandywine over the years.  Penn College always has a strong team year after year. Coming off a PSUAC championship for Penn College, Brandywine captured an important win, which only bolsters the team’s confidence.

In the match against Penn College, Brandywine had a strong doubles match from Kevin Nunn and Dan Monteverde.  Nunn and Monteverde  won the second doubles with the score 8-4, and with Penn College forfeiting 3rd doubles, it gave Brandywine a good lead in the overall team match.

Wins by Dan Monteverde 6-4, 6-1 and Romeo Agno 6-1, 6-3 at the 4th and 5th singles matches,  Brandywine got the victory over Penn College. This win was a big moment in the season.   Brandywine will play Penn College again at the last match of the season before the PSUAC championship.

The Brandywine men’s tennis team looks to finish the season strong. With 4 games left before the PSUAC championship, Brandywine would like to get on a hot streak and get more confidence heading into the championship.

The PSUAC championships will be held on April 26 at Penn State Mont Alto.

Tennis_pic2Tennis_pic3

Alex Hunt

Lion’s Eye Sports Editor, Ajh5474@psu.edu

Ready to Strike

The Penn State Brandywine baseball season is now in full swing. With over half their games already played, the Brandywine Nittany Lions sit 4th in the PSUAC at 13-12(7-3), and still have the ability to reach a 2 or 3 seed come playoffs.

The season started off somewhat slow coming back from Vero Beach, Florida, at 2-4. But as the weather has heated up, so did the team.

The strong offensive supply from captains Gabe Encarnacion and Tom Osenbach, as well as strong pitching from captain Matt Trotta, Brian Pennock, Brian Bosco and Carmen Scota are what’s pushing this team as a top threat in the conference.

Osenbach leads the conference in RBIs (32), while Encarnacion is currently sitting 4th in batting average (.447). Freshman centerfielder John Gorgone is also 4th in the PSUAC in stolen bases (12), while the weekend warrior, Steve Trainor, leads the league in the always flattering hit by pitch category (9).

There’s no stopping “The Train.”

After a 2-2 split with Greater Allegheny and Beaver, two of the top three teams in the conference this past weekend, the Lions are ready to make their strike.

Brandywine’s star outfielder Alex Rivera knows what it will take to finish strong.

“We have to have nothing but confidence at this point in the season,” Rivera said. “Every man, from 1 to 22, wants it as much as the next guy, and has to be ready to play every single pitch for the rest of the year.”

The team knows that they must take it one game at a time. No team can be overlooked at this point; every game matters.

“Things are finally coming together, but we are not yet where we need to be,”  Encarnacion said. “We have a lot of work to put in and everyone needs to step it up to get ready for the push towards the playoffs.”

The remaining schedule will allow Brandywine to schedule their pitchers well in advance, and keep them on a good four to five day rest prior to each start. As every team knows, pitching and defense will win championships.

If Brandywine is able to maintain their approach at the plate, and can keep the defense pretty clean, they can’t be anything but happy at where they sit right now in conference.

With games coming up against Schuylkill and Penn College, who both sit only one game in front of Brandywine, the time is now for the final push for a bye in the first round of the playoffs. They control their own destiny.

Catcher John McGarvey said it best.

“We all have one common goal that we need to achieve, and that’s a championship,” McGarvey said.

Ryan Tuttle

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, Rjt5281@psu.edu

 

Glenn E. Williams Jazz Trio

On Wednesday, April 10, the Glenn E. Williams Jazz Trio rocked the walls of the Main Building Auditorium. With John Gulezian on the trumpet, Nic D’Orsaneo on drums, and the song writer himself and organizer of the trio, Glenn E. Williams on the piano, the three of them blended together to bring even first-time jazz listeners a wonderful treat. Students, faculty and community members enjoyed pieces such as “Portugal,” “Harp’s Revenge,” “Calypso,” and ended with a wonderful flash back for many in a medley of nostalgic tunes packed into the “Charlie Brown Suite.”  Williams is an accomplished pianist and has been performing for more than 20 years, playing songs from Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, and Pat Methany, among many others.

RJ Karwoski

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, rjk5139@psu.edu

LiTapaLooZa

Students, professors, and poetry enthusiasts alike snapped their fingers and stomped their feet in applause and appreciation on April 10 in the Tomezsko Lounge for well-known poet John Hoppenthaler. The East Carolina University professor gave a sampling of his original poetic work at the annual LiTapaLooZa Literary Festival held each April in honor of National Poetry Month.  Following Hoppenthaler’s professional readings, audience members were invited to share some of their own work. The event was sponsored by the campus literary magazine, Penn in Hand, as well as the Penn State Brandywine English Department.

RJ Karwoski

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, rjk5139@psu.edu

litapalooza

Captain America Returns with BANG!

When the Avengers movie was released in 2012, fans of the Marvel universe got to see their favorite superheroes team up to beat some bad guys to a pulp and save the world. This also marked the end of Phase I of the Marvel movies, and made fans excited, yet curious, as to how Marvel would be able to top these seemingly unbeatable movies.

However, the success of first two movies in Phase II (Iron Man 3 and Thor 2: The Dark World) got fans rightfully excited about Captain America’s second stand-alone movie: “Captain America; The Winter Soldier.”

After being frozen for nearly 70 years and then being thrust immediately into an inter-dimensional war during the Avengers, Steve Rogers (aka Captain America, played by Chris Evans) is still trying to get used to a very different world than he remembers; it’s a world where terms like the “internet” and movie references seem to fly right over his head. Yet, some things never changed like his unbreakable shield and his ability to kick bad guy’s butt.

Rogers has now been recruited as a full-fledged member of the spy organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. He has been tasked on various missions with fellow Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D agent, Natasha Romanov (aka Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johannson).

However, after multiple cases of shady business, Rogers soon finds himself in the middle of war for the very soul of S.H.I.E.L.D. and (like every other super hero) the protection of the free world. The days of good guys on one side and bad guys on the other that Steve grew up with are long gone. The lines are blurred and enemies lie everywhere.

Given the advice “trust no one” from Director Nick Fury (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson), Steve is forced to fight alongside the Black Widow and Sam Wilson (aka The Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie) in order to discover who is attempting to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. and why.

And just when it seems Rogers is getting adjusted to the new world, his old life from WWII comes and smacks him right in the face with the reemergence of an old enemy, and a new threat arises in the form of an unexpected rival.

The conspiracy/superhero movie takes the series in a darker direction with a much more serious theme. This movie ties many aspects of other Avengers movies together and will make people go back and rethink how everything connects. The movie is truly a game-changer in the Marvel cinematic universe.

The cross between intricate storyline full of plot twists and explosive action movie has been giving many people things to cheer about and broke the boundaries for what to expect not only from this movie, but also Marvel movies in general.

“I was expecting an exciting action-packed movie and was not disappointed,”  Kevin Cardella, a Penn State student and Marvel movie fan, said.  “It went above and beyond my expectations. The whole movie was absolutely amazing. Then the plot twist hit and it blew my mind.”

“Captain America; The Winter Soldier” has gotten outstanding reviews and crushed the box office in its first two weeks in theaters, earning the best opening weekend for April in box office history.  Super hero fans were excited to see Captain America back and better than ever.

“Usually the sequels of movies are not as good as the original, but this was a 100 times better than the first Captain America movie,” Liz Gramlich, another Penn State student and fellow Marvel fan, said.

It’s these kinds of movies that have people constantly not knowing what to expect from Marvel Studios, yet also constantly bringing them back. “Captain America; The Winter Soldier” is yet another explosively successful installment in Phase II of Marvel movies and just gets fans more excited for other upcoming titles coming out of Marvel Studios.

Paul Alberici

Lions Eye staff Writer, paa5102@psu.edu

In-State Tuition – Across the Border

Let’s be honest. Everyone knows the price of college is getting higher and higher every year. More and more, high school students each year realize that college may be out of the question for them simply because they can’t afford to go.

Financial aid can be very helpful to some, and very unreliable for others. Out of state tuition prices could cost students upwards of $50,000, or even higher, a year.

Penn State Brandywine doesn’t come anywhere near that mark, but will still cost those who come from out of state around $20,000 as an undergraduate with no aid per the 2013/14 tuition schedule.

So how is it that so many people can attend this school from out of state?  For Delaware students, there is some help, especially if a student is from the Wilmington area.

Penn State Brandywine actually has a partnership with those who attend high schools within the Brandywine School District in Delaware. Those high schools are Concord High School, Brandywine High School and Mount Pleasant High School.

Penn State offers a grant to those students who plan on attending the Brandywine campus from those schools; the grant allows the students to receive in-state tuition without having permanent residency in the state of Pennsylvania.

While any prospective student has the option to receive this grant, there are also some qualifications the student must have from high school to receive the full bonus of in-state tuition.

The qualifications include graduating with a GPA higher than 2.7 and scoring above a 750 on the two combined tests on the SATs.

Schools all around the United States are starting to offer similar options for students to attain their ultimate goal of attending the university or college of their choice, and graduating with a degree from it.

The grant that this university offers is a great opportunity for those who live close to campus, but just over the state line. Taking advantage of all the opportunities one has to reduce the cost of attending school will likely help in the long run.

Ryan Tuttle

Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, RJT5281@PSU.EDU