Month: March 2015

Deeper look into Brandywine Club Sports: Bobbi Caprice

Posted By under Sports

By: Victoria Marotta, vim5121@psu.edu

Bobbi Caprice, a recent 2013 graduate of Penn State Brandywine, gives back in thanks for her experience here by now becoming the recruiting coordinator in the Penn State Brandywine Athletic Department.

Caprice’s main role in the department is to recruit student-athletes to come to Brandywine. However, she has a few other responsibilities such as operating intramural and clubs sports as well as running the fitness center. In addition, she also serves as an assistant softball and women’s basketball coach.

From 2009-2013, Caprice was a four-year starter for the Lions’ basketball team and scored more than 1,000 points during her career. As a student-athlete at Brandywine, Caprice didn’t stop there; she was a member of student government, a Lion Ambassador and vice president of the Blue and White Society. She did all of this while also competing for the cross country and volleyball teams.

She is truly an extraordinary Brandywine alum. During her athletic career, she was named to the PSUAC All-Academic Team four-straight years and was a USCAA National All-Academic Team honoree in 2012 and 2013.

It is very important to be involved in activities here on campus, which led her to where she is today.

“When I was student I was very involved on campus with athletics and extracurricular activities.” Caprice states.

Club sports at Brandywine vary each year depending on interest level. Penn State Brandywine currently has cheerleading, track and field, trapshooting and ice hockey. Brandywine’s ice hockey however is a little different than the others.

“We treat our ice hockey team like a varsity program,” Caprice said. “They are a very well-established team and recruit players to come to Brandywine to compete. Unlike other club teams who normally recruit participates at club fairs and around campus. We have had other club sports in the past, like ultimate frisbee and paintball. We are happy to support any students who wants to start any club sports.”

Caprice thinks that it is essential for sports to be incorporated with education for students to fully excel and make the most of college.

From a recent article by the New York Times, Jay P. Greene, a professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas, and Daniel H. Bowen, a post-doctoral fellow at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, found that, “Schools that offer more sports and field more successful teams produce higher test scores and graduation rates, research shows. There is a relatively consistent body of research showing that students who participate in athletics tend to fare significantly better both in school and in later life. Participating in sports, like playing are cognitively and organizationally demanding activities that help convey self-discipline and leadership skills. In addition, our own research has found that schools that offer more sports and field more successful teams produce higher test scores and graduation rates.”

This shows the significance of how balancing the two, education and sports, can be very essential for current and prospective students here at Brandywine.

“I believe that getting involved is so important to the overall college experience, not just through athletics, but any type of organization,” Caprice said. “Being part of a club or team makes students feel connected to the school. It gives them lifelong memories and teaches them valuable lessons. Being a part of an organization teaches students how to work well with others, how to be disciplined and time management skills (just to name a few).”

These are all important tools college students need to develop prior to graduation and going into the real world. It is true that employers seek out to hire student-athletes because they know that they have the skills needed to be successful. Caprice truly believes in the student-athlete and wants everyone to know at Brandywine, there are opportunities.

“Get involved – it is very easy to make this commuter campus a drive-by experience by simply leaving right after class,” Caprice said. “Students who do that can’t wait to ‘go up to the Park’ to get that ‘real college experience.’ I genuinely get upset to hear students have this type of attitude towards our campus. Students who get involved through athletics or clubs absolutely love their experience and often end up staying their last two years to complete their degree at Brandywine. Don’t sit around and wait for your time to have fun. Do it now!”

Dancing For A Cure — A First Person Perspective

Posted By under Uncategorized

Written by: PAUL ALBERICI — paa5102@psu.edu

Every February since 1973, Penn State THON volunteers join in on a dance marathon that spans an entire weekend.

In recent years, out of the 15,000+ student volunteers who join in to help fight pediatric cancer, around 700 are chosen to stand the entire THON weekend; they are known as the dancers.  Along with Michael Mensah, a sophomore at Penn State Brandywine, I was chosen to represent the campus at THON 2015. This experience was nothing short of amazing and will be very hard to condense into one story, but I’ll try my best.

The Friday before we stood, as I had my feet up on the headboard of the bed, I thought over and over, “Is this really happening? Am I really going through with it? Am I prepared?” All the thoughts of doubt and nerves made it hard to sleep.

We then attended the final dancer meeting 4 p.m. on Friday, just two hours before THON weekend 2015. Our school bags were filled with all different things that are vital to THON dancers as well as our custom shirts with our messages printed on the back (Mike had “Moonwalker” on his, and I had “The Captain”).

We then proceeded through the human tunnel, a pathway into the Bryce Jordan Center made up of many different people cheering us on and taking pictures. We also saw our Dancer Relation Committee Members (DRCM), basically the dancer’s life-line and constant supporter throughout THON weekend. My DRCM was Samantha Malizia, a sophomore at University Park and Mike’s DRCM was Rebecca Porter, a freshman also at University Park.

We loaded our personalized storage lockers (Mine was covered with Marvel stuff, thanks to Sam) and then proceeded out to the floor to prepare to stand. I watched as the minutes ticked by, waiting, sitting, looking for that 6 p.m. to hit. Then, after all the planning, all the preparation and all the anticipation was over, the moment we’d all been waiting for had finally arrived.

Mike and I and 700 other people said goodbye to sitting down for the rest of the weekend. Our campus’ organization roared to life with the light-up “B-WINE” sign as they began a weekend of supporting the families and dancers, while also securing a spot in the lower bowl of the stadium (which rarely ever happens.)

Between having constant water gun fights with kids and other dancers, learning the line dance, seeing my org members when they visited me on the floor and just seeing how happy the families were made, the weekend incredible. The live bands were great, playing a lot of songs people wanted to hear, especially when they played “Uptown Funk” which was our jam for the weekend. It felt good when we finally broke out our THON costumes to our THON alter egos of Michael Jackson and Captain America.

Our campus organization was the best I had seen it in the three years I had been involved in THON. Any time we looked up in the stands they were dancing around and smiling as well as holding up giant fat-heads they made of Mike and I. They were so energized the entire weekend. They also sent us amazing motivational letters and supportive messages that helped us get through some of our toughest spots and believe me, there were definitely moments of weakness.

Nobody said standing and staying awake for 46 hours was going to be easy, right? As much as I loved everything about THON weekend, it doesn’t mean it was a walk in the park. I really started feeling physical pain Saturday night after the pep-rally; my legs were starting to throb and ache.  The worst point was right around when my parents came to see me Sunday morning. It was like a lucid feeling where my mind was thinking if I reached out to touch things they wouldn’t be there but I was still very much awake. As I was eating breakfast with my mother next to me, I was nearly falling asleep on her shoulder. This would happen again one more time during family hour later that day with just two hours left. The only difference was the person to snap me out of my trance was Liz who was on the floor with her press pass.

Without my friends sending me messages, my family sending me amazing packages, our DRCMs Sam and Becca keeping Mike and me going, my dance partner Mike who was the best partner out there,  or seeing the THON families enjoying themselves, I wouldn’t have made it. I cannot say how thankful I am for having such an incredible support team behind us. Any moment of weakness I had, I just tried to think of the THON families who fight very real battles every day, my friends at Brandywine who believed in me enough to do this and my family who made sure I knew they had my back too.

This really showed me that it all depends on why you dance, why you THON. You have to use all of your will power to make it through the weekend. This is part of the reason why I love family hour being at the end of THON. When you are at your breaking point, you are reminded what and who this is for and why you have to be strong and be ready for them. Whether it’s the funds we raise or the shoulder we give them to help them through these troubling times.

It’s a head game, and if you aren’t down there for the right reasons, you will not make it. Your heart has to be ready to keep you going when your mind and muscles are telling you to stop. Fortunately, my partner Mike and I knew what this meant for so many people and we weren’t prepared to let any of them down.

When Go Go Gadget, the band that always wraps up THON weekend, was finished, 4 p.m. hit and we were finally able to sit once again. I couldn’t believe it was actually over; it honestly seemed like a blur. It felt more like one long day rather than an entire weekend. Then, the final piece of THON weekend — the total reveal. We waited anxiously as the commonwealth totals were put up.

It turns out Brandywine did far better than I could’ve ever imagined. We raised more than $40K and moved up to #7 on the list of top fundraising commonwealths. It was surreal seeing that name even higher on the list. All those canning shifts, all the events, all the generous donors, it all added up.

After the special interest groups and frats of University Park was announced, it was time to see what our efforts had produced.  Total raised — $13,026,653.23. Once again we showed the world what a dedicated group of people can do when they band together for a good cause. I was on such an adrenaline high. We did it. That’s $13 million going to people who truly need it.

Looking back now, I think of how quickly it went. All the mental prep work, all the training, and it was now over. But just because THON weekend was over doesn’t mean we are done. Come next September, we’ll be right back at it. Cancer is still out there, families are still suffering and as long as they still need our help, THON will always be there for them.

Brandywine THON Dancers Michael Mensah (Left) and Paul Alberici (Right) with Brandywine's THON organization in the background
Brandywine THON Dancers Michael Mensah (Left) and Paul Alberici (Right) with their campus’ in the background

Brandywine First-Timers React to THON weekend

Posted By under Uncategorized

Written by: PAUL ALBERICI — paa5102@psu.edu

THON weekend is considered by many Penn State students to be one of the best weekends of the year and THON 2015 was no different.

For many people from Penn State Brandywine, this was their first time experiencing the impactful weekend that brings Penn State students from all across the commonwealth together to celebrate the end of the fundraising year with the Four Diamonds’ families.

“My reaction (to THON weekend) was breathtaking,” said Samantha Dimarco, a freshman at Penn State Brandywine, who has plans on transferring up to University Park in the fall and who hopes to be on the dancer relations committee. “The entire thing left me speechless.”

Brandywine had one of its biggest fundraising years to date, raising a record-breaking $40.952.11; the total moved them up to the #7 slot for highest fundraising effort among commonwealth campuses. Part of that success was attributed to the number of consistent members the group had, which was even higher than last year. Many of these new members were freshman and sophomores who had a rough idea as to what THON was about.

“I had seen people canning in the streets before,” said Allyson Pyle, a Penn State Brandywine sophomore. “But I never knew how big the organization was until I got to Brandywine. I regret not joining sooner!”

It seems that every member who went to THON this year enjoyed a different aspect of the weekend, from the line dance which is new each year to seeing how much fun the kids were having. But there was one aspect of the weekend almost every member loves.

“Family Hour (was) definitely (my favorite part),” said Derek Osborn. “It just showed me everything that we’re doing for the kids does make an impact, it does change lives and none of the hard work we put into it is wasted.”

Family hour is the time near the end of the weekend where Four Diamonds’ families come up and tell their stories of dealing with cancer, sometimes with their child by their side and other times with only a picture to hold and tears in their eyes. This part of the weekend is capped off with a slideshow of many of the children who are no longer alive after losing their battle to cancer. This portion of the weekend serves as motivation to continue fighting for a cure.

THON has a two-part mission: to provide financial and emotional support to all the families as well as to spread awareness as to what they do and why it is important to help out. Although each THON member dedicates their effort and commitment to the children of the Four Diamonds Fund, some members have a much more personal reason to join in the fight to defeat pediatric cancer.

“I THON not only for all of the nuggets out there and their families who need our help and positivity to better their futures but also for some personal people in my life who have been affected by cancer, specifically my Pop, my Uncle Ray, Brayden Chandler who lived up the street and my friend Mike Gade,” Casey Algeo, a sophomore with plans of attending University Park this coming fall and who plans on joining the dancer relations committee, said. “These people are the main reasons why I THON and will continue to THON after my college experience comes to an end. In my personal opinion, there should never be an end to helping people, specifically those who are affected by a horrible disease such as cancer.”

With the book now closed on the THON 2015 fundraising season, many members are eager for next year to start so they can get back to work.

“Because of THON weekend I just want to do even more for these kids,” Osborn said. “I’m going to give it my all next year and try to raise as much money as I can for these kids!”

It is this type of dedication and excitement that keeps veteran THON members hopeful for the future. As long as this chain of dedication continues with new members, THON will continue to be successful for years to come.

Welcome to the 1,000 Point Club Amanda Congialdi

Posted By under Sports

By: Ana Elmasllari, Lion’s Eye Staff Editor, ave5065@psu.edu

During halftime of the women’s basketball game in the gym, Sunday, January 18, Amanda Congialdi was honored with the 1000-point banner. As the newest member of the 1000-point-club, Congialdi is the first athlete since 2007 to be honored with Penn State Brandywine’s banner. She is third in standing of the six Brandywine women honored—with 1,267 total points. Despite missing six games in her junior year, she still managed to score over 1000 points since 2010.

In speaking with Congialdi, she mentioned she broke her ankle and couldn’t play for the rest of the season in 2010. So she focused on her mental preparation along with the obvious physical care and conditioning. During preseason she focused on taking good care of her ankle.

“It was important to overcome the mental hardships,” said Congialdi.

During the season, while bench-sitting, she had to block out any negative thoughts and try to enjoy the game—whether they won lost.

Amanda Congialdi didn’t stop there; she also joined Brandywine’s inaugural softball team as their starting catcher for most of the year. In its first season, the team finished in the final four.

“I was proud to have been a part of such a magical season and Brandywine’s first ever,” she said.  “I enjoyed being part of the history that we are forming at Brandywine.”

When she spoke about her experiences she credited Brandywine’s Athletic Director, Jim Gastner. He was a motivator who didn’t give up on her and always pushed her through the difficult times.

“I don’t care what it takes, if I have to drag you to get you to graduate, I will,” said Congialdi

These are words that stuck with Congialdi.

“My coach, and the passion that I had for basketball, is what helped me stay on top of my work.”

She feels that if a person is not procrastinating and is able to manage time wisely, he or she is able to balance schoolwork and sports.

“There had been times where I didn’t manage my time as well as I could have, but I learned. I set priorities and stuck to them,” said Congialdi.

Amanda Congialdi will be receiving her degree in corporate communications in May, 2015. She already has plans to join the military but hasn’t set her mind on what kind of work she will do there.

“I’ve always wanted to make a difference and do something commendable, and joining the military seems like it fits my needs,” said Congialdi.

We know she will make a difference.

Soccer Honored for Second Consecutive Title

Posted By under Sports

By: Jake Gibbons, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, jmg6174@psu.edu

By now the news of the soccer team’s recently stunning performance has probably spread throughout all of Penn State’s campuses, but on Thursday, Jan 29, the team’s impressive achievement was immortalized in Brandywine’s gym.

For any who don’t yet know, the achievement in question is Brandywine Men’s Soccer securing the coveted PSUAC title by beating out Penn State York 1-0 last October, the victory being the last of fourteen consecutive victories in total that season, making them undefeated. What makes this even more significant is that this is the team’s second consecutive title, and it granted them access to the USCAA National Championships. This is the first time since 1997 since a Brandywine team has been able to pull off such a feat.

To commemorate the occasion, a small ceremony took place during the halftime period of the basketball game against York. After the coach said a few words and expressed his pride in the team, each individual member was called up to the half court line. A banner marking their tremendous feat was then unveiled, commemorating the occasion for years to come.

In addition, player Manny Weldemicael was congratulated for his acceptance into the Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All American Team, a prestigious accolade that requires one to hold both a high GPA and significant status on their athletic team, as voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Manny is not only the first ever Brandywine student to receive this honor, but also the first ever college division athlete from the entire state, male or female.

After the ceremony, Brad Jule, a captain of the soccer team and recent fall graduate, was available for comment.

“The team performed really well this past season, and we were actually undefeated.  We had a lot of returning players to help out as well,” Jule stated.

Brad also feels confident about the team’s future seasons. Though they are losing a couple seniors, the team has a lot of incoming freshman who are ready and willing to perform, and the team is always looking to cull more prospective players from some of Penn State’s other campuses.

All of Brandywine’s future soccer teams and future students will be able to look at the banner and remember the 2014 team’s achievement for years to come. With freshmen rolling in every semester, and returning players from last season, Brandywine just might be able to hold this title next year as well. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Assassins Creed: Unity – A Good framework

Posted By under Entertainment

By: Jake Gibbons, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, jmg6173@psu.edu

I’d like to begin by saying that I’ve never had any serious experience with the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and my knowledge of the series before I began was limited to the ranting and raving of friends and relatives and about five cumulative minutes of total seat time spread out across a the years since the series’ conception. So, after being subjected to an especially long and almost violent rant given by my close friend about the latest title, Unity, I decided now is the time to try the game for myself and see just what eight titles worth of hype is actually like.

Unity is the latest game in the series, and the second one to appear on next-generation consoles (PS4/Xbox One). The story follows Arno Dorian, a son of a nobleman, during the heat of the French Revolution in the late 18th century. After Arno’s father is killed, he learns that his father was part of a secret and ancient order of assassins, which he must join in order to uncover the true force behind the revolution and defeat the Assassins’ rival faction, called the Templars.

The story is littered with history, merging real world events and historical figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte and King Louis XVI with a fictional sort of sub-storyline. Overall, it’s an interesting theme, but not much else; the narrative is fairly weak and at the end you don’t really care about what happens to Arno one way or the other. The Assassins and the Templars are a long standing theme of the series, and the game is presented as though you are a descendant of the Assassin bloodline in the present and have to use a Templar developed system to access past memories and develop the story. It’s all sort of confusing and, honestly, a bit silly.

As this is a next-gen game the developers of Unity intended to use every ounce of the new consoles’ processing power, and it shows. The game is a gorgeous thing to behold, each district of Paris pulsing with life, all with a distinct feel and culture that oozes from every wall of every home, church, and palace. There are a number of side missions in Unity (which you’ll want to play) which help to define them even more; things like murder mysteries, heists, assassination contracts, or entirely separate subplots. The character customization is strong too, with a slew of weapons, armor, color schemes, abilities, and equipment to suit individual play style, from stealthy tactician to haphazard barnstormer.

Though the game looks amazing, playing it isn’t as rewarding. Before you actually start the game for the first time, there are nearly seven gigabytes of patches and fixes to install, and even with those in place, the gameplay is still shaky at best, with a lot of frame skips, glitches, and general awkwardness, especially with the game’s free running system, which never really gets your character to do exactly what you want. This, coupled with torturous loading screens, makes it feel like a remastered PS3 game instead of a brand new title.

Multiplayer is where Unity really begins to come alive.  Four players can freely roam Paris and complete jobs together, or a player can jump right into another’s solo session and request assistance. Each online mission follows a separate storyline as well for some added depth to the online play. This system is all new for Unity and it serves as an excellent framework for all future titles to be based on.

Sadly, I cannot compare this game seriously to the others in the series, and sadly, I have only a finite amount of space to tell about Unity. After playing it, I feel like raving for hours like my friend did to me before I experienced it.

Since I can’t do that, just think of it like this: everything it does well, it really does well, and everything it does wrong it really does wrong.

If they keep the good and ditch the bad, the next installment will be the stuff of legend.

The Story of America’s Deadliest Sniper

Posted By under Entertainment

By: Dan Ketler, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, dmk5614@psu.edu

Earlier this month the highly anticipated Oscar-nominee film, American Sniper, directed by Clint Eastwood, premiered nationwide in select theaters. This incredible true story depicts the life and events of the world’s deadliest sniper, Chris Kyle. Kyle was a sharpshooter in the United States Navy SEALs.

The Texas native accounted for 160 confirmed kills from four tours in the Iraqi war. As much as this movie was about Kyle’s astounding military career, it also helped spread awareness about a very serious psychological disorder known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

In American Sniper, Chris Kyle, is portrayed by actor Bradley Cooper—who gives an incredible performance to pay tribute to the war veteran. The movie begins on the rooftops of a building in Iraq. It sends a powerful message to viewers right off the bat. Sniper begins showing a young Chris Kyle preparing to take down his first victims: a woman and a child who were about to blow up a tank with a rocket launcher. Just before he pulls the trigger, the screen switches to flashbacks of Kyle’s childhood: Kyle running around with his younger brother, hunting with his father, and even later as a rodeo-horseback rider. Each event shows how this man was shaped and molded into the most deadly sharpshooter the Navy SEALs have ever seen.

As the movie goes on, Chris Kyle fulfills his duties as a soldier, yet begins to struggle as he returns home to his wife, Taya, played by Sienna Miller. Taya sees what the war is doing to her husband yet she can’t deny him his loyalty to protecting his “brothers” and his country. Through relentless psychological pain, she allows him to go on not one, but four tours to Iraq. When he comes back from war, you can clearly see he has left a piece of himself behind, metaphorically speaking, each time he leaves Iraq. Cooper does a great job showing this because you can really see how his mind is gradually deteriorating.

When Kyle returns home from his final tour, after being awarded many medals and being honorably discharged, he is not the same Chris we met in the beginning of the movie. He sits and keeps to himself, lacking any emotion at all and is stuck in the terror and agony of his duties. All he can focus on is the endless sounds of war. It becomes clearer that what helps calm his terrors is helping those who were involved in war, his military brethren.

This story is brilliantly told, not only by the amazing acting talents of Cooper, who most definitely deserves to win an Oscar for his performance, but also by the powerful messages embedded in each scene by Clint Eastwood. For those of you who don’t really care for films involving war and bloodshed, I still highly recommend seeing this film. As much as it is gruesome and terrifying, I think everyone can come to understand and respect what this film is really about. I guarantee you will not leave the theater disappointed.

One Button Studio Simplifies Production with the Click of a Button

Posted By under Campus News

By: Paula Scott Lions Eye Staff Editor, pms5152@psu.edu

Multimedia production has just been simplified. By inserting a flash drive and clicking one button, the camera, microphone and pre-set lighting turn on, eliminating the tedious studio setup.

Students enrolled in multimedia production courses aren’t the only ones who will find this new studio useful.

“Many courses are now requiring a multimedia aspect to accompany projects,”said Brandywine’s head librarian Susan Ware.

Subjects including sociology, business, psychology, speech and earth sciences may also find this newest extension from Penn State Main quite handy. Originally called the Presentation Practice Room, by project manager Justin Miller of Penn State Information Technology Services, the One Button Studio is a perfect place to practice.

Students can practice presentations, record classroom presentations, and extracurricular club promotions or produce a creative media project without the hassle of setting or clean up. This studio is also great for faculty who wish to create demonstration models, record a lecture, present research papers or to record an introduction for an online class!

Editing can be achieved through the many resources including Garage Band and iMovie that are provided in the Media Commons section located in the back of Vairo.

The One Button Studio’s open house on Jan. 29, gave faculty and students the opportunity to see what the new studio had to offer, while providing a few demos. Features of the room include a blue and green screen that the user can easily toggle from one to the other with a switch. The studio is also equipped with lighting, a microphone, a computer and projector to show PowerPoint presentations on the screen during recording.

Students and faculty can block off hour time slots by visiting the front desk. University libraries funded the equipment and the project was completed over the duration of winter break.

“The Vairo Library staff welcome student feedback and recommendations for added props and staging that might make the One Button Studio even more useful,” said Susan Ware.

Students, come and check out the studio located in room 201A in Vairo!

Brandywine Welcomes King Family to THON’s Annual Chance Auction

Posted By under Campus News

By: Ana Elmasllari, Lion’s Eye Staff Editor, ave5065@psu.edu

On Friday, January 16 at 6 p.m., the King family joined friends and family of Brandywine’s THON members for the first time at THON’s Annual Chance Auction in the Tomezsko Building. THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world that raises money for kids with cancer.

This year the King Family is Brandywine’s THON family. They have been a part of the Four Diamonds Fund since March 2014. The THON members tried to be calm and not overwhelm them when meeting their THON family for the first time. Mr. and Mrs. King walked in at the event very excited to meet their whole Thon Organization.

The King Family consists of 3 girls and twin boys. One of the boys, 10-year old Trevor, is a cancer survivor. He has been clear for about six months now but he is still going to Hershey Medical Center for checkups once a month. Trevor will be finishing treatment at Hershey Medical Center in the summer of 2015.

Students, faculty and the community wrapped many baskets together to auction off on Friday night. Everyone was excited to play and to win the beautifully crafted baskets. Each basket had its own unique and clever name. One of the baskets was filled with different Legos and the name of the basket was “Building Dreams.” The King family ended up winning a few of them.

Each year THON introduces a different theme and this year’s theme is Empower the Dreamers, which was the inspiration for each baskets name.The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, known as THON, is a yearlong effort to raise funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer. THON has raised over $114 million for the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital since when it first started in 1977.

The year culminates with a 46-hour no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon known as THON Weekend. This event is held at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center each year in the month of February. In 2014, THON raised a record-breaking $13.34 million and was able to donate 96% of funds raised directly to Four Diamonds. Visit  THON’s official website, www.Thon.org to learn more about THON and/or donate.

Girls Basketball Rebounds

Posted By under Sports

By: Jake Gibbons, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, jmg6173@psu.edu

Mid-February saw some important events in Brandywine sports, as both the women’s and men’s basketball teams played back-to-back on Sunday, February 8.  The women’s team’s win Tuesday night, February 10, and in the space between it all we were able to honor three of the day’s, and indeed the season’s, most valuable contributors.

Brandywine’s women’s basketball team has been nearly unstoppable as of late, with a 17-7 (12-2 PSUAC) record and some remarkable talent to boot. This past Sunday, the team was able to bounce back after two consecutive losses with a 74-63 victory over Penn State Scranton. This marked an important turnaround for the team, as before the two losses, the team was undefeated, and was one of four teams in the PSUAC with two losses on record.

The momentum from Sunday’s victory carried from there into Tuesday night with another victory against Penn State Schuylkill, this time winning 67-58. This victory secured for the team the No. 1 seed and a chance of becoming the regular season champs, assuming Friday’s, February 13, game between Penn State Beaver and Penn State Greater Allegheny ends in our favor. In addition, Brandywine has also earned a spot in the PSUAC tournament set to happen the week of February 15.

Sunday was also Senior Day for the women’s team, and prior to the 1:00 p.m. game against Scranton the team’s only two seniors, Ebony Ford and Myeisha Matos, were honored with a small ceremony and an assortment of gifts and flowers. Both were key elements in the game that followed, each playing at their peak and Matos making two free throws late in the first half.

The men’s basketball team wasn’t so lucky, having suffered two consecutive losses that week. The first was to Schuylkill, the final score being 71-57, and the second also to Schuylkill two nights later with a heartbreaking final score of 75-74, with Schuylkill eking out a lead with a buzzer beater in the final seconds of the game.

However, the news wasn’t all negative. During halftime of Sunday’s game, another ceremony was held for Vince Screnci, who works on the scoring table at every home game. Screnci began working at Brandywine in the 1990s when he was still enrolled as a student, and as of Sunday has been doing so for twenty years. In recognition, an engraved plaque was hung in the Commons Building.

This past week was a time for celebration, a time for disappointment, and also a time for recognizing the hard work that every member of both teams put in routinely both on and off the court. The PSUAC tournament is fast approaching, and though we appear in pretty good stead at the moment, only time will tell if all of the work put in was worth it.