Unless you live under a rock without televisions, newspapers, internet access, or people around, then you know what Penn State is. In the most basic terms, it's a four-year college with 24 campuses around Pennsylvania. It's the biggest, most well-known, and most talked about campus in the state, located in State College, PA.

The students at Penn State are no different from any other college student in the country. We wake up to alarms that are all set for a day filled with classes, though we don't always get out of bed for them. We meet our friends for meals when we have down time and go to class. We go to the library when we need to bang out a paper. We nap more often than we let on to our parents. We go out when we have free time and sometimes even when we don't.

Though I haven't had first-hand experience as a student at another college, I think it's fair to say that most college students in America can relate to this.

Penn State isn't a special school.

It's a normal place with average people. We go about our lives each day like the rest of you. Tragedies are, unfortunately, a part of life. Penn State is aware of this, as are many other schools. People fall victim to sexual assault, alcohol and drug abuse, and death. It's horrible, but it happens — everywhere.

For some reason, every school gets a break. At one school, a girl was gang-banged by her school's football team but I'm sure you haven't heard about that. The administration quickly pushed it under the rug so they can play out the rest of their college career but the media didn't care enough to push it. A coach physically and verbally abused his players to points of notable harm but you probably wouldn't have realized that because it was kept hush-hush — that probably explains why he wasn't given a renewed contract.

Penn State has problems, too. It may come as a shock because, you know, I'm sure you haven't heard about any of it in the news for the past six years. Somewhere down the road of collegiate mess-ups that are seemingly unavoidable, the people still choose Penn State. They didn't just choose Penn State to trash-talk every time the Sandusky trials on television, they choose Penn State to ruin it.

We aren't a special school. Why do we get all of this special attention? I get nervous to wear my school apparel in public because I've been approached numerous times getting screamed at in the face. I've been called a piece of sh*t, a rapist, and a murderer all because of the shirt I was wearing.

The Penn State name has become synonymous with all things that are bad.

So many other schools have done bad things but, unlike us, they don't have HBO basing a movie off our dark days. About a week ago, a photo was released of Al Pacino dressed as the late Joe Paterno. It's a mockery. It's hurtful to the families involved. The memory of Joe Paterno along with all of the great things he did for the football program — the victims who now have to relive their past over and over without a break because of the media.

We didn't ask for this. We don't want this. We are proud students, alumni, and fans. We keep seeing our home getting messed with time and time again.

Why? Why did our school get picked? How did we become that school?

For a while, I understood. It was news and news gets shared to the public. That's how it works but now it's gone too far. HBO, stop beating a dead horse and using our adversity to make money. Use your imagination and come up with your own ideas. We've screwed up in the past, just like every other college in the country.

It's no longer fair. Actors, directors, and producers will be making money from this HBO movie. From real people's lives. The Hollywood glamorization of what we've tried so hard to grow from will just keep us in the dark place we've struggled to get out of. Our name has been dragged too far.

Penn State has the opportunity to move on and rebuild its name so now is the time to keep it out of the media. Give us that chance to do so for the sake of every Nittany Lion.