Five years ago, Happy Valley got turned upside down. Revelations of decades of abuse at the hands of a former football coach put the college town on the map for things that no school would ever want to be known for. Whether you had a connection to Penn State or not, everyone couldn't help but watch the depressing events play out. Each part seemed sadder and more corrupt than the last. This honorific chapter in the school's history seemed poised to crush the school's spirit for at least the next decade after the NCAA handed down crushing sanctions to the football team and Joe Paterno's unexpected death.
The thing that all these people didn't take into account, is how special Penn State is. You can't break a Penn Stater's spirit. You can take Joe Paterno away and cut the football program off, but there will always be thousands of people rooting for the school's comeback.
Now five years, later, the thousands of students and alumni will do anything to prove that the school is not what happened so long ago behind closed doors. Just look around, anywhere in the world, and you can find someone who is a member of the Penn State family. They all agree that bad stuff happened, but they make it clear that those are things that do not define the school. Many will point out the unique community of such a large university.
The community comes together when bad and good things happen. Whether that's for the death of a fellow student, to help raise money for children with cancer, to chase clowns or to celebrate the most historic win since the Paterno era.
Which is important to point out, because nearly every student who was on campus in 2011 is an alumnus now. The administration is dramatically different and the football team is now being led by a man who had the courage to take on one of the most illustrious and hated teams in college sports. Without James Franklin's ability to move the team forward to their next phase, the school wouldn't be able to move on.
Maybe some people won't be happy until the Joe Pa statue is back outside of Beaver stadium. In my opinion, no statue will ever be able to show how special Penn State is.
We are, thousands of diverse students trying overcome the obstacles we have been given in our lives. Just like the school we love so much, we are trying to make tomorrow better than today. We are leaving a legacy of perseverance and dedication. Once Penn State beat Ohio State, everything came full circle for many students and fans.
Thousands of us poured into the streets at midnight, making sure to be a part of one of the best nights in our college years. In those early morning hours, we were all friends, we all cheered and cried for our Nittany Lions. We are the ones who believed in ourselves and our school when no one else wanted to and stood up for our decision to attend a school so many like to make fun of.
We showed the world that no matter what happened in our past, with a little courage and perservaernce, we can overcome our challenges when we need to most. One prime time, Penn State proved that we are a family that will always remind the world of the good we've done. Our darkest days don't define us, but the way we push oursleves forward to make the future a better place for Nittany Lion. We don't give up when life gets tough, we lean on each other, we lift each other up and we celebrate together. There simply is no place like Happy Valley, especially on game day.
