Quick Update

Hi All,

It has been steamy out here in Happy Valley over the past few days! I am very happy that my dorm is one of the few that has air conditioning!

This weekend, we had our annual Blue & White Weekend where the athletic department hosted a carnival, football scrimmage, and other events. It was a great weekend and very nice to walk into Beaver Stadium for the first time this semester.

I found out that I got 1st Place in the discus and javelin and 2nd Place in the shot put down at Myrtle Beach. I am very satisfied with that as I was not expecting to place at all!

I also found out that I am going to the Endeavor Games in Oklahoma in June for field events as well as a handcycling race! I am looking forward to that!

Finals week is next week here at Penn State, so we are all starting to buckle down and start studying for our many exams! I have two final exams in class on Thursday and Friday, one exam on Monday, and an exam on Tuesday. I hope I do well!

I also have a home field meet on Tuesday after my exam, so after that meet I will officially be a sophomore! It is hard to believe that a quarter of my college career is over. It seems like just yesterday that I decided I was attending Penn State! It is amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun!

I will update you after finals week!

- Tracker
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" You must motivate yourself EVERYDAY!" - Matthew Stasior

Madison Square Garden...Here We Come!

Hi All,

Just a quick post to let you know that Penn State advanced to the semifinals of the NIT and earned a ticket to Madison Square Garden. We are going crazy here on campus and some of us are making plans to go to the Garden to watch the festivities on next Tuesday night. One of those people is me - I can't wait to see us get announced!

We play the winner of the Kentucky v. Notre Dame game which tips off tomorrow night at 7:00 PM on ESPN 2.

Other than that, life in Happy Valley has been pretty subdued. We are experiencing an early Spring cold spell and are looking forward to warmer weather. I have my first track and field meet on Thursday (it was supposed to be Saturday, but got cancelled due to an expected rain storm).

- Tracker
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"Success doesn't come to you…you go to it."- Marva Collins

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi All,

I hope you enjoyed your Valentine's Day and weekend! This weekend, I went home from Happy Valley to enjoy a weekend of beautiful skiing. Although the snow wasn't what it was, the skiing was still phenomenal. I made such an improvement in my skiing this weekend by finding edges on my skis that I did not know even existed! I am now skiing faster and better than I have ever skied before. I learned that I need to push my hips out further and more downhill to create a more effective edge. It felt great!

This weekend is a very big one at Penn State. This is THON weekend. For those of you who do not know what THON is, it is a student run fundraiser for pediatric cancer. Students go out around the Northeast four weekends to go "canning" at supermarkets or street corners. Also, students have a mass letter writing campaign to ask for donations from their friends and family. This weekend, we will be fulfilling a promise to all who donated money to THON by having over 700 students, or dancers, fill our basketball arena, the Bryce Jordan Center, by standing and dancing for 46 hours straight without any sleep breaks. While I am not a dancer, I am on the Finance Committee for THON which basically means that I am one of the people who counts all the money that is donated to us through cash, checks, or IOU's. I can't wait to see how much money we raise this year! Last year we raised $6,615,318.04!

I will definitely keep you posted on how that goes! I can't wait and my head is spinning with all the on-campus activities to help students prepare for the weekend!

Have a great week and let it snow!

- Tracker
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"When cancer is cured, we will dance for joy. Until then, we will dance for life." - Anonymous Dancer from THON

Congratulations

Hi All,

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate all of the ASF racers and sliders that competed in the Special Olympics race this past weekend. All together, ASF collected 22 medals at West Mountain! Good job to all who participated!

I had a busy week this past week. I played in my second Wheelchair Basketball Halftime Show where our team played the "Celebrity Coaches" of Penn State Athletics. We beat them handily and I had two steals. I think everyone had fun!

We also played our first Wheelchair Basketball game this weekend against a real Wheelchair Basketball team. We lost both games in the double header, but learned a lot in the process. The team we played was called the "Pittsburgh Steel Wheelers" gave us a lot of pointers at the end of the game, so we have a lot of practice to do. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the game immensely!

I am coming home this weekend to race in the Diana Golden Level 1 Race at Windham Mountain on February 1st. I am looking forward to this a great deal and cannot wait to hit the snow again!

Talking about snow, it is supposed to snow a lot here in Happy Valley over the course of the next day or two! They are talking about over 6" of snow! I hope that it is snow and not ice because I have a lot of trouble walking in the ice, so LET IT SNOW!

Finally, Christine Southard was generous enough to e-mail me a copy of a speech that I gave to the volunteers at the Adaptive Sports Foundation at their annual organizational meeting this season. You can listen to it below:




Have a great week and LET IT SNOW!

- Tracker
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"Never, never, never, never give up" - Winston Churchill

Wounded Warrior Weekend

Hi All,

This weekend was the Wounded Warrior Project Weekend at the Adaptive Sports Foundation. The ASF gave over 20 soldiers who were injured in the line of duty and their families the opportunity to learn how to ski and snowboard with the use of adaptive equipment. They all were truly remarkable and inspiring. The soldiers did not let anything stop them - they all had a great time, too!

Today was also a Powder Day at Windham! Mother Nature dropped just under a foot of powder and the mountain looks better than ever! While it is a bit challenging for a four-tracker to ski in boot deep powder, I still had a great time! It was one of the few times that I fell and felt nothing! It is a beautiful thing!

Finally, I go back to Happy Valley tonight to start my next semester of classes! I cannot wait to see all my friends again. On Friday, I am heading back home to enjoy a nice three day weekend!

Have a great week and I will write soon!

LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! (Yes, even more)

- Tracker
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"A powder day is a fun day!"

Finals Over + Powder Alert = Happy Me

Hi All,

As I sit here and look out at the Winter Wonderland that has become my backyard, I realize that I have to pack for a weekend (or more) of skiing, so this will be a quick post! I finished my finals on Tuesday morning and have a full semester at Happy Valley under my belt. I can't believe it! I received all my grades already and am very happy - I made the Dean's List!

When I arrived back in NY and watched the news, all I heard was "snow, snow, and more snow" - I am ready to go tear up the slopes!

I will write up a post about skiing this weekend early next week!

Have a great weekend!

Let it snow! (Yes, let it snow even more!)

- Tracker
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"Skiing is a dance, the mountain always leads." - Anonymous

It's Snowing in Happy Valley!!!

Hi All,

It is really coming down here in Happy Valley! The snow is so beautiful and makes me want to pop into my bindings and ski to class. We got about an inch already and are expected to get up to two more!

I was down in town today and had to walk back up to my dorm. It was during this time that it hit me that ski season is almost upon us. As I was walking up the hill with snow blowing in my face, I felt like I was on a chairlift that stopped right below a snow gun! I walked into my dorm and the front of my body was completely white from being pelted with snow. When my suitemate asked me if I was okay, I responded with a big "I love it!". All of my friends now think I'm crazy for saying that!

Tomorrow is a big day here in Happy Valley. If our football team wins, we are going to the Rose Bowl - the most famous bowl game in college football! Fans are already lining the streets, cheerleaders handed out stickers that said "Subpar-tans" (we play the Michigan State Spartans tomorrow), and the HUB, our student center for activities, was having a huge party. There was free popcorn and prize raffles, ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd is broadcasting "The Herd" from our food court. and signs lined the tables with words like "BELIEVE" and "Lets add one more..." with an arrow pointing to all the years we won the Big Ten Championship. I can't wait for tomorrow!

We have a pep rally tonight called "Rally in the Valley" to get us all riled up for the game and we are expecting our beloved coach, Joe Pa, to give a speech as well! Before the rally, our #1 ranked women's volleyball team is hosting the first round of the NCAA tournament, so I will go to that as well!

The thing I can't wait for the most is to see my family. I am looking forward to taking them to the football game and showing them what Penn State is all about.






I will leave you with this picture of a statue of Joe Paterno that was taken earlier today by our local paper.


Lets hope it keeps snowing!

- Tracker

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"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event." - Anonymous

Wheelchair Basketball

Hi All,

I wanted to keep you updated with life here in Happy Valley. Penn State lost its first football game this past weekend (significantly impacting any chances of going to the national championship), but all the students are standing behind their team. If we win our final two games, Penn State is guaranteed a bid into the Rose Bowl on New Years Day in Pasadena, California. We are all looking forward to that!

Wheelchair Basketball is starting to get into full swing here, too. We had an extended practice tonight of an extra half hour because we are getting ready for our first big event - halftime show at the mens basketball team's game against the New Jersey Institute of Technology! This should be a great experience as it will be the first time I have played in front of such a large crowd! I am so excited!

The Wheelchair Basketball team was recently featured on Penn State's television network, PSU TV, with a two and a half minute story. You can watch it below:





With only a week and a half until Thanksgiving Break, everyone is already starting to count the days until they go home and see their family and friends. Personally, I can't wait to see my friends and family, too, but a little bit of me is already thinking about squeezing some skiing in during break. I have never made my first tracks of the season in November!

Let it snow,

Tracker

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"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success." - Norman Vincent Peale