Dear high school seniors: Come to Penn State if you want
Penn State doesn’t have a creativity problem, our society does
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and at a school at Penn State there has to be plenty of differing ones. Some people may not have had the most ideal experience, as shown in a recent Tab article about not coming to Penn State. However, I wouldn’t change my time here for anything in the world.
Dear high school seniors,
You are now at a time in your life where everyone believes that they know what is best for you. Not only do they believe that they know what is best for you but they also believe that it is their duty to tell you what is best for you. Teachers, pastors, friends, parents, friends’ parents, coaches, guidance counselors, voice teachers, college tour guides, corporations, Amy Schumer…you’ve already felt this pressure placed on you via the adults in your life. And if you’re like any other high school senior out there, you have major doubts about your future.
Do not let these people validate those doubts you have.
Recently, an open letter written by another Penn State student has been circulating social media. Even if you’re not planning on going to Penn State, I urge you to continue reading my letter to you because what I have to say isn’t limited to future Nittany Lions. I read this letter multiple times over and I came to the same conclusion with each read: Penn State is not the place with a crisis in creativity, our society is.
The person who wrote the aforementioned letter complained that their creativity was suffocated by Penn State and that they had a realized disillusionment with their school. They claim that Penn State is all about getting a job after graduation and that it is near impossible to form relations with professors.
Let me just take this moment to introduce myself. My name is Georgina Snyder. I grew up in a city in Pennsylvania that you have never heard of except for maybe our crime rates. I grew up in a place that was by no means an exciting place to live but through that and through an upbringing where I was told to go outside in lieu of playing video games, I learned how to entertain myself. I developed a love for reading and the artistry required for transporting a reader to other worlds that would later inspire me to get a degree in English. I could have had a boring childhood full of church, cornfields and Friday night football games but I chose not to. I was involved in twelve different clubs in my senior year of high school alone, not counting the ones I had disjoined prior to that. I found excitement through all of that activity to inspire my creativity.
As a student in the College of Liberal Arts at Penn State, I have never thirsted for inspiration. Any lack of creativity on my part could always be boiled down to good ol’ writer’s block, not the school or teaching. With one exception, my professors in my liberal arts classes have always inspired free thought and have encouraged us to think big and outside of the box. I understand that this is the liberal arts, home to philosophy and creative writing and that there is a lack of home for creativity in STEM majors but I expect those who pursue scientific or mathematic fields of study to enter their fields expecting everything to be done by the book. In that case, it only makes sense for things to be done by the book because if you mess up in your field of Nuclear Engineering, that could have disastrous consequences.
In addition to always bolstering my creative flow, my professors (the ones that I forged close relationships with despite it apparently being impossible because they don’t care) have always encouraged me to pursue my dreams of becoming a writer. It may just be that I have a thirst for knowledge but in my four semesters at this school, I have yet to take a class that has left me questioning its use in my life. Again, I understand that liberal arts fields have wider opportunities for applications from general education courses because its nature of free-thinking but it is still handy to have some knowledge of the early civilizations of the Mediterranean. You know, just in case I want to be on Jeopardy some day.
I’m also aware of the trouble students have here with fitting in. Call it luck or what you may but I have managed to make this 40k student campus small by finding my niches. I’m in Club Powerlifting and in a campus ministry called Navigators and just simply between those two clubs I have been able to spread my network far and wide across this campus. I have experienced the backlash you can get at times by not doing the things Penn State worships. For example, THON was this weekend. Am I going? Yes. Am I going for the whole time? No. I support THON and it’s mission but THON weekend just isn’t for me. Same with football games. I love football but standing in the bleachers with a bunch of drunk people is not really my speed.
So what am I really saying here? I’m saying that it is our own responsibility to cultivate our creativity. I appreciate the thought behind fanfiction but fanfiction is merely taking someone else’s stories and using them for yourself. There’s typically not a huge amount of creativity involved yet fanfiction writers insist that there is. I think our culture has fallen into a similar trap. Simply by trying to define creativity we are putting a limit on it. You will always encounter people who try to smother your creativity but the choice is yours to make whether their discouragement is going to keep you from fulfilling your maximum potential. Our culture today is so self-centered and so egotistical that our eyes are not on the opportunities that could lead to a growth in creativity. Then, as soon as we act in any way that could be perceived as divergent, we are outcast. Why else do you think writers tend to be private or recluses?
As a senior in high school, the world is lying at your feet waiting for you to make the best of it. You can choose to remain stagnant and play it safe but do understand, that is your choice. Creativity comes from exploration and pushing your boundaries. Everyone is telling you which direction you could go in but you know you best. You do you. People like to remind me all the time that I’ll probably be poor for the rest of my life because all I’ll have after college is a couple degrees in English and Creative Writing but if I was looking to make money, I wouldn’t be an English major. Assess your options but don’t let the paycheck sway you. Remember, sometimes with the higher salary comes more school, which means more student debts. And friends, sorry, but Bernie probably isn’t going to get his policies in place in time to save you. Do what you want to do because you do not want college to be the best four years of your life. You want college to be the beginning and the benchmark for the best years of your life.
Now, as for Penn State, I’m not saying that we don’t have problems but which educational institution is perfect? I agree that we idolize the school a bit too much at times but what you do after realizing your disillusionment is up to you. Transfer or be miserable: it’s up to you. I wear Penn State clothes because I am proud to be a Nittany Lion and I’m proud to represent Penn State Club Powerlifting, not because Joe Paterno told me to. The expectations here are high but they’re not unreachable. If you were accepted to Penn State its because the school recognized the potential in you to flourish here.
Don’t come to Penn State because of THON and football, those are just thirteen weekends out of the whole year. Come to Penn State because you hold yourself to a high standard and demand a quality education and because you want to achieve greatness. Come to Penn State because it is where you’ll meet your bridesmaids and your best man. I’m not saying that it will be effortless. You will have to work to find those people and you’ll have to work hard for Dean’s List (and sometimes even that won’t be hard enough). It will be so worth it though years down the line when you bump into someone on the subway and find out that they went to Penn State and you instantly feel like you’re best friends with that person. Don’t worry, you’ll still find the time for some Netflix and chill. You’ll just do it at 2am following a volleyball game in Rec Hall and you’ll order some Pokey Stix or Insomnia to keep you company.