Gazette The CenTre CounTy
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Hoops hysteria
The State College Area High School girls’ basketball team is one of three in Centre County to make the PIAA Playoffs. The Lady Little Lions will face off with the WPIAL’s Mt. Lebanon in the first round./ Page 21
March 6-12, 2014
Volume 6, Issue 10
Globetrotter spreads anti-bullying message
Marion Walker to host first-ever Mini-THON to benefit boy By MARJORIE S. MILLER mmiller@centrecountygazette.com
BELLEFONTE — Tiffany Benner hopes Marion Walker Elementary School’s MiniTHON will highlight the importance of kids helping kids. Benner’s son, Noah, is a third-grader at the school, and a Four Diamonds Fund child who battled a recurrent brain tumor. Today he continues to recover. The Mini-THON will be held in his honor. Slated to begin at 12:30 p.m. on April 11 at Marion Walker, the Mini-THON will feature a variety of activities, including cookie decorating, relays and card making for patients at Penn State Hershey’s Children’s Hospital, Benner said. The event will run until 2:30 p.m.
WHY MINI-THON?
Mini-THONs, which replicate the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon on a smaller scale, donate the money raised directly to the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. Mini-THONs are held at schools across the state; more than 100 schools and 20,000 students participate in the Mini-THON program, according to THON’s website. To date, these high schools, middle schools and elementary schools have raised more than $10 million. During 2012-2013 Mini-THONs raised more than $2 million, according to the website. “Mini-THONs provide an opportunity for students to develop leadership skills and learn the idea of philanthropy and community service,” said Kristen Masengarb, associate director of the Four Diamonds Fund. “The program works to empower, inspire and activate youth in the effort to conquer childhood cancer.” Faculty, parents, students and the general public are encouraged to attend Marion Walker’s event, Benner said. Mini-THON, Page 4
Gazette file photo
LET’S DANCE: Marion Walker Elementary will host its first-ever Mini-THON. In this file photo, students at Mount Nittany Middle School took part in their own Mini-THON last year. Opinion ............................ 7 Health & Wellness ......... 8, 9
FREE COPY
By CHRIS MORELLI editor@centrecountygazette.com
JOHN HOVENSTINE/Special to The Gazette
INNOVATIVE IDEA: Eric Sauder and Serena Fulton are the co-directors and hosts at New Leaf Initiative, a shared workspace located in the State College Municipal Building.
Coworking non-profit offers collaborative hub for community By NATHAN PIPENBERG
correspondent@centrecountygazette.com
STATE COLLEGE — It’s a common sight: a downtown coffee shop or meeting place full of students and professionals working side-by-side, headphones on and laptops open. But it’s also common knowledge that many of these people aren’t interacting with one another, and Serena Fulton, a 2013 Penn State graduate, wants to change that. “You can go into a coffee shop and be working next to someone, but have no idea what they’re doing,” Fulton said. Enter New Leaf Initiative, a fledgling non-profit of which Fulton is co-director. Consider New Leaf, which recently opened in a new 2,600-square-foot location in the State College Municipal Building on South Allen Street, the coffee shop’s evolved form. New Leaf is one of the newest of over 3,000 coworking establishments in the United States. The coworking business model hinges upon members paying for access to Internet, desk space and meeting rooms. To date, coworking offices have been most successful in urban centers where office space is hard to find, and most popular among freelancers, entrepreneurs and creative-class professionals
Education .................. 10, 11 Community ............... 12-15
Centre Spread ........... 16, 17 Sports ......................... 18-22
who can often work from just a laptop and backpack. Fulton and Eric Sauder, New Leaf’s other co-director, are hoping their particular brand of collaborative coworking — New Leaf is non-profit, most offices are not — will prove that the concept can take off in a college town as well. Like other coworking offices, New Leaf sells desk space. A full membership, which costs $450 per year, offers a private desk and access to meeting rooms for private use. A half membership, for $250, offers a “hot desk” — one that will be used by other members throughout the week. In addition to memberships, New Leaf also offers partnerships, which offer all-day Internet access, and space for the general public, who are offered one hour of Internet access every day. Paying partners and the public can also rent the meeting rooms, for $15 and $25 per hour, respectively. New Leaf is open to members only from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., and open to members, partners and the public from 12 p.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. Unlike other coworking enterprises, New Leaf aims to make a cooperative vision a core part of the experience, one Hub, Page 3 Arts & Entertainment 23, 24 What’s Happening .... 25, 26
STATE COLLEGE — It’s tough for Chris “Handles” Franklin to hide. At 6-foot-2, the man stands out in a crowd. Franklin doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he’s used to being the center of attention. As a member of the Harlem Globetrotters, Franklin often wears the signature red, white and blue warm-up suit whenever he makes an appearance as a member of the famous basketball team. On Feb. 27, Franklin walked into the Corl Street Elementary School gymnasium in State College spinning a basketball on his finger. In a matter of minutes, he had the 250 students there eating out of his hand.
CHRIS MORELLI/The Gazette
SKILLS DRILL: Chris “Handles” Franklin of the Harlem Globetrotters shows Corl Street Elementary School student Jaden Mitchell how to perform a trick with the basketball during a visit to the school last week.
Sure, there were basketball tricks. And, yes, there was a lot of interaction with the students. There were even some prizes. But that’s not why Franklin was there. He was there to spread an anti-bullying message through a program titled the “ABCs of Bullying Prevention.” The short assembly focuses on action, bravery and compassion. “We’re giving kids the tools to help fight bullying,” Franklin told the media shortly before the assembly began. “We try to use our skills with the basketball to help convey a positive message. We hope Globetrotter, Page 6
Group Meetings ............. 27 Puzzles ............................ 28
Business ..................... 29, 30 Classified ........................ 31