Dear ABBA,

We stand TODAY! We would like to introduce our three dancers: Carson Pedaci, Justin

Kim, and Jocelyn Hibbard. Justin is a 4th year trombone in Blue Band. Jocelyn is a second year piccolo in Blue Band. Carson is a third year mellophone in Blue Band and currently our drum major. WE ARE so excited for them to have the opportunity to participate in THON 2024 in such a meaningful way. Please see the following three links if you are interested in donating directly to their individual participant DonorDrive pages.

Jocelyn

Carson

You can also donate directly to Band Together’s DonorDrive page!

Just like last year, we have the amazing privilege of hosting an adventure for the THON Explorer’s program. We have three families signed up, but have an open door policy for more families to come be part of our adventure. THON families will be coming to the Blue Band Building and getting to spend a day as a Penn State athletic band member. Members of Blue Band, Pride of the Lions pep bands (fall and spring), and Hockey Band will be present to provide an immersive experience for families and kids.

As always, we appreciate your support and donations. Our organization is successful because of donors like you. This year, we hope to surpass last year’s fundraising total of $32,000. All proceeds benefit THON. Please consider donating this weekend!

FTK!

Sincerely,

Justin Kim and Katie Baker

Overall Chairs, Band Together Benefitting THON

Welcome to our newest Board members:

John Rohrbach

Jim Westlake

Curt Harler

A huge thank you to these board members who have fulfilled their two consecutive terms:

Becky Burley (Communications chair)

Matt Gregory (Secretary)

Aaron Magano (Membership chair)

The rest of this year's board members are as follows:

Elizabeth Beckman - Nemenz

Brett Butler - Historian / Golf Tournament Committee

Rachel Harvey

John Kovalchik

Larry Parko

Mark Poblete

Charles Robey - Secretary

Kevin Sobalcik - Interim Homecoming Chair

Aaron Terranova

Marv Walton

Jim Westlake - Performances

Lynn Yingling - A&A Alumni Board chair

Non-voting members include

Randy Seely - President (president@psualumnibands.org)

Doug Czekaj - Past Treasuer - Accounts Payable

Judy Seely - Treasurer 

If you have any topics of discussion you'd like the board to address, send an email to either info@psualumnibands.org or president@psualumnibands.org). 

Board meetings are held at least quarterly - in person at least once a year and virtually. We are always looking for volunteers who are not on the board, including for the Golf Tournament in June and Homecoming in the fall. There are many opportunities to serve, so please reach out if you are interested.

By CURT HARLER

The Penn State Nittany Lions made their first appearance in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the Blue Band rocked the city.

For current Blue Band members, the trip was different in many ways. “Performing in an indoor NFL stadium was a new and exciting experience that proved to be very different from performing in Beaver Stadium,” says Blue Band Vice President Cara Arnoldi. She is the Band’s president-elect. 

The Blue Band’s performance pre-game that afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was every bit as classy as the car. Marching out for pre-game was – quite literally – breathtaking. “I was thinking what I always think: "Yay! Oh, my goodness! It’s pregame time!" and "Man, I'm going to be breathing heavily after this one!" Arnoldi recalls. Since Blue Band did not have time to stop for the National Anthem or the Alma Mater, pre-game was a fast-paced and exciting performance. 

Blue Band President Evan Linkimer, Beaver, PA agrees about the focus. “While each pregame is unique in its own sense, from my perspective performing a pregame at the Peach Bowl or Rose Bowl is not very different from performing in Beaver Stadium,” he feels. “We’re all so focused on marching our spots and hitting every note and step just right to show that, whether home or away, the Blue Band puts on an excellent show.” Blue Band members agree that the atmosphere in Mercedes Benz Stadium was unreal. “Seeing the size of the stadium from the perspective of the field for the first time truly took my breath away and let me appreciate the opportunity of where I was,” says Linkimer. He is a fourth year mellophone player majoring in international politics.

The trip was the first ever to a Peach Bowl for the Nittany Lions. Although the Lions lost to the Ole Miss Rebels 38-25, the Blue Band went home winners.

It is not quite true that every thoroughfare in Atlanta has the word “peach” in somewhere. Still, Blue Band members were just about as ubiquitous, including a gig at the Aquarium and the pep rallies. Linkimer says the Peach Bowl brought excitement with a new city to explore and Bowl events to participate in.

“Performing within Mercedes Benz Stadium was a unique experience that not even the Rose Bowl can provide,” he says.

The audience engaged with the Blue Band’s halftime selections. The HipHop show had tunes that resonated with alumni and students. There was something for everyone in the stadium. “Even when performing our stand tunes, the ‘student section’ appeared to enjoy our selections,” Arnoldi says. A third-year baritone from Chalfont, PA, she has a dual major in communications and political science through the Schreyer Honors College.

“The crowd loved our halftime show,” Linkimer agrees. Traveling with its HipHop Show to the Peach Bowl allowed the Blue Band to showcase an excellent display of its musical abilities. “The crowd seemed shocked at the power and intensity of our music and the stadium allowed our sound to take over the audience,” he remembers.

One memorable part of the trip for Arnoldi was watching Blue Band Drum Major Carson Pedaci rock a dance battle with a band member from the Pride of the South who happened to be the Homecoming King from Ole Miss. “It's fun to be able to engage with the other team's band members, even from across the stadium,” she says.

“Whenever I perform in any setting, I am always grateful for the opportunity, thinking of my parents and sister watching,” Arnoldi says. Her parents played Sousaphone and trumpet in the Blue Band; her sister played mellophone, and a younger sibling will try out next year for Blue Band. Linkimer, too, is a second-generation Blue Band member.

The trip home was epic – the flight was disrupted due to problems with the passenger manifest followed by mechanical issues. Shades of the five-hour delay on the way back from last year’s Rose Bowl! This time, the Band had to spend an extra night in Atlanta and did not get home to Harrisburg until around 8pm on New Year's Day.

Mark the weekend of September 28 on your calendar for the Alumni Blue Band’s 2024 Homecoming events. Typically, there is an ABBA gig at the ice cream social at the Hintz Alumni Center on Friday afternoon and the parade Friday night. The game is on Saturday. This year, the Nittany Lions will take on Illinois for its Homecoming game on the 28^th.

Stay tuned for details on all the activities – including an opportunity to get rid of your old, yellowing ABBA jacket and buy a new one…along with other cool ABBA merchandise (there might even be some 125^th Anniversary items…stay tuned!).

Written by Curt Harler

The Nittany Lions football team will hold its annual Blue-White inter-squad game on Saturday, April 13, 2024. Admission is free. A group of Alumni Blue Band members will provide music and excitement for the A&A Tailgate crowd. Bring your horn and get a preview of Coach Franklin’s 2024 squad. Find all the details on our event calendar.

The 2023 Homecoming Parade’s “Most Enthusiastic Award” went to the Penn State Alumni Blue Band. ABBA President Randy Seely (left) displays the certificate which came with a cash award. Those funds will be donated to the Blue Band’s Legacy Fund.  Joining Randy at the post-parade presentation, and still exuding enthusiasm, were Curt Harler and Scott Anderson.

Support the Touch of blue Program Fund

Help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Touch of Blue! The purpose of this fund, established by Beth Christina, is to enrich the Penn State Blue Band by providing program support for the Touch of Blue Majorettes. Funding will provide resources to the whole troupe and will be available for Dr. Drane and his team to spend as needed.

 Click here to give!

Dear ABBA,

We want to thank you for all of your support during the Dream Forward campaign that wrapped up in the beginning of November to celebrate 100 days until THON 2023! We had a successful fundraising campaign and are extremely grateful for your donations and support. There will be more matching opportunities in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, November 29th, Band Together would like to invite you to participate in Giving Tuesday! Once again, starting at 8am, every third donation up to $100 will be matched 1:1 until funds run out. There will also be a specific alumni matching hour, which should be communicated to alumni by THON directly. Please use the link below to donate! We thank you in advance for your support on Giving Tuesday. https://donate.thon.org/?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=3015

November was a busy but successful month for our organization. We look to get more involved with our families this year, and we were pleased to be able to put together family mail for our families. In addition to sending cards, we packed up some PSU accessories and notes to send before the Maryland game. Since our families are often unable to make a trip to University Park to be with us, we wanted to send them something that made them feel like they could be there with us. We are grateful for the opportunity to support our families in any way we can. 

In November we also hosted our annual fundraiser called “Coin Wars,” where members compete by rank in the band to raise money for THON. For each rank, members can donate coins that count towards their total, but other ranks can sabotage them by placing bills in another rank’s container. In past years, this fundraiser was successful, but we never imagined how successful it was going to be this year. We raised over $700 in coins and bills combined, all of which is donated directly to THON. It was a lot of fun to watch people interact and engage with this 3 week long fundraiser. 

After an emotional senior day and our last day in Beaver Stadium for the season, a group of 15 Blue Band and Band Together members got together to participate in the recycling clean up efforts in Beaver Stadium. It was great to spend time together. We want to thank the Sustainability Institute at Penn State for this opportunity.

It was a great month, but now we are looking forward to the upcoming Winter Break and the few months left leading up to THON 2023! We have a long way to go to reach our fundraising goals, but we are off to an incredible start. Thank you for your continued support of Band Together Benefitting THON!

Sincerely,

Justin Kim & Katie Baker

2022-2023 Band Together Co-Overall Chairs