Aug. 22, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; August 22, 2015 -- The 2015-16 Penn State sports season began Friday with the No. 6 women's soccer team winning its opener and on Saturday the Nittany Lions held their New Student-Athlete Orientation.
New student-athletes and parents attended the event, which was held in the recently renovated and expanded HUB-Robeson Center, as Move-In activities continue prior to the start of classes on Monday. The orientation included separate parent and student-athlete sessions, led by Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour and Charmelle Green, Senior Associate AD Student-Athlete Performance, Health and Welfare, followed by a combined session with three speakers that have varied Penn State experiences.
Saturday night, the students were scheduled to attend the President's New Student Convocation in the Bryce Jordan Center.
There are approximately 260 new student-athletes getting acclimated for their first semester on campus. During the orientation, they heard from Barbour, College of Communications Senior Lecturer Steve Manuel, Sandy Barbour and Adam Taliaferro, a former Nittany Lion football student-athlete.
Barbour welcomed the new students, challenged them to always keep academic success at the forefront and to take leadership positions with their teams and on campus.
"You are here to get your degrees," Barbour said. "I believe in the power of Penn State. You can have it all at Penn State, but it will not be easy. Please know that you are not alone. I'm challenging every one of you to lead and to look out for each other."
"The word `can't' is not a part of your vocabulary from this day forward," said Manuel, who returned to his alma mater in 1996 as a lecturer and University photographer. "There's something special about this place, but there are no shortcuts."
Taliaferro's inspirational story is known across Nittany Nation and the world. He suffered a broken neck during the fifth game of his true freshman season in 2000 and was given a three percent chance of walking again by medical personnel. Taliaferro would have nothing of the devastating diagnosis and incredibly he was walking again five months later. He returned to campus to resume classes during the 2001 fall semester and graduated in 2005. Three years later he earned his J.D. degree from the Rutgers School of Law-Camden.
"You've picked the best place you could be," said Taliaferro, who works for Bristol Myers Squibb and is a member of the New Jersey General Assembly. "I learned there's bumps in the road; things happen."
Student-athletes Payton Banks (Nittany Lion basketball), Nicole Medvitz (women's gymnastics) and SAAB President Meaghan Coleman (women's golf) also participated in the New Student-Athlete Orientation, which ended with the singing of the Penn State Alma Mater.
The Nittany Lions' sports schedule continues Sunday when the women's soccer team hosts Loyola-Marymount at 12 p.m. on Jeffrey Field. On Friday, August 28, the field hockey, men's soccer and No. 1 women's volleyball teams open their 2015 campaigns and women's soccer remains at home. Check GoPSUsports.com for all team schedules.