The image above is a picture of my sister's cheer bow that she would wear during football games while she was a cheerleader in high school. We found it last week since tonight kicks off the start of the high school football season in our hometown. That means that my family and I now have to prepare for another new first. Our first football season without my sister. My brave little brother will proudly represent our family on the field this season, as we all continue to pull through this grief process with a sense of resiliency.

In the midst of preparing for this next new first without my sister, I saw that the new Penn State president was interviewed this week (https://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/penn-state-president-neeli-bendapudi-acknowledges-prominent-issues-ahead-of-fall-semester/article_2b8d91d6-2421-11ed-b971-cb33a741ea7a.html In the article, the topic of Julia Cipparulo, the Penn State alum who is calling Penn State out on its tendency to not properly address the deaths of its students came up (https://onwardstate.com/2022/07/01/the-story-of-julia-cipparulo-her-motives-for-allegedly-vandalizing-penn-state/ The response to this topic coming up fell short in my opinion. When the topic of student deaths came up that was a time to show some empathy for the students and their families, as well as for Julia who has bravely opened up about her own traumatic experiences. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I share this with you to further illustrate that Penn State continues to perpetuate a culture that downplays the traumatic events that have affected its students. In our case, my sister's traumatic experience resulted in her death, so I am particularly bitter when it comes to seeing the response to this topic.

As always, we want to thank everyone for their support. We also want to thank the parents of the freshman class who have reached out, as we also want all students to be safe at college this year. Please continue to sign and share this petition. Thank you!