The Penn Stater Magazine

05/30/2026

After the tragic death of his girlfriend, Penn State grad student Matthew Hollingham found motivation in his grief. Starting May 31, he’ll embark on a grueling undertaking inspired by the life she lived, and the impact she might have made on the world. He’s mapped out a monster swim-run-bike route that will cover 3,545 miles from Sweden to Morocco in 61 days and, he hopes, raise $250,000 for two charities: the international nonprofit Save the Children, and the Centre County Youth Service Bureau in State College. Read the feature on Hollingham and his “Triathlon from the Arctic Circle to Africa” in the March/April ’26 issue of the Penn Stater magazine, where you can also find information on how to follow Hollingham’s journey and donate to his fundraiser and to the Lovisa Arnesson-Cronhamre scholarship fund through Penn State Global.

After the tragic death of his girlfriend, Penn State grad student Matthew Hollingham found motivation in his grief. This summer, he’ll embark on a grueling undertaking inspired by the life she lived, and the impact she might have made on the world.

05/27/2026

Happy 25th birthday to the Hintz Family Alumni Center! Read about its history and view photos from construction to present:

Since it opened in 2001, the Hintz Family Alumni Center has served as a campus home for all Penn State alumni. Built next to, and designed to complement, the historic University House, the center was brought to fruition by Penn Staters who respected the university’s history and shared a vision for...

05/26/2026

Jayden Davis doesn’t like to see opposing base runners reach second base, but if they’re getting a little too confident with their lead, the Nittany Lion second baseman knows there’s an opportunity to send them back to the dugout. Here are his tips on how to execute a clean pickoff play: https://pennstatermag.com/sports/chalk-talk-jayden-davis

05/21/2026

Inspired by the growing number of Penn State students successfully launching themselves online as content creators, Bellisario College of Communications assistant teaching professor Bill Zimmerman ’16 MEd Edu designed Comm 255: Digital Content and the Creator Economy. The class gives students the tools to develop novel ideas, deliver value through digital content, build and monetize an audience, and set themselves up for a future career or a profitable side hustle. Read more:https://pennstatermag.com/comm255

05/18/2026

Mariano Lazzerini started swimming when he was three years old, and at first, he wasn't a fan. But then he got good. Read about his path from Chile to Penn State, where he became the 2024 Big Ten breaststroke champion, and about what he likes to do out of the pool:

The 2024 Big Ten breaststroke champion dishes on his pre-meet routine, which class he had to grind through, and his Olympic hopes.

05/15/2026

According to our associate editor, Jeff Rice, the game of golf "isn’t about competing against your opponent or the course or even your handicap index, but about understanding and improving—and forgiving—yourself. It’s focusing on the shot at hand, accepting the outcome, then starting the process all over again." In golf as in life?

Life lessons from a lifelong game.

05/13/2026

For nearly anyone who ever played in a college band that managed to get off the ground, however briefly, the legacy is just that: the stories, memories of a shared experience, of road trips squeezed into vans of dubious roadworthiness, of nights spent creating something, however fleeting, filling a smoky bar or a sweaty basement with noise, motion, and life. A few manage to stick together beyond graduation, at least for a while. What doesn’t happen—what seems almost impossible—is a band getting the chance to pick up, after nearly three decades, almost exactly where it left off. For Ethel Meserve, “it was a pipe dream, until it wasn’t.” Catch up on the legendary-to-some State College indie rock collective enjoying the unlikeliest of second acts:

State College indie band Ethel Meserve broke up nearly 30 years ago, a premature end for a promising group. Now, with a handful of reunion shows under their belts and a catalog reissue in the works, the band members are making the most of an unexpected second chance.

05/12/2026

Mineral engineering professor Thandazile Moyo noticed how much electronic waste—cellphones, chargers, computers— there is just lying everywhere. Because all of it contains metal that is 100% recyclable, Moyo began exploring how to recover these metals from discarded electronic items. Read our Q&A:

Thandazile Moyo studies methods to mine precious metals from tech waste.

05/08/2026

Since 2021, Penn State has partnered with the borough of State College on an e-bike ride-share program with SPIN, providing students and others with a hybrid mode of transport around University Park. Some stats:

TOTAL NUMBER OF BIKES: 300 on University Park campus
TOP SPEED: 15 miles per hour with electric assist
COST PER RIDE: 30 cents per minute after $1 unlocking fee

Illustrations of a person riding an e-bike, a closeup of an e-bike speedometer, and a person using an app to purchase an e-bike ride, by Joel Kimmel.

05/06/2026

Fifteen years after a traumatic brain injury sustained during football practice claimed his life, Derek Sheely’s family honors his memory through a foundation in his name that raises awareness of the dangers of concussions, through scholarships at Penn State and Frostburg State given to students who exemplify the same leadership and service qualities he did, through a powerful memoir his mother published last fall, and through research funded by an NCAA grant and led by concussion experts at Penn State. Read more:

A Penn State family turned a devastating loss into a sustained effort to educate football families on the dangers of concussions.