Penn State hosts its annual Best of Penn State Carnival

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The smell of popcorn filled the air on a warm afternoon on Oct. 11 as Penn State hosted its annual homecoming carnival for the entire community to enjoy.

The Best of Penn State Carnival took over the HUB Lawn and featured many different activities and student-run organizations that allowed students to spend some time in the sun.

While this was just one of many homecoming events, the main goal stayed the same: engagement.

“The mission is to celebrate tradition and instill pride in all members in our community,” Pride Events director Jess Muller said. “We try to engage as many Penn Staters as we possibly can…and the carnival is another way to do just that.”

Ethan Devenney (first-year) attended the BoPS carnival for the first time.

“There’s a lot of things to do,” he said.

Devenney said his favorite part was the inflatable surfboard ride. “I think I did pretty good on the surfboard…It was fun,” he said.

That was just one of the fun activities they had, but there were also yard games like corn hole and spikeball.

There was also a bicep curling competition, but the stuff-a-plush seemed to be the biggest hit.

Pride Events captain Henry Sabine said they had roughly 500 bears that students could stuff themselves. The only catch was that they had to interact with the other activities in order to get one.

The Penn State community can look forward to a few more days of fun before the homecoming week comes to a close.

Sabine said the best part about his role is seeing everyone get involved.

“It's a really great group of people who love the school,” he said. “It is an awesome way to spread our pride for the university this way.”

Carlin Whalen is a third-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email cjw6426@psu.edu.