April 7, 2015
By Sean Donnelly, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - When Gizelle Studevent first started Penn State Athletes Take Action, even she may not have envisioned the type of impact it would have today on the Centre County community.
Otherwise known as PSATA, the mission of these highly dedicated student-athletes is to educate the youth of Centre County about the dangers of bullying. To reduce bullying behavior, Penn State student-athletes visit local schools and interact with the students.
Studevent, a former Lady Lion basketball player, was terribly bullied when she was in middle school. As a standout athlete, she wanted to combine her athletic career with her passion for anti-bullying. Studevent visited the Centre County Women's Resource Center with a mission to work with middle school kids and bring awareness to bullying prevention.
Mt. Nittany Middle School has been the beneficiary of PSATA's goodwill for the past three years. Due to the growth of the organization, Park Forest Middle School was added this year.
During the academic year, there are a total of six events held by the PSATA program. To start off, student-athletes host a kick-off assembly in the fall. During the school year, there are four interactive multimedia lessons led student athletes. At the end of the year, athletes host a celebration event with the entire middle school.
Interested student-athletes have to complete training sessions in order to participate in the program. Jody Althouse, Director of Outreach and Communications at the Women's Resource Center worked with PSATA since the organization's inception, and has continued her involvement ever since. Althouse facilitates the training for the student-athletes before each academic year.
"I think it's so great for Penn State," said Althouse. "Penn State does so many wonderful things. It's great for the middle school. It's great for the students. Teachers, administrators and parents get excited. It's a win-win for the entire community."
What started as a small project has continued to grow truly into something special. In 2012-`13, 26 student-athletes were trained for sixth grade lessons. This year, 105 athletes signed on to join PSATA. At this year's ending event, over 500 middle school students packed into an auditorium for an assembly to hear 90 of their role models talk about their experiences with bullying.
"As much as I love the big assemblies and big events, I think the casual lunches and meet-and-greets are so powerful," said Althouse. "It shows how accepting the athletes are to the kids. They talk with them, sit next to them, they ask them questions. It really shows that there is a real relationship there. When they come into the classrooms every month, the kids are so excited."
In the name of anti-bullying, student-athletes come for training from 7-10 p.m., or in the early mornings. When visiting the schools, they arrive by 7:45 a.m., often staying late in the afternoon. Balancing classes, practice and other responsibilities is worth the time when doing something this important. An estimated 160,000 students miss school each day due to fear of attack or intimidation.
This past year was the first time that the organization was co-chaired by two presidents. Alicia Popescu and Brooke Piccione, who are both senior Lionettes, succeeded their mentor Jessie Maynor.
"The co-presidents Brooke and Alicia are outstanding," said Althouse. "It really is an amazing group of athletes. They recruited all the athletes, do all the behind the scenes and the nitty gritty work. They're the brains behind it and are both so even-tempered and lovely to work with. They're wonderful."
In it's first year PSATA started in the middle of the year. Last year was the first year of actively recruiting as many student-athletes as possibly.
"It was definitely a learning experience," said Piccicone. "We doubled in size, even though it's hard to maintain that consistency because of student-athletes traveling schedules. Our pool from last year to pull from jumped from 20 to 90 people."
The dedication that student-athletes have to this organization is not driven through force or seeking incentive. The entire program is 100 percent voluntary and the athletes receive little recognition. In order to continue their work, PSATA will need more funding and support if they want to continue to reach more students.
"It's truly their hearts giving their time," said Piccicone. "We would like it to be more established, and to have 120 to 130 student-athletes show up. We would like to see even more schools involved."
Althouse is also excited to see the potential of PSATA's growth reach new heights.
"If we had unlimited time and funding, we can see it growing," said Althouse. "It would be great to see it at every middle school in Centre County. We hope it gets bigger but we have to have more staffing and funding."
Co-chair Alicia Popescu has seen the difference in how the children act toward each other. This past week, she went to Park Forest and facilitated a lesson, which resulted in one student reaching out to another who felt lonely at lunch.
"The dawn of this organization was at a tough time for Penn State Athletics," said Popescu. "This is the heart of athletics - the athletes. Not only are they so talented at their sport, but they are so caring in giving back to the community. This is a big time commitment. It's year-long, and these people are really dedicated."
"It embodies the line that `this is Penn State culture," said Piccicone. "This is us working together and putting our hearts into something. At the end of the day, this is so rewarding and I hope it gets the credit and the recognition it deserves."
Considering the passion that Penn State student-athletes have in giving back to their community, that recognition may be right over the horizon.