Two World Campus students from Connecticut and Canada won tickets to the Penn State–Temple football game and will carry the World Campus banner during halftime ceremonies marking All-University Day
Penn State World Campus students Todd Litchfield from Farmington, Conn., and Jay Athia from Markham, Ontario, Canada, will make their first visit to University Park campus this weekend after winning free tickets to the Penn State–Temple University football game and being selected to carry the World Campus banner during halftime ceremonies marking All-University Day.
Litchfield and Athia were selected by World Campus to be the banner carriers because they are the traveling the farthest among World Campus contest winners.
During the annual All-University Day, students from all Penn State campuses, including World Campus, are invited to participate in activities at University Park. World Campus will host a tailgate from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday at Outreach Building in Innovation Park for World Campus students. The All-University Day Tailgate, open to all students, will be held from noon to 2:30 p.m. at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on Saturday.
For Litchfield, who is 40, winning tickets to the game was "the perfect excuse for a getaway." A World Campus student since 2006, Litchfield is working on a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership degree, taking two courses a semester.
A communications dispatcher for a regional police, fire and emergency medical services dispatch center covering two communities, Litchfield works on his course work during downtime between his full-time job and his other responsibilities as a rescue captain in the local fire department, elected official on the Farmington Zoning Commission, president of the Farmington employees' union and community volunteer. "It can be a challenge to fit in education," he said.
Athia, who lives north of Toronto, said, "Getting the chance to carry the World Campus banner during the football game made winning the football tickets even better." A student in the online Master of Professional Studies in Community and Economic Development program, Athia, age 24, works part time in a retail position for a wireless carrier and is active with a community youth group, where he organizes events for young people.
Athia chose Penn State's online master’s degree, because "it gave me the ability to control my schedule. I do a lot of family and community work." Athia, who is engaged to be married, added, "Being online isn't easy. You have to balance life and education and have the motivation to log in every day and complete class tasks."
For more information on Penn State World Campus programs, visit http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/ online.
Penn State World Campus specializes in adult online education, delivering more than 70 of Penn State's most highly regarded graduate, undergraduate and professional education programs through convenient online formats. Founded in 1998, Penn State World Campus is the University's 25th campus serving more than 9,600 students in all 50 states and 62 countries. World Campus is part of Penn State Outreach, the largest unified outreach organization in American higher education. Penn State Outreach serves more than 5 million people each year, delivering more than 2,000 programs to people in all 67 Pennsylvania counties, all 50 states and 114 countries worldwide.