The apocalypse is nearing its end as the zombies have taken over the human race. Over the weekend, lots of students engaged in the Resident Life’s sponsored Human vs. Zombies game to prove they could survive the infection. Hosted by student, Gregory DiFrancia, the fun did not begin until 8 p.m. on Friday night. By then, all humans were equipped and ready to run, jump, hide, and escape the wrath of the first zombie.

Humans vs. Zombies began with one chosen zombie who was re- leased 15 minutes after the pregame, which allowed humans the chance to practice their aim with marshmallows and battle balls. Afterwards, all participants were allowed to arm themselves with Nerf guns to protect themselves from the vicious zombie. This OZ (original zombie) was Maya Hamah who tactfully approached the humans by the safe area of South Hall first. From then on, the outbreak spread faster.

Being restricted from the safe areas of the academic, resident, and cafeteria buildings, the zombies maneuvered their way around to catch any living with the hopes of collecting the brain cards held by the humans. To survive the weekend, each zombie needed to get their hungry hands on five brain cards each day. Otherwise, they would drop dead and be removed from the game.

Once the OZ was unleashed, she had to be cautious while on the hunt for flesh because Nerf bullets could paralyze a zombie for fifteen minutes. However, any free zombie tagged a human to start the transformation that also took 15 minutes to become fully infected. In other words, the more zombies the greater the apocalypse.

Several players enjoyed the ac- tivity greatly as humans as Brenden Nelson, a freshman from South Hall, explains, “I was paranoid, but I had fun!” He was one among many who continued the weekend avoiding the virus at all cost. Even as a newly infected zombie stood paralyzed next to him, he waited until the fifteen minutes concluded, only to shoot him again to remain still for additional time.

Not all humans found the infection so terrifying. Some, like Bria Marable, even admitted, “I would rather start off as a zombie because it’s more fun.”

Another human turned zombie, Kirsten Bordell, added, “Taking somebody’s card was like a little prize.”

However, DiFrancia hopes all humans and zombies have the same, if not a better experience than he did after participating twice last year.

His involvement last year was “awesome” and running the event this year should complete the purpose of “getting people to run around and let off some steam” in light of the holidays.

There may even be another virus spreading in the Spring, as well, which should provide enough time to prepare.

Due to the weather, the event is cancelled for tonight and most likely will be rescheduled once the weather settles down.

Academic Awards Ceremony
The annual Academic Awards Ceremony will take place on Sunday, Nov 4, 2012. The event will begin at 2 p.m. Those who were notified by postal mail are reminded that they must RSVP by Oct 29. They are also required to arrive by 1:15 p.m in the gym for the ceremony to begin promptly.

Food Advisory Board
The Food Advisory Board meets every other Wednesday at 1 P.M. Students are encouraged to attend in order to be involved in the food services provided on campus. Snacks are served.

Yammer
SGA has begun to use Yammer, the business equivalent to Facebook. This will allow students and committees to communicate and collaborate on SGA and PSU related issues. A Penn State email account is required to make use of this service. Any student is welcome to join.

At 6 years-old, Audriana Bartol suffers from a cancerous disease called neuroblastoma. Usually reserved for those in their advancing years, little Audriana already has a bucket list. On that list is one giant wish - Audriana wants to meet Katy Perry.

Audriana is a selfless child with a big heart. She has dreams just like any other 6 year-old. She wishes not for a cure to save her life but wishes only to meet her favorite singer, Katy Perry.

Since Oct. 16, there has been a campaign on Twitter to get Audriana to meet Katy. The campaign has so far been unsuccessful and needs more help. The goal is to overload Katy Perry’s Twitter account with requests to meet this special little girl. Anyone can help. Tweet the hash tag #HelpAudrianaMeetKaty to get this trending.

PSU Hazleton THON members have been a part of Audriana’s life as pen pals. The student pen pals send her care packages, visit her in the hospital, and when Audriana is able, she even attends some of THON’s events at PSU Hazleton’s campus – the 5K HazleTHON run, the Santa and Nittany Lion photo shoot, bingo, and a Bowl-A-Thon. Needless to say, she is familiar with THON and the Penn State Hazleton family.

Unfortunately, despite her involvement with THON, she is not a THON child because she receives treatment at Geisinger. All those canning weekends, all those events, and all that money raised for children with cancer – she receives none of it. THON’s proceeds go to The Four Diamonds Fund, which provides money for families battling cancer at the Hershey Medical Center. This money helps families with medical bills, gas, utilities, and most importantly, research in order to combat the disease in the future with a cure. Audrianna and her family still show their support for THON.

It is the hope of the PSU HN THON pen pals that everyone comes together for this one cause. If everyone helps, all of PSU HN’s efforts just might be able to make Audriana’s wish come true.

Fall Research Workshops are being held in the Highacres Studio of the campus library on Wednesday, Nov. 7. These workshops are of special interest to students of all backgrounds and in all disciplines.

Kicking off this year’s evening will be Dr. Chris Goguen’s SARI information session at 11 to 11:30 a.m. Scholarship and Research Integrity training is necessary for students who hope to present or publish their research. Dr. Goguen will share information on how to complete this training as well as context information needed. He can be contacted at [email protected] with any questions.

At 12:30 p.m., Jackie Ritzko will be discussing technology needed to support a research endeavor. This session is useful to any student. She will highlight the usages of Google Docs, Lynda.com and Microsoft Excel, as well as other Media Commons resources available for student use. Lynda.com is a website that allows a user to learn how to use various computer programs and software. Jackie can be contacted at [email protected] for information.

Following Jackie at 1 p.m, Val Lynn will share her wisdom as a medical librarian. Her session will highlight in advanced literature searches for students in the sciences. She will show students how to get the most out of databases such as PubMed and Biological Abstracts. She can be contacted at vag3@psu. edu for information.

Closing out the Fall Research Workshops is Shannon Richie’s session at 1:30 p.m. He will be dis- cussing advanced research concerns for students in the Humanities. Resources covered include: Lion- Search and databases like JSTOR, among others. He will consider special issues in advanced research techniques like Special and Archival collections, both at Penn State and other institutions.

All of these sessions are especially valuable to students, from those presenting at the spring research fair to those considering graduate school to those who simply wish to enhance their classroom learning.

Shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday, text messages went out to all those connected to the college’s notification system alerting students, faculty and staff Penn State Hazleton would be closed from 6 a.m. today through 11 p.m. Tuesday. All classes and activities have been cancelled and only essential personnel have been asked to report to the campus.

The campus was not alone in closing its doors due to Hurricane Sandy. Wilkes, King’s, Kutztown and Penn College of Technology were just a few of the schools that announced closures yesterday.

“I am a little worried. Monday I was supposed to get the credit card and do all the shopping for the Spanish Club’s event on Wednesday. (El Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead event)” said Cynthia Valenzuela, 19, a sophomore who hails from Las Vegas, Nev. and who has not experienced this kind of weather event before.

“I am from the desert. We would have experienced rain at the end of November maybe but it never rains like this. In Vegas, it floods bad. You will lose power but it is rare. It almost never happens.”

“When I came here, I was surprised when I went to school in the rain. I am not used to it. At home (in Vegas), if it rains, classrooms flood because there are no drainage systems.” she noted.

Lisa Hartz of the library staff said she remembered the college closing on Sept. 8 last year when Tropical Storm Lee caused all kinds of problems with rain. This storm caused the Susquehanna River to rise to record levels and cancel the Bloomsburg Fair.

Brian Bittner, emergency manager for Penn State said in a mass email there are things everyone can do to be prepared at home and at Penn State to ensure safety and the continued operations of the university.

Bittner advises everyone to monitor the weather situation to ensure the most up-to-date forecast for their area. The latest weather information is available at http:// www.weather.gov/philadelphia (eastern Pennsylvania), http://www.weather.gov/statecollege (central Pennsylvania).

If anyone does not already sub- scribe to the PSUTXT emergency notification system, sign up now to receive text message alerts via cell phone: http://live.psu.edu/psutxt.

Information related to the storm and Penn State operations at any campus will be communicated to the public, if necessary, via local media outlets and social media platforms, such as the campus home page, Facebook and Twitter. PSUTXT alerts for all Penn State campuses are sent to Twitter, and can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/psutxt.

Students should contact resident assistants if they have any questions regarding the storm. As a reminder, while the campus still has power students should make sure all cell phones and laptops are charged.