What’s up everybody! I had to read these last year so I’ll try to keep this short and sweet.
For those who don’t know me, I’m Connor. I was in FOTO for two years and served as one of the two AFO chairs last year. I transferred into Penn State my junior year knowing almost nobody, and joining FOTO allowed me to find a great group of people where I truly belonged. I ended up making some lifelong friends and memories, and it was by far the most rewarding part of my college experience.
To anyone who's not just tuning this part of the meeting out and waiting for the Kahoot, my biggest piece of advice is to get more involved and go to as much as you can. Bake sales, ribbon sales, alt funds, retreats, IM football, and Thursday meetings (rip 234) are all great opportunities to get closer to a group of awesome people and raise money towards an amazing cause. If nothing else though, go to family visits. If you're still on the fence or don’t get the hype behind THON, nothing will make you feel more connected to the cause than meeting our incredible families who directly benefit from the work you put in throughout the year.
I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but you get out of FOTO what you put into it and it is never too late to get involved. I spent my first semester in FOTO sitting in the back of Monday meetings and not going to anything else, and naturally I didn’t gain anything out of the experience. However, once I got involved, I was immediately welcomed into the FOTO fam, ended up on the board in like 4 months, and in a little over a year was screaming the line dance at the top of my lungs and going to war with Trilogy surrounded by some of my best friends.
So, if you haven’t already, introduce yourself to any of the lovely people sitting in the front of the room and start showing up to things. THON is the best part of Penn State, and there’s no better way to participate in it than with FOTO.
To all the returning members: love you, proud of you, keep up the good work, and I can’t wait to see what you accomplish this year. I better see all of you at Barnaby’s.
Stay boomin,
C4
