Whaddup FOTO!
I’m Josh and I’m a PSU/FOTO graduate from the Class of 2019. I hope everyone’s Zoom University careers are off to fantastic starts, but if not, I want to reassure you that it only gets worse from here. To the new members – you’ve made an absolutely dangerous decision joining this organization, but as some of the greats say: we’re here for a good time, not a long time. I hope you guys have started to reach out and make connections with some people in the organization and started to learn how awesome our families are. The first few meetings are always overwhelming with a lot of info being tossed at you, but before long things should start to make sense.
But that’s kind of the best thing about FOTO – a lot of things don’t make sense, and that’s totally okay. Some of my greatest memories with this org make approximately zero sense. Here are a few chaotically amazing ones that I always like to share for the culture:
- Making JoeCo attend a group abs & core workout that took place on a paddleboard in the middle of the pool;
- Seeing a grown man (Ford – maybe I’m being too generous) wear a full Batman costume and hallucinate for 12 hours straight during THON;
- Participating in a legendary GroupMe night where Ally Blackmon explained to us that she was fully prepared to live an entire semester in a van;
- Watching Logan be a better athlete at age 10 than 96% of FOTO’s members;
- Listening to Kilker flex the golden pipes in a beautiful public rendition of High School Musical’s “We’re Breaking Free”;
- Pretty sure someone had to wear a diaper around campus for a full day? Idk I’m losing count
And while forming memories with your friends is great, the aspect that differentiates FOTO from just about every other THON organization is our families. We are blessed to be able to do everything with them. We go to Logan & Lucas’s birthday parties. We get to see Megan run her 5k’s. We get drenched by the Tramel boys and their water guns. Our families went through – and still go through— some tough days that the rest of us won’t ever have to experience. But building these relationships with our families and watching these children grow over the years is truly a feeling that can’t be explained.
FOTO Rookies: get involved as early & as often as you possibly can. You’re gonna make friends, meet the families, and have the best college experience you could imagine.
FOTO Veterans: make yourself available for any of the youngbuhls and make sure everyone feels involved and included.
This year is gonna be different, but with Kerrigan leading the pack and a Nikola Jokic look-alike in a leadership role, I am fully confident that you guys are gonna do big things this year. I hope I can safely see everyone in person soon!
