Hey FOTO Fam!!!
I’ve been waiting for this one. Not like happily waiting because I feel old, but also like I’ve been
looking forward to it since 2017.
My name is Erin Hines and I was in FOTO all 4 years I was at Penn State. I was lucky enough
to be Member Relations chair my sophomore year and Family Relations chair my junior year
before I was shipped off to Hershey for senior year :/ (nursing school stinks) I was also so so so
lucky to dance in THON 2020 with 6 of my best friends (2 you guys already met)!
For all of the new members listening right now thinking this will sound repetitive, please stick it
out with me for like 2 minutes. My best advice for you is to get involved! I know how intimidating
it can be to push yourself out of your comfort zone and go to bake sales, meetings, and family
visits with people you don’t know or just met, but I know for a fact all of the board members and
past members want nothing more than for you to feel comfortable and make FOTO even better
than it already is. We have the best and cutest families in all of THON (not up for debate) and
they love us so much, so take every opportunity you can to meet them! It makes it so easy to
remember why we do what we do. FOTO is what you make of it, so if you get involved and let
yourself have fun, I promise it will be one of the highlights of your entire PSU experience. I know
it’s one of mine.
Actually, FOTO is probably THE highlight of my 4 years at Penn State. I met all of my best
friends in FOTO. Some I’ve lived with, some even came to a funeral for one of my family
members that they never met. The FOTO family will be there for you forever. I truly believe this
is what makes us stand out from other orgs. We know that it can be hard to see the big picture
this far out from THON, especially if you haven’t gotten to experience one in the BJC yet, but
everything you do now is what makes that weekend so exciting and life-changing. Put in the
work at your fundraisers and on DonorDrive, go and meet the families, reach out to people to
hang out outside of the meetings, and that weekend will be one of the best of your life. You
might even find yourself on the Exec Board or as a dancer in the future!
To the returning members: HI I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!! I am so proud of all of you. You
guys are coming off a crazy year and all of your hard work is not going unnoticed by your old
ass, graduated friends. I cannot wait to see the new heights that you guys take FOTO to this
year. Eventually I will make it back to State College to kiss all of your faces, but for now work
rules my life. Also, I fully expect all of you (at least one of you) to continue my legacy of scaring
people into joining FOTO at involvement fairs. Choose amongst yourselves who gets the honor.
Sean Hines is not at the meeting tonight because he has an exam (loser), but I have been
waiting 4 years to embarrass him in one of these so someone tell him I love him and he needs a
haircut.
Keep on killing it besties!!!!!
Erin Hines