Joe Paterno

Joe Paterno Press Release

The Pennsylvania State University and college athletics mourns the passing of Joseph V. Paterno.

Paterno, who was 85 passed away peacefully surrounded by his family at Mount Nittany Medical Center. The legendary teacher, mentor and humanitarian had been diagnosed with lung cancer in November of 2012.

A member of the Penn State coaching staff for 62 seasons, Paterno immensely impacted the lives of thousands of current and former Penn State students, student-athletes and staff, fans, community members and followers of college athletics. “The Nittany Lions’ head football coach for nearly 46 years, he was among the first three active coaches to be inducted into the National Football Foundation’s College Hall of Fame, in 2007” (ESPN, 2012).

Paterno zealously and energetically served the Penn State football program and the university with value, merit and success with honor since taking his position in. “After 16 years as an assistant coach under Engle, Paterno was named Penn State’s 14^th head football coach on February 19, 1966 when Engle retired” (ESPN, 2012).

“Head coach of the Nittany Lions since 1966, Paterno is the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) leader in career victories, earning a 409-136-3 career record, a 74.9 winning percentage” (ESPN, 2012). The iconic Paterno is one of only three coaches in NCAA history to post 400 career wins (ESPN, 2013).

“This is a tremendous loss for Penn State and the world,” stated Dave Joyner, Penn State acting Director of Athletics. “Joe Paterno was a great man who was one of the greatest influences on my life and the lives of Penn Staters.  For those who had the opportunity to meet or play under Paterno, he taught them so much. He thought of himself as an educator first, and then a football coach. Paterno believed in self-discipline and paying attention to small details. His famous quote, “if you keep hustling and plugging away something good will happen” will linger in the hearts of many. His impact can be felt all over the world and his spirit will continue to encourage future athletes to come.

“Paterno’s career was marked with distinction, glorious accomplishments and immeasurable contributions to Penn State” (ESPN, 2012).

Paterno’s coaching  comprised of two National Championships (1982, 1986); five undefeated, untied teams; 23 finishes in the Top 10 of the national rankings; an unparalleled five American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coach-of-the-Year plaques, and more than 350 former players who signed National Football League contracts, 33 of them first-round draft choices (ESPN, 2013).

In 2007, Paterno was inaugurated into the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. The American Football Coaches Association recognized Paterno with its highest honor in 2002, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. The award honors those “whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football” (ESPN, 2012)

Joe Paterno was survived by his wife Sue and five children Diana, Mary Kay, David, Jay and Scott, all of whom are Penn State alumni, and 17 grandchildren.


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Those touched by Joe Paterno remember him for being human. Paterno’s legacy of impacting the lives of thousands of current and former Penn State students, student-athletes and staff, fans, community members and followers of college athletics will live on long after his death.

 

References:

ESPN, (2012). Joe Paterno, 85 dies in State College. Retrieved on July 29, 2013 from http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7489238/joe-paterno-ex-penn-state-nittany-lions-coach-dies-85-2-month-cancer-fight

Redmond, K, (23, January 2012). Putting Paterno's Death in Perspective. Retrieved from the Huffington Post on July 29, 2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-redmond/joe-paterno-dead_b_1221975.html

 

Social Media Tools

The group I would love to represent is a non-profit in Orange County, California called Orangewood Children Foundation.  “In 1981, a concerned group of private citizens and community leaders established the Orangewood Children's Foundation” (Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012).  Situated in Orange, California, the Orangewood Children's Home is Orange County's first and only crisis sanctuary for deserted and sexually, physically or emotionally battered adolescents. The home offers protection each year for approximately 1,000 children who “have been removed from their caretakers by police officers or child protective services workers and placed into protective custody” (Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012).

Orangewood is a foundation that spotlights and emphasizes the continuing necessities of children in the foster care system, creating “a wide range of activities, scholarships, support and programs to give every child every chance to succeed” (Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012). These benefits are visible to the supporters of the charity, as well as the children themselves. The lack of stability and consistency has a negative impact for years to come and by providing a place safe for children to have a “transformational learning environment by offering consistency, stability, support, and a community in which to belong, thrive, and grow into responsible, independent adults,” (Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012) Orangewood is showing what the public can do for these children.

The best group to target would be a group that is compassionate and understands the importance of having a good home structure and educational background for kids. This demographic are men and women in their late 30’s to mid 50’s who are new parents, or established parents in the Orange County area. They understand the importance of giving children a loving home, and providing them with structure to succeed. More specifically, I would target women in the age range of late 30’s to mid 50’s.

The best message I could advocate would be the main mission of Orangewood. This goal is to “offer hope, healing, education and assistance, and the importance of breaking the generational cycle of child abuse” Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012).  This message would be well received through Pinterest, Facebook, and a mainstream blog.

Pinsterest is basically a vision board or scrapbook that you put together while surfing the Internet. According to the website, “Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.” Pinterest is very popular among women, mainly “between the ages of 25 and 44” (Haydon, 2013), who have extra time in the day to surf pictures for all kinds of ideas ranging from educational, to do it yourself projects, and fashion. Pinterest is not just for pictures, more recently; the increase of videos on Pinterest has doubled. A non-profit could create specific boards for each theme they want to bring to light. The board could have videos with messages from volunteers, as well as from the children who are in the program. They can post fundraiser information, and also show the arts and crafts side of Orangewood and how they can participate in these arts and crafts to build awareness for the non-profit.  Orangewood could also create “an online fundraising catalog” (Haydon, 2013). By adding a “$” symbol and the amount of an item in the pin description, the viewers pin will automatically go into the gifts tab located at the top of the homepage (Haydon, 2013).  This helps the target demographic see pictures and videos about child abuse, gives them a place to donate, and also allows them to re-pin information specific to the non-profit program.

Facebook can be a valuable tool for non-profits worldwide. “Facebook has directly catered to non-profits present on the social network with a resource page, facebook.com/nonprofits, specifically to help them use the site” (Calderon, 2010). By creating a page instead of a group, a non-profit organization can publish directly into the news stream where you can engage your fans with a variety of different media, such as videos, polls and status updates. Pages also allow non-profits to analyze how fans are interacting with the organization’s page with the Insights Dashboard, giving instantaneous feedback to help adjust methods should you need to do so. “You can also do things like buy advertising on Facebook for your Page to increase your number of fans” (Calderon, 2010). The idea is generate content that’s Facebook-specific and builds a community there.

Blogging is a great way for an non-profit to be heard and present information for the target market they are trying to reach. Blogs “are a tool that allows for a conversation between the reader and the writer, and for information to reach people quickly all over the world” (Case, 2013). The non-profit can write blogs, but it would also be great if the non-profit had guest bloggers such as volunteers in the community, or the children in the program to share experiences. Upcoming events, or past events can be discussed in creative and fun ways. The non-profit can include photos and videos from the events to engage the readers, as well as information on how the reader can support the charity. Blogging has become a huge phenomenon, and I think that it would be a great way to target the lower end of the demographic Orangewood reaches out to. When a non-profit fundraises, there is often hesitation because the supporter isn’t sure about the organization and needs to build a rapport with the organization before donating. By blogging, Orangewood can establish a trust and help the contributor see that there are real people, like them, working there. “A blog can give them a glimpse behind the scenes, and provide a transparency and authenticity that an annual report or brochure may not” (Case, 2013).

Calderon, S. (12, February 2010). 10 Tips for Non-Profits on Facebook. Retrieved on July 22, 2013 from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/02/12/10-tips-for-non-profits-on-facebook/

Case, J & S. (2013). 10 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs and Bloggers to Support Their Cause. Retrieved on July 22, 2013 from http://casefoundation.org/spotlight/10-ways-nonprofits-can-use-blogs-and-bloggers-support-their-cause

Hayden, J. (2013). 12 ways to use Pinterest for your nonprofit. Retrieved on July 22, 2013 from http://www.johnhaydon.com/2012/01/12-ways-use-pinterest-for-your-nonprofit/

Orangewood Children’ Foundation. (2012). Our Programs and Services. Retrieved on July 22, 2013 from http://www.orangewoodfoundation.org/programs.asp

Unrestricted Web Publishing

After patrolling the stories on The Huffington Post, I found an article that hits home for many. How many times have you felt that even though you earn a good salary, you’re barely able to pay for the necessities, let alone have a little fun every once in a while? Jillian Berman with The Huffington Post wrote an article about the federal poverty line. In this article Berman discusses with quality sources that the federal poverty line doesn’t adequately reflect cost of living in America. “The federal poverty line for a family of four was $23,283 last year,” (Berman, 2013) well below what any family, even in the poorest of economies needs to bring home in order to provide for their family.

Berman, relied on the Economic Policy Institute to use a family budget calculator to accurately calculate what a family would need to make at the bare minimum to survive in modern society. “For a two parent, two child household, an average of $63,238 is needed to secure an adequate modest living standard” (Gould, Wething, Sabadish, and Finio, 2013). There’s nowhere in America where two parents earning the federal minimum wage, which amounts to about $30,000 per year collectively, can make enough to support a family of three or four, the analysis found. According to another source, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, confirmed that while the $23,283 poverty line is completely unrealistic, about 3.6 million workers earned the federal minimum wage or below last year.  Raising minimum wage is a step in the right direction to help families hit a level of basic economic security that would allow them to live, even if it is only paycheck-to-paycheck.

I found this article to be heartbreaking especially when I read that so many people really do have to fight everyday to survive. This eye-opening article had reputable references that told a story about family lifestyle throughout the nation.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), is a “non-profit, non-partisan think tank, created in 1986 to broaden discussions about economic policy to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers” (The Economic Policy Institute, 2013). EPI proposes public policies that protect and improve the economic conditions of low- and middle-income workers and assesses policies with respect to how they affect those workers. This is a credible source according to the set of guidelines established by the Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources because the website information is current with an accurate business address, phone number, and email addresses of workers linked to the non-profit. Berman provides a link for the EPI and the site is rich with information on the importance of their cause, as well as where more information can be viewed regarding their work. Additional links showcase facts in the form of charts, statistics, and surveys. These graphics are all backed up with additional sources to verify the information is accurate.

The EPI also enlisted the work of several authors who dedicated time and energy to the issue at hand, writing specifically on the federal poverty line. They drew information from the government, as well as The Public Welfare System, and the Ford Foundation.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics was another source Berman referred to in her work. This is a government site that is continually updated, posts information on the bureau, including address, phone number, and areas of the department to contact. This is an authoritative source that is a specialist on the field in question. Further documentation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was provided through a link on the article Berman wrote.

Unrestricted web publishing can adversely impact the trustworthiness and reliability of the news source where the information is taken from, as well as tarnish the Internet as a whole. It is extremely important for the news and public information to be validated and checked for accuracy because people view these sources as more credible than other website by default. 

Berman, L. (3, July 2013). Federal Poverty Line Doesn't Adequately Reflect Cost Of Living In America, Analysis Finds. Retrieved on July 2, 2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/03/federal-poverty-line-afford-to-live_n_3541338.html?ir=Business

Gould, Wething, Sabadish, and Finio. (3 July, 2013). What Families Need to Get By: The 2013 Update of EPI’s Family Budget Calculator. Retrieved on July 2, 2013 from http://www.epi.org/publication/ib368-basic-family-budgets/

The Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2013). Economic Release. Retrieved on July 3, 2013 from http://www.bls.gov

The Economic Policy Institute. (2013). Research and Ideas for Shared Prosperity. Retrieved on July 3, 2013 from http://www.epi.org