Under the baobab: History made at Penn State, other local achievements and events

Congratulations to Ellie Sheehan, a fifth-year Penn State student from Hollidaysburg, who was the first woman to be selected as drum major in the Blue Band’s 126-year history.

Sheehan, a leader in the piccolo section, is a marketing major with a minor in digital media trends and analytics. She will take her first front flip at Beaver Stadium on Aug. 30 when the Nittany Lions host Nevada to kick off the 2025 football season.

Kudos are also due to Reagan Bills of the West Suburban Little League girls team from Johnstown. She struck out nine batters and allowed just three hits in a 1-0 shut out against Oklahoma. The Johnstown team, representing the Mid-Atlantic, is making their first appearance at the Little League Softball World Series. The team has advanced to the Purple Bracket championship game on Saturday.

Penn State women’s basketball coach Carolyn Kieger and new general manager Jason Crafton welcomed nearly 100 fans to a Hoops and Scoops basketball practice. It was the first opportunity to introduce the 2025-26 team to the community: Amiya Evans, Victoria Santana, Maggie Mendelson, Moriah Murray, Gracie Merkle, Kyomi McMiller, Shaelyn Steele, Victoria Ranisavljevic, Tea Cleante, Nyla McFadden, Shayla Smith and Rachel Okokoh.

And the first 1,000 fans at Sunday’s Spikes game at Medlar Field will receive a complimentary bobblehead of Penn State star Katie Schumacher-Cawley, the 2025 NCAA women’s volleyball championship coach. She will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at 6:35 p.m.

Congrats to the chef finalists at WingFest on Tussey Mountain: Center Street Grille, Iron River Grille, Burnham Eagles, Nittany Legion Post 245, The Bull Pen, Savory Station and Juniper Village. And the winner, the 2025 Wing King, (drum roll, please) is The Bull Pen.

Elsewhere around town

The Next Stage Theatre Company is celebrating their 30th anniversary season. Their production of “Time Flies Like An Arrow, Fruit Flies Like a Banana,” five short, funny plays, is directed by Jason Zanitsch and written by David Ives and Alan Arkin. It opened Friday and runs through Aug. 17 at the Attic at The State Theatre.

Central PA United held a community discussion, “#SunlightIsAHumanRight,” about outdoor recreation at the Centre County Correctional Facility. The panel included Mark Kissling, Cindy Carpenter, Kerry Cavanaugh, Irvin Moore and Lee Powers. Jenna Henry moderated. Several dozen neighbors attended with another 20 on Zoom.

For arts events, Penn State Associate Professor Michelle Rodino-Colicino and Lisa Whitten performed their original play, “Landing on Me,” at The Tank in New York City to an appreciative audience. Leslie Spalding’s AfroLatino band, Sangha Tierra, performed to a sold-out crowd in New York’s Greenwich Village club, “Groove.” And Tyler Perry’s “All the Queen’s Men,” featuring yours truly as a retired gangster, opened season 5 on BET+.

The National Night Out was sponsored by local police, firefighters, EMS and other first responder agencies including State College, Penn State Police, Ferguson, Patton and Spring Township. First responders shared “what they do,” with local families and provided games, pony rides, hot dogs and other giveaways at the Benner Pike Giant parking lot. Hundreds attended locally and thousands nationally.

And the resistance continues. On Aug. 3 there was a rally to stand up for trans health care rights at the Allen Street Gates. The Fasting Against the Starvation in Gaza-Tisha B’Av, Hunger Strike and Protest Vigil attracted a sizable crowd. Light a Candle for Peace still rallies at the gates on Mondays from 5-5:30 p.m. The latest Thompson Tuesdays attracted 30 protesters outside U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson’s Bellefonte office on Benner Pike.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing on Hiroshima, which killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, mostly civilians. Three days later the U.S. did it again at Nagasaki. It is an appropriate time to vow to stop the bombing of children — embrace them, nurture them. Don’t starve; feed the children. They are all our children — love them.

Charles Dumas is a lifelong political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. Congress in 2012. He is a Lions Paw honoree. He lives in State College with his wife and partner of over 50 years.