Game Changer: A Letter That Changed My Life!!!

On July 2, 1981, I went up to Penn State and took a "scholarship test." This is the letter offering me a full-tuition PSU scholarship that I received in September 1981, just as I was starting my senior year of high school. 

At that time, PSU in-state tuition for a year was $1,848*; room and board cost MORE. I still had to borrow a bunch of money to go to school. While this offer did not put a big fat ZERO in the column of what I would owe, it did put Penn State within my reach, and it changed my life. It was truly a transformative event.

The Penn State Scholars Program, by the way, was an earlier version of the current Penn State Schreyer Honors College. Of course, my mother saved this letter, which is why I still have it! I just got it back last weekend, thanks to my baby sister.

My senior year English teacher made all of us keep a daily journal, just a page for each day. And I am so grateful that she did. So I have my own reaction to the letter documented. Here it is:

***A Red-Letter Date!*** 10-1-81
When I got home, I saw a piece of mail from Penn State lying on my bed. With trembling fingers, I opened it nervously. I'll still never believe it! I won a full-tuition scholarship to Penn State due to that scholarship test I took in July! Now my future is more certain, and I realized that's what I've been waiting for! Rainy days seem to bring me good luck, like they did for Katie in The Way We Were. Now if only I can keep this mood going!!!!

There were so many others who were looking out for me and helping me along the way: my parents and family (especially my big sister Barb, who took me to a few of my early PSU events, including the scholarship test as well as an overnight stay), my teachers, my guidance counselor (who alerted me to  the scholarship test), and my friends. I am grateful for this and so many other opportunities that have come my way!

By the way, I wrote in my journal that the scholarship test was "a strange test." I remember more details, though: in at least one part of the test, it set up those relational questions. . . . This is to this as that is to that. I do really well with those. I actually thought the test was lots of fun!

And that, my friends, is the tale of how I became a Penn State Nittany Lion!

Our soundtrack song is Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, with Please Read the Letter.

*Current PSU tuition rates are about $20,000 for in-state and about $40,000 for out-of-state.