Florida's Emerald Coast voices Blue and White pride

University Park, Pa. -- There's plenty of Blue and White on the Emerald Coast of Florida, and they're letting their voices be heard as Penn Staters from around the country converge on the Sunshine State to watch the Nittany Lion football team play in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3.

A recent Penn State Newswire story cited that 16 alumni chapters in Florida stretch "from Tallahassee to Miami." This geographic generalization prodded the pride in Pensacola and aroused the anger in Niceville -- locales as far as 200 miles west of Tallahassee at the tip of Florida's panhandle -- as Newswire readers wrote to make their presence and Penn State pride known.

Although as far from Miami -- the site of the 72nd Orange Bowl -- as one can get within the state of Florida, the Emerald Coast Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association is an award-winning group serving Penn Staters from northwest Florida to southern Alabama. According to the chapter's Web site, many military members stationed in the Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach and Panama City areas are counted among its ranks.

This fall, the chapter was recognized by the Penn State Alumni Association with the National Service Project Award. After Hurricane Ivan hit the Florida panhandle in September of 2004, the Emerald Coast Chapter collected clothing, supplies, and money for victims of the Hurricane. At a time when many of the chapter members were themselves displaced by the hurricane, alumni mobilized to insure that young children received needed basics. As a result, the chapter entered into a partnership with a local school to provide other volunteer services. That same school, in fact, still has a "Penn State Room" where clothing and other supplies are available for families that need them.

This was the second such award for the chapter, having previously been honored in 2003.

The chapter meets regularly at Kooter Brown's West in Pensacola. Information on the chapter can be found online at http://psu.thepcsweb.com/