By Brandon Moten
Senior Communication Major

Hello Penn State Behrend students, faculty, and staff. This is Brandon Moten, and I’m back with another post in my new blog series, “A Maryland State of Mind,” where I share my experience of attending Penn State Behrend as an out-of-state student from Bowie, Maryland. If you’ve missed my previous posts, I have touched on my transition to Erie and coming to Penn State Behrend.

Today’s post is about the challenges I faced as I wanted to stay social and meet friends while getting acclimated to a new environment. Before coming to Behrend, I was hopeful that I would be able to use my social skills to help make great friends and create amazing memories. I’m a very social person, and I knew I would need people to help me get through the transition of being an out-of-state college student. My roommate was assigned to me over the summer, but I was still nervous and anxious about meeting him.

Once August came, all of my fears of being able to make friends were put to rest once I met my roommate Giovanni Carrera. To this day, he is still one of the best friends I met here at Penn State Behrend. Also, I have met so many amazing individuals through him, which also helped me branch out and meet people through my classes, work, and extracurricular activities because my experience with him gave me so much confidence. So many amazing people attend Penn State Behrend, and the campus setup makes it easy to meet friends because you are likely to see them often, whether it’s through Brunos, Dobbins, class, or common areas in the residence halls.

Today, I have many friends and connections that will stay with me for years. I attribute that to Penn State Behrend matching with a roommate that fits my personality. In a few weeks, I will graduate, but I know the friendships I started here will last a lifetime. That’s just another reason why I love this school and the experiences I have enjoyed as an out-of-state student.

Stay tuned for more… WE ARE PENN STATE!