Editor’s note: Throughout the week, we’re posting profiles of the 10 members of the 2010 Penn State Homecoming Court: Daniel Cartwright, Danielle DaSilva, Dan Florencio, Marina Johnson, Katherine Larimer, Curran McCready, Jared McKnight, Jessica Pelliciotta, Katy Poole and Justin Ross. Check back as we continue to publish more and more profiles. And click on our Homecoming page for a full listing of the week’s Homecoming events. Penn State students can cast ballots for Homecoming king and queen online here: http://homecoming.psu.edu.
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Ask students about their worst Penn State-related fear, and a common response is falling down those HUB stairs. Think about it: hundreds of people swarming around and everyone just stops to watch you slide down those steps? Jared McKnight, a Homecoming King nominee, has lived it. Witnesses—relieved that it wasn’t them tripping—clapped as he got up and went about his day.
Fortunately, McKnight isn’t the kind of person who hides from the spotlight. As a student in Schreyer Honors College, McKnight juggles majors in architecture and international studies, as well as two minors. Yet he still finds time to participate in several campus organizations, spreading his knowledge of Penn State as a Lion Ambassador and holding leadership positions in the American Institute of Architecture Students and the Schreyer Honors College Student Council.
Born and raised in a Penn State family (he even had Penn State-themed birthday parties), McKnight found it next to impossible to choose any other place for college. In fact, his admiration for the university dates to the first grade, when he gave a presentation on Heisman winner John Cappelletti. (No surprise, then, that Cappelletti is McKnight’s choice for a dream date with any Penn State alumnus.)
His favorite blue and white memory: the “We are Penn State!” chant he received from his family the day he decided to go to school in Happy Valley.
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