Introduction Video

Profile Story

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Speech Story

Court Story

In Class Interview

Makiya Binion in Washington, DC.

Makiya Binion, a nineteen-year-old Washington, DC native enjoys the adventurous side of life while still maintaining her status as a full time Penn State student. Binion is a second-year communications major who plans on becoming a broadcast journalist or going to law school to practice corporate law. Considering the fact Binion still has two years of college to go, she spends her free time playing tennis, cheering for the university basketball team, painting, and shopping. When she was a child, her favorite things to do were play basketball with her friends and family and read Nancy Drew novels. In recent years, Binion has been able to explore different countries such as South Africa, Paris, Cuba, and Egypt. When asked which trip was her favorite, she explained Egypt was her favorite because not only did she get to skip school to stay in Egypt for a month, she got to “explore the insides of different pyramids, tour the Pyramids of Giza, cruise around the Nile river for a couple of days and visit very popular and interesting artifacts.” She describes her time in Egypt to be an enlightening experience. Binion has done a lot of amazing things in her life and has had amazing things happen to her, but the best thing to ever happen to her will always be the day her ten-year-old little sister was born. She says the second-best thing to happen to her was getting accepted into college. Although Binion has had a lot of great memories to look back on in her life, she will always remember a horrible event that took place not too long ago. During her 12th grade year of high school, Binion was involved in a horrible car crash causing her to pass out and immediately be rushed to the hospital. Though this has happened, she has always kept her head up and has never lost sight of her future. One thing she has always dreamed about is walking in New York Fashion Week, sporting something chic designed by Alexander Wang. When asked where she believes she would be if she were not in college, she responded “traveling somewhere overseas.” She says the first two places she would visit would be Barcelona, Spain and London, United Kingdom. As Binion tries to figure out life as a nineteen-year-old college student, she makes sure to spend time with her family and continue doing the things she loves. Through the good and the bad, Binion remains positive throughout life and lives by the quote “Without rain, there will be no flowers.” 

Observation Piece

Penn State’s men's intramural basketball team played an interesting game on February 4th, 2020. Walking through the doors of the gym, there is a strong smell of rubber. Sounds of sneakers squeaking on the court floor fill the gym. There are players on either side of the court stretching and warming up. There is no formal uniform as this is an intramural basketball team, but both teams are wearing jerseys with different combinations of blue and white. Students are jumping up on the folded bleachers trying to seat themselves. On the floor, players mostly practice layups, free throws and three pointers. Maybe these are the easiest. It is nine and the game is about to start. There is a girl at the table keeping score. Another girl sits on the floor, eating what looks to be Hot Cheetos. Almost twenty minutes into the game, the Risk Takers score 11-6 and the audience gets up in excitement. One boy stood up so fast, he almost tumbled over the bleachers. Luckily, he caught himself. He lets out a chuckle, maybe to keep the embarrassment away. The view is hectic as teammates run up and down the court leaving flashes of blue and white. The audience is bobbing their heads to the music playing on somebody’s speaker. Suddenly, the audience is filled with happiness for some, and anger for others as Jellyfam mounts a 10-0 run, putting them up 16-11. At halftime, the score is 21 to 18 with Jellyfam in the lead. During halftime, the frustration on the Risk Takers team is very evident as they argue with each other in their huddle. The two teams warm up for the next half. There is music playing while murmurs from conversations fill the gym. By the end of halftime, the Risk Takers seem to have a set game plan for the second half. During the beginning of the second half, Jellyfam presumes control over tonight's game. Looking around the court, the audience is filled with anticipation as the Risk Takers creep up to Jellyfam with the score being 28 to 26. The intesity of the game amplifies as every possession is executed carefully. With five minutes left on the scoreboard, Jellyfam calls a time out to discuss what their next moves were going to be as they are only in the lead by one at this point. During the next couple of minutes, Jellyfam leads the game while the Risk Takers try to keep up. The two teams traded baskets for the next two and half minutes, until the Risk Takers obtained complete control over the game. They force back to back turnovers which lead to a three pointer and a basket that puts them up by 2. With the clock now running under one minute, Jellyfam has one more possesion to take the lead. Unfortunately, they turn the ball over one last time which leads to a basket by the Risk Takers. Ultimately, Jellyfam led for most of the game, but ended up taking a heartbreaking loss. The Risk Takers won today’s game, scoring 42 to Jellyfams 38.