The Class of 2013 and Fred Lewis Pattee

—...nourishing college spirit and loyalty —

From a thunderous chant at a sporting event to a personal greeting on a street in foreign land, We are... Penn State is recognized as a reflection of the pride, spirit and loyalty of past, present and future Penn Staters.

The We Are sculpture is a gift of the Class of 2013
Sculptor: Jonathan Cramer, '94, B.F.A., Art
Material: Polished Stainless Steel donated by ATI

Penn State's Alma Mater, written by Professor of American Literature Fred Lewis Pattee in 1901, was first sung later that year at the Alumni Dinner during Commencement Week. James Beaver, president of the Board of Trustees, immediately arose proclaimed it "the official song of Penn State." With President George Atherton's agreement, it became so.

The original version included the stanza, "When we stood at boyhood's gate / Shapeless in the hands of fate / Thou didst mold us, dear old State / into men," which bothered Pattee from the start because Penn State had been co-educational for 30 years when the song was written. However, he believed the ethos of the college at the time was male-oriented and thus the words were appropriate. He later had second thoughts; in his posthumously published autobiography, he suggested changing "boyhood" into "childhood" and "mold...into men" to a repeat of "dear old State."



In 1975 the Trustees approved the change.


The Penn State
Alma Mater

For the glory of old State,
For her founders strong and great,
For the future that we wait,
Raise the song, raise the song.

Sing our love and loyalty,
Sing our hopes that, bright and free,
Rest, O Mother dear, with thee,
All with thee, all with thee.

When we stood at childhood's gate,
Shapeless in the hands of fate,
Thou didst mold us, dear old State,
Dear old State, dear old State.

May no act of ours bring shame,
To one heart that loves thy name,
May our lives but swell they fame,
Dear old State, dear old State.

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