Penn State is famous for good reasons—the top-notch education it provides, its acclaimed research programs and, of course, Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lion football team, to name just a few. But alumni and people familiar with the University will quickly cite another claim to fame: University Creamery ice cream.

Many contend it is the best they have tasted, and for hundreds of thousands who come to the University Park campus each year, no visit is complete without a trip to the Creamery. The main reason Creamery ice cream is so good relates to freshness. “Only an average of four days elapses between the cow and a newly dipped cone,” says Tom Palchak, Creamery manager.

So it seems only right that a new ice cream flavor was created to mark the University’s sesquicentennial. During a ceremony at Schwab Auditorium July 8 to kick off the year-long celebration, Penn State President Graham Spanier revealed the new flavor, appropriately named “Sesquicentennial Sundae.” It features chunks of fudge brownies and chocolate-covered peanuts in vanilla ice cream with a fudge swirl.

Spanier’s announcement ends a new-flavor contest that attracted an amazing amount of attention. Last summer, the committee organizing the sesquicentennial celebration decided to offer alumni, students, and friends the chance to suggest flavors, and placed an advertisement in the Penn Stater magazine in August. The news media picked up the story soon after, and by the beginning of this year, around 2,500 suggestions had been received from most of the 50 states, Canada, the United Kingdom, and even Hong Kong.

“The reaction was phenomenal,” says Eston Martz, publications coordinator in the College of Agricultural Sciences, who oversaw the contest. “We expected to receive just a couple dozen suggestions, but we’re thrilled so many people were excited about this contest. It’s been a great way to raise awareness of the celebration.”

Three people suggested the winning flavor name: Jessica Ross of Lancaster, a junior at the University Park campus; Roger Beltz of Ohio, a 1991 alumnus from the College of Health and Human Development; and Marc Durigon, of Greensburg, Pa., who started eighth grade this fall. But only Durigon—who submitted the flavor entry because his seventh-grade teacher, Cathy Henderson, a Penn State alumna, used the ice cream contest as a persuasive writing assignment for her entire class—came up with both the name and winning recipe.

Durigon’s thoughts behind the winning name and recipe were not complicated. “I thought Penn State is 150 years old—‘sesquicentennial.’ And ‘sundae’ sounded good with that. A sundae is ice cream and toppings, so mix it all up for a flavor. Pretty simple stuff.”

Marc has never been to the Creamery—indeed, he has never even been to University Park. In fact, a visit never occurred to him. Both his parents are Pitt graduates. But he says he plans to visit Penn State the first chance he gets to sample the ice cream flavor he invented. “I was just amazed, I never thought I could win,” he says. “When it was announced, they even put my photo in the school newspaper.”

Durigon’s teacher, Henderson, majored in English and graduated in 1990. “I like to offer my students variety and a real-life connection in their writing assignments,” she says. “I saw the ad about the ice cream flavor contest and decided it was an ideal creative opportunity for them. The kids have been so excited about this. I love the real-world connections. We are pleased for Marc that he won.”

Flavor suggestions received included the good, the bad, and the ugly. For instance, even though the recipe accompanying it sounded delicious, the University quickly rejected—for obvious reasons—the name “Nittany Lion Poop.” Other names that didn’t make the cut, for one reason or another, included Real Smeal Mocha, Happy Valley Vanilla, Founders’ Fudge, Chewy Pughy, Moldy Oldie, Old Mainstay, Scholar Chip, Pattee Cake, Old Mainiac, Nittany Lion Tracks, Cookies and Creamery, P.S. Moo, Nittany Lion Fur, Cement Building Block (recognizing current construction), Coaly Crunch, Cherry Sandusky, Joe-Pa Stachio, and, in honor of President Spanier, Graham Cracker Crunch.

Beltz, who lives just six miles from Penn State Shenango, is active in the alumni association, from which he buys many half gallons of Creamery ice cream at scholarship fund-raisers. He distributes most of them to family members. Beltz loves Creamery ice cream, preferring Peachy Paterno and Death By Chocolate flavors. He thinks the Sesquicentennial Sundae recipe that he helped name will taste delectable. “Wow, that sounds pretty good,” he says. “I make it back for homecoming every year. The first thing I try to do is get to the Creamery. I’ll be looking for Sesquicentennial Sundae next time I’m there.”

Even though Ross, a piccolo player in the Blue Band, didn’t submit a recipe for the Sesquicentennial Sundae flavor, she said she might as well have. “Mmmm—chocolate-covered peanuts, brownies and fudge swirl—that’s just what I would have picked,” she says. “It’s a flavor I will definitely order.

“This is kind of a surprise,” she adds, “It’s not like me to enter contests. To win an ice cream flavor contest is pretty cool.”

Penn State will be 150 years old on Feb. 22, 2005—150 years after Gov. James Pollock signed the charter that established the college of scientific agriculture that grew to be one of the world’s most distinguished centers of higher education. Getting ice cream at the Creamery has been a tradition for most of that time.

The first Creamery was established in 1865 in the “Old West Barns Complex” behind the present location of Old Main. In 1889, the creamery became a stand-alone facility in a refurbished chicken coop containing a cold-storage room, cream-ripening room, workroom, and office space. In 1904 the creamery moved to Patterson Building, and in 1932 it moved to its current location in Borland Laboratory. Soon the facility will move to the new, state-of-the-art Food Science Building now under construction at the corner of Curtin and Bigler roads, and it will be renamed the Berkey Creamery.

The Creamery produces a total of 225,000 gallons of ice cream annually, and its staff hand-dips about 750,000 cones each year. It has about 110 flavors in its rotating repertoire, although only about 20 flavors are in production at any given time. Now there is one more.

—Jeff Mulhollem