A Blue-White day that keeps changing lives

One day at Penn State.

One day that ends in Beaver Stadium.

Just one day on a college campus during a spring football celebration that is about so much more than football.

It's stunning what such a small slice of time can mean.

Former Penn State safety Lee Rubin and his wife have been bringing underprivileged kids from New Jersey to Penn State's Blue-White Game for nearly 20 years.

They will do it again April 22, this time in conjunction with students from Williamsport High.

They bring kids who have never left their hometown, kids who never talked about college as even a possibility. They introduce them to teachers, administrators — and students who came from backgrounds like their own. They teach them about financial aid. They help them hang out with former Nittany Lions they've only seen on TV, like linebacker Brandon Bell.

Then they gather in one of the world's largest stadiums.

"It's life changing," Rubin said. "The power of being exposed to something new and something possible, the light bulb goes off."

The day includes a scholarship breakfast at the Penn Stater Hotel that's open to the public ($25 per person, reservations suggested) and features a silent auction of football memorabilia. The proceeds benefit the Rubins' nonprofit foundation, The Community Refuge Education and Recreation Center.

The fundraising helps provide a handful of scholarships each year to students who need them most. The Rubins estimate that their program has helped more than 300 kids attend college.

And it starts with one day.

Carmen Rubin tells stories about the impact, like the girl who came to Penn State years ago thinking college life was out of reach. If she didn't have the means to go bowling, how could she go there?

All it took was to see the community, the buildings, the friendliness, the help offered.

She found a way. Now, she's a nurse.

"They all want it," Carmen Rubin said. "'You mean to tell me I can do this? This is my life? This could be my life?'

"They take it home with them."

She knows exactly what this means. Her parents divorced early, and she drifted from one home to the next, from California to Arizona to Texas.

"I was that kid. I know firsthand what it's like to know how the world is only what's in front of you," Carmen Rubin said. "And then you take a walk on campus, and it changes everything. I feel like going to Penn State just gives you that wow factor. It's a dream come true."

It can be Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland or most anywhere else.

From a life where education is rarely a means to bigger things ... into one where it is expected.

"So many kids fall through the cracks, even in suburban areas," Lee Rubin explained. "If they they just got a little support, a little push."