by Mehreen Hoque

Written By: Shae Bagrosky and Ronnie Geiger

Alexis Coyle is part of the THON™ 2023 Public Relations Committee, specifically as a graphic design captain. This is her second year as a THON Captain, as last year she was a Product Development Captain on Merchandise. As a Graphic Design Captain, she helps plan and create all graphics, logos, and promotional materials for THON. Alongside two amazing co-captains, Madison Laufer and Kyle O’Keeffe, they work on multiple projects every week, ensuring graphic requests are fulfilled in a timely manner. Their responsibility is to maintain THON’s unique brand identity through official colors, fonts, and overall mood of the graphics. During THON Weekend, they help make graphics in real time to post on our social media, as well as helping out other co-captains.

Although graphic design is a niche committee, Alexis has the opportunity to work with people from many different committees. Recently she helped wrap up the 2022 Impact Report, which summarizes the scope of the organization’s fundraising and influence throughout the past year. Her and her co-captains worked closely with the Executive Director, DAR Directors, the SL Director, and the HOS Director for about four months on this project. She also noted she has a lot of interaction with Special Events, Hospitality, Family Relations captains when fulfilling their requests. 

When asked why she THONs, she said “I THON so kids can just be kids. No family should have to endure the pain that comes with a childhood cancer diagnosis.” She hopes through her involvement in THON, she is able to put a smile on a child’s face. Discussing her favorite THON memory, she referenced her first THON Weekend Family Hour. She said, “The magic that radiates through the BJC during this time is indescribable. Seeing and hearing the stories of families that are impacted by the work we do every day is an amazing feeling.” Being a captain was always a dream of hers since she made the decision to attend Penn State, she always knew she wanted to be a captain. Her high school was fortunate enough to hold a 24 hour mini-THON, so she had a small idea of THON’s mission before coming to State. When she was a freshman, she joined a Rules & Regulations committee and fell in love with everything THON stood for. Her biggest inspiration was her freshman year captain (shoutout Mark). She said he gave her the confidence to take the leap and apply, and two years later she is so glad she did. 

 When asked what makes her committee so special she referred to how she has been on a different committee every year so far, and can confidently say nothing compares to the 2023 Public Relations Captain Committee. Everyone was welcoming and open to getting to know all the new captains. She says she truly loves each and every one of her co-captains and cannot imagine this year without them and can always count on them to make her smile during their weekly meetings. Another thing she loves is the nature of a Graphic Design Captain means that they are constantly working on new projects. The group can get anywhere between 1-10 graphic requests a week, not including internal projects for campaigns and events. “There are even a few secret projects” she teased.

Looking ahead to the future, Alexis said she’s trying to appreciate and take in every THON event, especially THON Weekend, noting how she can’t believe we already celebrated 100 Days Til’ THON. She remembers Meg Dalo (PR Director) knocking on her door last spring like it was yesterday. Time goes by a lot faster than we all realized, so she is going to try her best to live in the moment and take in her last THON.