Exciting news! This peek behind the scenes of State College life is a guest post by local Drew Shamrock. We hope you enjoy it!

Summers in Fairfield, California, started a new family tradition for us, but it wasn’t a particularly joyous one. Quite the contrary, actually. It was a pretty nerve wracking one.

It was the tradition of gathering up our essential documents, treasured mementos and pictures, packing bags with clothes and toiletries, and storing them in the trunk of our car or next to the front door in case we had to sprint out of the house at a moment’s notice due to an encroaching wildfire. We called these “go bags.”

Those documents and “go bags” wouldn’t move from those spots until the first significant rains came in the fall. It was then we could unpack them, breathe a sigh of relief and sleep a little easier at night.

However, a recent summer made us really start thinking long and hard about where we wanted to live for the entirety of our son’s school years. It was a summer where we finally had to put our “go bags” to use as a wildfire moved rapidly towards our town, and our neighborhood in particular, and we were issued an order to evacuate our home.

I’ll never forget the hazy sky and ash falling down like snow as we got in the car to drive away and wondering if our house would still be standing when we returned.

Pictured: Mid-day during a California fire and an ash-covered car

Thankfully, forward progress on the fire was stopped before reaching our neighborhood, but it definitely got us thinking. Thinking about whether we wanted to continue to raise our son under the annual fear and threat of wildfire, smoke and evacuations. Then, we took a six-week family vacation to State College last summer.

My immediate family has lived in Boalsburg for more than a decade and my extended family has lived in State College for many years. Because of my family ties here, I’d visited the area numerous times over the years and developed a general familiarity with it. However, my wife had only visited with me twice and our son, who was five years old then, had never been. And, since we were going to be out here for more than a month, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to explore the area like a resident in addition to being tourists.

The original plan was to explore State College, make some notes about what we liked and didn’t like, and what all we’d be looking for if we were to actually make a decision to move. Then we’d fly home to California and mull it over. What ended up happening, however, is that the latter half of our vacation turned into house hunting and we flew back to California having just purchased a house in State College.

What made us make such a decision while on vacation?

I’d be lying if I said having my immediate family here wasn’t a factor in our decision. With that being said, we weren’t going to make the move unless we were comfortable in other aspects besides being near family. On top of that, my wife had lived in California for more than 30 years, and the idea of leaving California was hard on her emotionally, so it was important for us to be confident in our decision.

As with any parent, schools were a top priority for us. With our son entering first grade at the time, we took some tours of Mount Nittany and Radio Park Elementary Schools. Being summer, we didn’t have a chance to see the schools while they were in session, but we walked away impressed with the facilities and the administrators we met with. Learning about the school districts’ focus on maintaining diversity, as well as the rich curriculum that seeks to meet the needs of all young learners left a strong impression on us.

Another thing that struck us as we walked and drove around town was the pleasant vibe we experienced everywhere we went. The lack of urban noise and just being away from the hustle and bustle was a pleasant change for us. Compared to urbanites in California, residents of State College seemed more easy going. Life, in general, just seemed exceptionally calmer, and that sense of safety and calm was unbelievably refreshing to us. We came to understand the meaning of ‘Happy Valley.’

Finally, it was very important to us to be in proximity to Asian groceries and markets. My wife is Asian and we didn’t want to lose that connection to her culture. While we could order things online, it’s not the same as patronizing a local market. A quick Google Maps search showed multiple Asian markets in State College, so we decided to pick one to explore. When we walked into East Asian Market on Blue Course Drive, we lit up upon seeing that it had everything we would normally buy at our local Asian markets back in California. There, lining the shelves and refrigerators, were some of our favorites like Little Sheep hot pot soup base, fish balls, enoki mushrooms, VITA Lemon Tea (VLT), two liter bottles of Ito En green tea, shrimp chips and dried squid snacks. It was the cherry-on-top that really made us feel like we’d be comfortable living in State College.

Last summer was a whirlwind for us. We made an offer on a house in State College in July, sold our house in California in August, and then packed up and moved out in September 2022.

September 9 marked our one year anniversary since becoming State College residents. While we miss our friends and some aspects of California, we cannot be more happy that we made the decision to move to State College.

With our son going through most of first grade here, and just starting second grade now, we’ve been exceptionally happy with the quality of instruction he has received. His reading, writing, and even critical thinking, improved beyond what we imagined and all the teachers we’ve interacted with have been caring and thoughtful towards all of the students.

We still feel that same sense of ‘Happy Valley’ that we felt during vacation last summer.

And lastly, this summer we no longer had to pack our “go bags” and stress over wildfires.