James McCarty - How I was “hit hard” by my night with Joey Kramer, drummer for Aerosmith

James McCarty
How I was “hit hard” by my night with Joey Kramer, drummer for Aerosmith

I had the privilege of meeting the drummer of the world-renowned rock group Aerosmith, Joey

Kramer! The Campus Activities Board (C.A.B.) scheduled Joey to come talk to our campus on his real-life experience dealing with depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Joey has written a book to recap his personal experiences, “Hit Hard; Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top.”

I signed up to have dinner with Joey. It seemed so surreal to be sitting in the same room with a rock legend, let alone to be able to have an in-depth conversation with him. Once my haze of excitement calmed down and I was able to think rationally again, I had an extensive list of in-depth questions, which I used to understand his perspective.     

Some of the topics I asked Joey about included: what he used to cope with his depression and how it affected his peers; if he could try to put his feelings into words, how would he describe them; and if he were not in the music industry today, what profession would he have chosen.

It amazed me how down-to-earth Joey was. I was expecting a huge rock star with the ego to match. He said that the reason he wrote his

book and travels around the country giving talks on his experiences when he isn’t performing is because he wants other people to know that they are not alone.

He said, “I want others to know that depression can happen to anyone at any time in their life. I was sober from drugs and alcohol for eight years before my depression struck me. I want others to know that they aren’t alone.” 

Joey showed me the importance of giving back to others. This is a man who many would think has everything you could ever ask for in the world, and he wants to give back and share as many of his personal experiences with the world as possible.

Joey gave his lecture to a packed house. The auditorium was filled with current students, faculty members, community members, and even some of the local mental health workers that worked with Joey while he was going through substance abuse counseling at the Caron Foundation, right up the road in Wernersville, PA. 

The evening was truly an enlightening experience that I will never forget. Joey spoke for 25 minutes longer than he was scheduled, just to answer the audience’s questions, and following that he stayed to sign autographs for another hour-and-a-half. This really spoke volumes for how much the fans mean to Joey. By the end of the evening, he even knew me by my first name and thanked me for helping to control the crowd during autograph signings. 

Joey Kramer has become one of my newest idols, not because of his musical genius or rock star fame, but because he values others and wants to do everything that he can to give back to his fans.    

Kate Harley - Alternative Spring Break

Over spring break, I was lucky enough to be on the Penn State Berks Alternative Spring Break Team on a service trip to Belize. What an amazing experience it was!  We stayed in a small town called Punta Gorda in the southern part of Belize, about 5 hours south of Belize City.  

While in Punta Gorda we worked with the local St. Benedict RC School. We helped work on their library, cleaning the building, and giving it a fresh coat of paint. We also created library cards for thousands of books that were donated for the school. We also put up ceilings in the principals office and their soon-to-come computer lab. Not only were we helping but I learned how to dry wall, which is something I never expected to learn in my life.   

Being at the school every day was so much fun. When the children had recess or any break in the day, they would run right to us. We got to read stories to them, play soccer, and just spend time with them. During our trip, we stayed with host families and got to eat the traditional cuisine. My all-time favorite of the week was my house mom’s homemade pico de gallo.  

Belize is such an amazing country. Everyone is so friendly there. You say “hello” to every person you walk past. The trip wasn’t all work; we had free time where we got to visit the Mayan Ruins. They were simply breathtaking. On our last day of the trip, we had a picnic at the waterfalls and also got to learn how chocolate was made.  I could not think of a better way to spend my spring break.  

I am extremely thankful to Andrea Kolb, our adviser, for all the hard work and time that she puts into this program. I highly recommend this program to every student at Penn State Berks. Andrea wasn’t the only faculty member on the trip. We were also joined by our chancellor, Dr. Hillkirk, and his wife, and they worked on the site with us every day. It was great to see the passion for service that every member of the Alternative Spring Break team had. 

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” - Gandhi