Quick Summary
Main focus: continuing weekly media coverage, meeting Emma and Dan Perritano to discuss their upcoming fundraising walk for Gliding Stars, and filming a “day in the life” project that included documenting Monday night practices.
Meeting Emma & Dan
This week I had the opportunity to meet Emma and Dan Perritano, who are longtime supporters of Gliding Stars and are preparing for a major fundraising walk benefiting the organization.
Linda had apparently already mentioned to Dan that I would be helping redesign the Gliding Stars website, so he wanted to introduce himself, explain their story, and discuss potentially adding information about their fundraising efforts to the future website.
Emma and Dan’s story is honestly incredible.
Through their organization, Emma & Dan’s Journey, they travel to schools and organizations sharing lessons about perseverance, positivity, disability awareness, and goal-setting through stories, music, and interactive presentations.
Over the past decade, they have completed multiple long-distance walks together across entire states, including Colorado, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. Emma rides in a customized running chair while Dan pushes and walks alongside her for hundreds of miles at a time.
This June, they are planning another major walk—crossing the entire state of Ohio, from the Pennsylvania border all the way to Michigan—to raise money for Gliding Stars of Erie.
Dan explained that their walks have already raised thousands of dollars for nonprofit organizations over the years, and they hoped this year’s effort could help bring additional support and visibility to Gliding Stars locally.
I told them I would absolutely keep their project in mind while planning the future website rebuild and that I would be happy to help showcase their efforts online.
Learning More About the Community Around Gliding Stars
One thing that has become increasingly clear throughout this internship is how interconnected the Gliding Stars community really is.
Almost every conversation seems to lead to another story, another family connection, or another person who has been impacted by the organization in some way.
One example of that for me personally is Sarah.
Every Monday night, my mom helps Sarah get ready near the entrance before practice begins, so I usually stop to say hello when I arrive. Sarah always seems genuinely happy to see me since she has known me for most of my life.
Moments like that continue reminding me that Gliding Stars is much more than just a skating program. For many families, it is a long-term community and support system that becomes part of their weekly lives for years.
Filming a “Day in the Life” Project
This week I also used Monday night practice as part of a separate class project for another COMM course at Behrend.
The assignment involved creating a short “day in the life” style video, and because Mondays are usually my busiest days, I thought it would be a good opportunity to include parts of my Gliding Stars internship work.
I spent the day documenting different parts of my schedule, including classes, media work, and Monday night practice at Mercyhurst Ice Center.
By this point, showing up with a camera had become completely normal at Gliding Stars, so filming additional footage for the project did not really disrupt anything or attract much attention.
One interesting challenge during editing was that the final video was intended for potential use on Penn State Behrend social media channels. Because of that, I had to blur or avoid visible Mercyhurst branding throughout portions of the footage, which was understandable but definitely added some extra editing work.
The video ultimately was never posted publicly, but it was still valuable experience both creatively and professionally. It also gave me another opportunity to practice documenting the atmosphere of Gliding Stars in a more natural, documentary-style way.
Reflection
This week reinforced how many stories exist within the Gliding Stars community beyond what is immediately visible on the ice.
Meeting Emma and Dan showed me another side of the organization’s impact—how people continue finding creative ways to support and advocate for the program far beyond weekly skating practices.
It also reminded me that one of the biggest strengths of media work is the ability to connect people to stories they otherwise never would have heard.
As I continue gathering footage and meeting more people involved with the organization, I’m realizing that the hardest part will not be finding meaningful stories to tell—it will be deciding which ones to focus on first.
Next Steps
- Continue documenting Monday night practices through video and photography
- Begin organizing footage and ideas gathered over the past several weeks
- Continue developing short-form storytelling and promotional concepts
- Learn more about the people and families connected to Gliding Stars
- Continue planning for future website content and organization