Intern Blog

For Penn State students, the past two months have been devastating. They’ve been caught in the harsh glare of a media spotlight since their school was accused of covering up an alleged child-sex abuse scandal involving the football team’s former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky.

So two of those students decided to do something. They wrote a song titled “Childhood Dreams,” created a video and released it on YouTube on Christmas Day.

“There was a lot of hurt going on and the victims are by far the most affected,” said Joe Buyer, who wrote the song with Ronnie Byron. “Our community was also affected in a different way, emotional for both. We originally wrote it for the victims and the community.”

Byron grew up in State College, Pa., where Penn State is located, and she said being a “townie” added to her emotions about the scandal.

“I think, for personal reasons, I had a lot of feelings I never really got out until I wrote the song,” she said. “Being from State College, I actually work for Penn State, I was kind of right in the middle of it. Writing the song was a way for me to start to heal, as well as it would bring healing to others.”

For Buyer, writing the song offered a sense of healing.

“Music is one of the ways I express emotions,” he said. “In the midst of the whole thing, I started to write the song.” 

He wrote the chorus and decided to collaborate with Byron for the rest. They sat down and wrote the song with the victims in the back of their minds.

“I think when I thought about the victims and the kind of pain they were going through, sexual abuse puts such a toll on an individual,” Buyer said. “It doesn’t come up much, so I think I wanted to remind them that yes it did happen, yes it is gross, but it doesn’t define them as a person, it doesn’t make their life less worthy of living or define them as a person.”

He said the scandal has brought up some familiar emotions.

“I have a close connection to someone who has been sexually abused, so those feelings some of the victims go through I’ve experienced, so that’s a big outlet,” he said.

Buyer is heard singing the lead in the song, while Byron sings the harmonies. The piano is played by Byron. The song has gotten over 16,000 views so far, which the co-writers said was part shocking, part expected. 

“I don’t know that I expected all the publicity that has happened. Just the reaction from different organizations, I think that’s been surprising,” Buyer said. “The reaction from the Penn State community, we knew that would happen.”

Buyer got the final mix and created a video of pictures of Penn State and the State College community. He added the track, and then put the video onto YouTube. 

Byron said she and Buyer posted the link on a few people’s Facebook walls and wrote that “if you like it, post it again, if it has a good message.” Byron added that she “had more notifications on Facebook in an hour than I ever had before. It’s so cool to see how awesome it’s been to take off.”

For Byron, one lyric has been the most identifiable for her:

There will be monsters in this world and they will get what they deserve. Just remember they do not decide your worth.

“I felt so attacked from people outside of Penn State who identified the whole school with one man,” Byron said. “I think that I would want others to take that line and put it into perspective and to not take some people’s mistakes and put it on a whole community.”

Buyer added that they are working with an organization dedicated to educating adults on prevention and response to child-sexual abuse, Darkness to Light. Proceeds from the song will go to the organization through a scholarship for people who cannot afford the education.

To view “Childhood Dreams,” click here. If you would like to download the song, you can now buy it on iTunes.