August 9, 2012
State College, Pa. Just a month shy from its 11-year anniversary, and a week shy from PRS founder Ryan Buell’s collegiate move to Penn State, Buell and the PRS headquarters will be saying farewell to Happy Valley, the nickname for State College, home of Penn State.
“It is one of the saddest moments of my life, as I’ve called this place my second home and eventually my permanent home for the better part of a decade,” Buell wrote in an internal e-mail to PRS staff and alumni today. Buell and PRS announced their move earlier this summer to friends, family and staff, and later through online social media.
PRS will establish its headquarters in Raleigh, NC, which will see Buell return to the Carolina’s where he was raised (in South Carolina, respectfully). Associate Director Sergey Poberezhny as well as a couple other full-time staff members are also relocating. Raleigh, NC will also be the host to the upcoming online project, THE PRS BUREAU.
Buell said the move from State College was inevitable. Buell graduated in 2006 and continued taking higher education classes. In 2008, PRS announced its official split from Penn State. That same year, Buell and Poberezhny visited Raleigh and instantly connected with the capital city.
“As much as I love Penn State and have lived through so much with this amazing town, I knew about four or five years ago that I wanted to move back down south and also live in a city,” said Buell. “We put it off for a couple years because we were so busy and then in January I felt that the timing was right to move in the summer.”
It will be some time for PRS to make its official transition to Raleigh. Buell and Poberezhny (who moved to State College in 2004) are still making plans for the move, and additional staff members will follow suit. “It probably won’t be until sometime in September til we are moved in,” said Poberezhny.
Along with a new location, PRS also plans to announce new additions to the team and board of directors.
Founding PRS member Eilfie Music, who announced her engagement last month, plans to stay in State College for the time being, although she has always expressed interest in moving to the south, especially New Orleans. Buell, who moved to Penn State at 19, just turned 30 last month.
“We’re calling this move ‘PRS: Mid-Life Crisis,’” Poberezhny joked, who joined PRS at age 20 (now 28).
Raleigh has a population of nearly half-a-million people, and is part of the “Research Triangle,” making up of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill and is home to more than a couple major universities such as Duke, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and NC State. The three cities, all side by side, make up an area of nearly 2 million people. Buell vows that although he is curious about the college football scene in the Raleigh area, he plans to continue supporting his alma mater’s football team, the Nittany Lions, despite the Sandusky controversy.
“I think I will always have a direct connection with Penn State,” said Buell. “Anything I do will reflect on the school, as the show’s ["Paranormal State"] opening credits have always cited my Penn State ties. And vice-versa.” Buell said he is sometimes called the “Penn State guy.” In 2011, Buell wrote an exclusive piece for “The Huffington Post,” where Buell interviewed the mother of one of the victims. Now, however, he “hates” hearing the name Sandusky and tries to avoid reading too much about the scandal. Buell believes that the Sandusky scandal does not represent Penn State as a whole.
Buell said he plans to visit Penn State in the fall for at least one football game and visit old friends. “It’ll be weird to be coming back to Penn State as a visitor, and to look at old campus buildings and say to myself or others around me, ‘oh look, that’s where we held our first meeting. That’s the old street I used to live on.’ It’s very sad, but I’m excited to come back and visit and you never know, maybe one day I’ll be back.”
Buell, Poberezhny and PRS say goodbye this weekend, and PRS.org will be there to release articles, photos and videos. Stay tuned for more…
Just after they move to the new location. they r at the retreat in the MOTHMAN city when they got robbed. WHAT A NICE WECLOME. LOL :-(
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