For years, people across Happy Valley have been trying to solve the same frustrating problem.
“Oh, I wish I had known about that event.”
Or worse, spending an hour searching through eight different calendars just to plan a decent date night.
From alumni and retirees to students, local business owners, and longtime residents, the sentiment is universal. Great events happen every week, yet too often people hear about them only after the seats are empty and the moment has passed.
Now, a team of Penn State students connected to the Penn State Engineering Entrepreneurship program and supported by Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank is helping move the community closer to a shared solution.
The idea began with SnackScout, a project created by Penn State student Lance Streuber. As a hungry and budget conscious college student, Streuber wanted a better way to find campus events that offered a warm meal. What started as a group chat among friends grew into a shared Google Calendar and eventually into a simple website that more students came to rely on.
As usage grew, so did the friction.
“Manually updating the calendar was a massive pain,” Streuber said. “It just didn’t scale.”
Instead of walking away, Streuber began exploring automation. That decision transformed SnackScout from a student survival tool into something more technical and far more scalable.
A pivotal moment came when Brad Groznik, Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Engineering Design and Innovation at Penn State, reached out with a practical question. Could a similar automated system be built for https://www.rediscoverstatecollege.com/ a community focused platform that also depends on timely and accurate event listings?
Streuber built the system. In doing so, he confirmed what many in town already knew. This problem exists everywhere.
Through conversations with fellow Penn State student Ishaan Narang, the broader opportunity came into focus. Together, Streuber and Narang realized that student organizations, nonprofits, municipalities, local media outlets, and platforms like Connect Happy Valley all face the same challenge. Keeping calendars accurate takes enormous effort and often burns through staff time, volunteers, and trust.
The two teamed up to launch Surge Events, a startup focused on making community event calendars fuller, more accurate, and far easier to maintain.
“At Surge Events, we automate the entire event discovery and listing process,” Streuber said. “The calendars our clients publish reflect the events real people want to know about. Concerts, workshops, club meetings, local celebrations, all the things that usually slip through the cracks. It is everything I learned how to do while building SnackScout.”
The approach resonated.
Surge Events recently took first place at the Happy Valley LaunchBox Pitch Competition, earning a $2,000 prize. Judges responded not just to the technology, but to the clarity of the problem and the cooperative mindset behind the solution.
“We have already secured our first client, another in the letter of intent stage, and several demos lined up,” Streuber said. “Surge Events is going to make an impact, and we are starting with event calendars right here around State College.”
The journey, however, was anything but linear.
The co-founders are quick to say they did not get here alone.
“The Engineering Entrepreneurship program really forces you to learn by building and doing,” Streuber said. “You test ideas, they break, you fix them, and you keep going until something actually works.”
Both Streuber and Narang credit a long list of mentors and supporters who helped shape the company along the way. They point to guidance from Brad Groznik and Ted Graef, as well as Kartikey Pandey, a founding member of a Penn State Hackathon team. They also acknowledge the role of Happy Valley LaunchBox leaders and guest speakers Elizabeth Hay, Jason Huber, Shevy Karbasi, and Liz Kisenwether, along with mentorship from Daniel Haverkos and support from the MVP DevLab community.
The project also benefited from hands on classroom work. Early versions of the software were developed and tested in Engineering 407, where Streuber worked alongside teammates Owen, Parth, and Daniel to run customer discovery, test assumptions, and refine the solution based on real feedback.
“That combination of classes, mentors, and LaunchBox support is what turned this into a real product,” Streuber said. “I am having the time of my life building this, and I cannot wait to see where it goes.”
Their progress reflects the strength of Happy Valley’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Through the Penn State Engineering Entrepreneurship program, the team refined customer discovery, problem framing, and storytelling. Support from Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank helped them move beyond a classroom project and toward a startup designed to serve an entire region.
For Connect Happy Valley, this work aligns directly with its mission.
Connect Happy Valley is now using Surge Events’ software as part of its platform to help alumni, retirees, local business owners, residents, and students get out and experience what makes Happy Valley special. Not just online, but in real rooms, at real events, with real people.
There is something especially fitting about the solution emerging from Penn State students themselves. It is a reminder that the entrepreneurial ecosystem here does not just create companies. It creates tools that strengthen community life.
If successful, this shared effort could finally help retire one of Happy Valley’s most common refrains.
“Oh, I wish I had known about that.”
And replace it with something better.
“I am glad I did not miss that.”
To see the results in action, check out Connect Happy Valley’s improved community calendar and start planning what you will do next.
