Madison Kwiecinski – Editor-in-Chief 

Mvk5945@psu.edu 

Governor Tom Wolf served two consecutive terms as the elected  Governor of Pennsylvania, but was prohibited from running again for the position due to term limits. Governor Wolf first took office on January 20, 2015 and served in Harrisburg until January 17, 2023. 

Governor Wolf was the 47 Governor of Pennsylvania, and Josh Shapiro will precede him as the 48 Governor of the Keystone state. 

Former Governor Wolf grew up in Pennsylvania in York County, and still presently lives in the home his parents took him too after bringing him home from the hospital when he was born.  

Wolf began his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth, but after two years he took a gap from his studies to join the Peace Corps and serve in a small village in India. He later returned to finish his undergraduate degree, and proceeded to earn graduate degrees from both the University of London and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Wolf also spent a portion of his time working for the family-owned business the Wolf Organization, which was a distributor of building products and lumber. Later in life, he went on to purchase his family business. 

During his time serving the great Keystone state, Governor Wolf promised to accomplish many things. He wanted to fight for better education, improve state finances, advance his innovative policies to improve life for the average family in Pennsylvania, and so much more. 

“When we invest in our schools, we are investing in a brighter future for our children and our commonwealth. That’s why I fought not only for historic education funding, but also for programs to train and develop our workforce,” Governor Wolf stated. “Pennsylvania is on a better path now – not despite all the funding we’ve given education, but because of it. We have shown that investing in our students, our educators, and our workforce pays off with better jobs and more opportunities for everyone.” 

Governor Wolf made education, specifically, a priority during his time in office. He has invested more into education than any previous Governor, and also made the largest single-year funding increase in the history of the Keystone state. Wolf also established the use of the Fair Funding Formula, to help ensure PA schools are funded on an equal basis. 

During his tenure, he also increased the highschool dropout age to 18, and reduced the age in which you are required to enroll in school by six years of age. Wolf also accomplished much more in the realm of education, such as ensuring certain health care officials do not have to pay state income tax on their student loan debt relief and creating more scholarship programs. 

Governor Wolf also pushed through his term to make the voting process in Pennsylvania more accessible to everyone. Wolf launched the online voter registration program which allowed thousands of people the option of registering to vote from the comfort of their homes. 

Gov. Wolf also places a priority on public health and insurance during his term. He saw the PA uninsured rate fall to the lowest it has ever been in history. He even established the Pennie program, which is PA stated-based care that provided affordable coverage to more than 340,000 Pennsylvanians. He also expanded Medicaid, legalized medical marijuana usage, declared a statewide disaster on the opioid epidemic, signed an executive order to protect LGBTQIA+ in Pennsylvania from conversion therapy and managed to navigate the state through a global pandemic. 

Overall, Governor Wolf has left an extensive legacy behind him, and one that Pennyslvanains, despite whatever their opinion on him may be, will not soon forget. 

“I have really enjoyed my time in office, especially the people I have had the honor of interacting with day in and day out,” said Governor Wolf. “We argue, we debate; but at the end of the day, most folks in this building are all working to do what’s right for the people of Pennsylvania. It has been an honor to do this work on behalf of the nearly 13 million Pennsylvanians who call this beautiful state home.”