[5] Onward State has been cited in the New York Times,[6] USA TODAY,[7] ESPN,[8] The Washington Post,[9] and many other national news outlets.

"[10] Its staff size, including a handful of internally selected editors, fluctuates every semester but generally settles at around 45 people, all Penn State students.

The concept for Onward State was spearheaded by Shaver, who believed that other local media outlets were not adapting quickly enough to the digital age.

[17] Blogger Alison Go of U.S. News & World Report organized the online contest "Best Alternative Media Outlet" at the beginning of 2009 and Onward State beat blogs from UC Berkeley, Vassar, Wesleyan, Columbia, Georgetown, Middlebury, Yale, and an Ivy League conglomerate.

"[21] On September 21, 2009, after a campus-wide search, Onward State was the first media outlet to report the tragic news that freshman Joe Dado had been found dead in a campus stairwell.

[28] In March 2011, Onward State was sold to a local company called Lazerpro Digital Media Group to ensure sustainability after its original founders graduated and to improve its resources.

[30] The traffic surge was so overwhelming that the website's server crashed as it handled approximately ten times the normal number of readers.

[32] On January 21, 2012, Onward State's official Twitter account tweeted "Our sources can now confirm: Joseph Vincent Paterno has passed away tonight at the age of 85.

[39] During a campaign rally on the University of Pittsburgh's campus in April 2016, future president Donald J. Trump asked the crowd "How's Joe Paterno?

"[40] When asked to clarify the question, a campaign spokesperson said that Trump was referring to the bronze statue of Joe Paterno that formerly stood in front of Beaver Stadium "that they melted down," which errantly referenced a fictitious Onward State April Fool's Day story from the previous year as fact.