Yearly Archives: 2011

June 9, 2011 · 5:39 pm

I Remember…Facebook

Author: Elizabeth Kimmelman, C’04

Second semester of my senior year, I had the best time of my life and was also an emotional wreck. I was distraught at the thought of the inevitable end to college and saying goodbye to Penn (if you’ve read my commencement article, you know this culminated in a tear-filled hysterical graduation). With a couple months left to go senior year, there was this article in the DP about something called “Facebook” coming to Penn. I remember thinking, “What a stupid name for a website, the facebooks are those things we got freshman year” and then I pretty much ignored the article. This said a lot, considering that I was a second semester senior and all I did during class was read the DP.

A few weeks later, facebook hit Penn. I didn’t immediately sign up for it because it just seemed so weird. Why would my roommate have to be my facebook friend when I could just walk next door to her room and say hi? What was the point? A few days later, my friend, appalled with what I had been missing out on, bluntly told me, “Elizabeth, this thing is awesome. Just do it. And it’s only at Ivy League schools, so it’s really exclusive and cool” (watch the movie,  The Social Network. The exclusivity thing was a marketing tool for them and it totally worked). I added in my own argument that it might be a nice way to stay in touch with people after graduation, and, by the end of the day, I had an account. Madness ensued.

Do you remember when you signed up for facebook for the first time? Remember how much fun it was to find your (real) friends and how neat it was to connect with someone you hadn’t seen for years? Imagine all of this becoming available to you a month before before college graduation. What better way to cope with your anxiety about graduation than “friending” every person you ever met at Penn. Wondering what will happen to the cute guy from music class you figured you’d never see again? Facebook friends! Nervous that you’ll never talk to one of your good acquaintances once you move to L.A. and she moves to NYC? Facebook friends!

Once you became friends with someone, you’d look at all of their friends and find even more people who weren’t actually your friends and realize you HAD to be facebook friends with them. It became absolutely necessary to be “friends” with every girl in your sorority, every single person from your classes (you could sort by class in the early days), anyone who lived in your dorm freshman year, etc. Every time I opened my email, there were at least 20 unread messages with friend requests.

Some people tried to make rules like, “I won’t request friends, I’ll just accept requests” or “I won’t join until after I graduate.” Those rules lasted about a day. Facebook was a tidal wave and everyone got swept up in it.

It seems silly now that facebook was such a big deal, especially because back then it didn’t really do anything. There was a profile, relationship status and you could “poke” someone (a concept I still do not understand). There were no walls to write, no photos to upload, no groups, fanpages, or newsfeeds. Yet, it was fascinating. There was something so captivating about connecting with all of these people I went to school with for four years. I have 803 facebook friends. I promise you, I’m not that cool. I just happened to be part of this wave that swept Penn for a month back in 2004.

The first iteration of Facebook. See? Not much to it.

When I started working in Alumni Relations, I tried making another one of those silly facebook rules – that I wouldn’t be friends with my volunteers. That rule lasted for a few months, until I realized that facebook was a vital part of my job. We use group pages and fan pages to build class unity and promote our reunions. We ask questions like, “Who was your favorite professor?” so that classmates can easily start up conversations for the first time in twenty-five years. We get our playlists for reunion parties by starting facebook discussions about music they want to hear at reunion. I think the connections that alumni are making on facebook now are so much more meaningful than the frantic “GRADUATION IS COMING” connections that were forged during my senior year. People genuinely want to talk to each other and get back in touch.  Maybe even with that boy they had a crush on from their music class…

Class of 1986's Facebook Page for Their 25th Reunion

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June 8, 2011 · 4:08 pm

Beyond the Working Week…

Author: Emily Siegel

Every Monday morning, the Alumni Relations staff gathers for a quick meeting to brief everyone on the comings and goings of the upcoming week.  It’s a great time to get everyone on the same page, but truth be told, my favorite part of our pow-wow is when we all just begin to gather.  It’s fun to catch up and hear what everyone has been up to.  And let me tell you, the diversity of interests and talents in our small office continues to amaze me.  From a salsa dancer, to a jazz musician, to a bass fisher, to a marathon runner – it’s quite a talented group!  It sure makes a girl feel like she should get out there and try something too.  So, last winter, inspired by my co-workers, I joined The Savoy Company, the oldest amateur theater company in the world dedicated solely to performing Gilbert & Sullivan productions.

Since the theater has been a staple in Philly since 1901, I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn how many Penn connections were in the group.  Several members are Penn alumni, and there are least three Penn staff members in our current production. Our very own VP of Alumni Relations, Hoopes Wampler, even has a connection to Savoy – his dad and sister are past performers!

Each spring, Savoy performs one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 13 musicals.  This spring, we are performing Iolanthe, or the Peer and the Peri, the seventh of their collaborations.  Advertised as “An Entirely Original Fairy Opera,” Iolanthe recounts the conflict between the immortal fairies and the mortal peers.  Centered around the hero and heroine:  Strephon, a half-mortal whose mother is Iolanthe of the Fairy Court, and Phyllis, a ward of the Lord Chancellor of the English Court, who is unaware of Strephon’s fairy heritage, the opera lampoons both the English House of Lords and the idea of political parties in a bouncy and amiable manner that it is all received in good fun.

Having given an award-winning performance as “littlest girl” in last year’s production of Ruddigore (okay, maybe not award- winning), I was cast this year as a member of the fairy chorus, entitling me to a wand that lights up, sparkly silver shoes, and a lime green wig!  The staff of Penn Alumni Relations is always quite supportive of each other and our various interests, and true to form, a whole crew came out to see the show on opening night.  They even stuck around to see me in my costume:

See if you can guess which one I am...

After a great run at the Academy of Music, we’ve moved our set out to Longwood Gardens and are now preparing for our final weekend of performances.   It’s making for some long days and nights, but it’s all well worth it.  Now that the show is wrapping up, I’m excited to have time to support my Alumni Relations colleagues in their interests too…and who knows, maybe soon you’ll hear from our salsa dancer, jazz musician, bass fisher, or marathon runner!

P.S.  If you’re interested in seeing the show, there are still a few seats left for our June 10& 11 performances at Longwood Gardens. You can buy tickets at www.savoy.org.

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June 7, 2011 · 6:06 pm

The Carillon and I

Author: Jason Strohl

Song carts for the Carillon. Original tape based format on left, current digital format on right.

I have a special relationship in my life. Besides my wife, co-workers, and cats, there is one other who needs my attention from time to time. That is the Penn Carillon. Since its grand un-boxing in mid-2004, we have been through dozens of song updates, a few daylight saving time changes, a brief outage caused by wire-munching squirrels, and even an on-campus wedding where the bride and groom requested that I program the Carillon to play Beatles songs to cap off their special day. Even as I type this, the Carillon sits next to me, dutifully waiting for the clock to chime out a reminder of the time across College Green. We are inseparable, and this is the Carillon’s story, in brief.

The original carillon.

If you have been on campus for any length of time since 2004 when the old Carillon was replaced with a newer model, then you have probably heard Westminster bells chiming on the hour, and popular songs ringing out at exactly noon and 6 PM each day.  Though real bells have never been used to my knowledge, the old Carillon was a large machine housed in our basement here at the Sweeten Alumni House. The original Carillon was donated in the late 80s by Michel T. Huber, W’53, ASC’56, (former Director of Alumni Relations), and alumni and friends, in memory of Mr. Huber’s daughter, Michelle, ENG’87, W’87, and fiance, Bryan D. Giles, ENG’87, W’87, who lost their lives in a car accident approximately one year after graduation. For years, the Carillon would sound out the time throughout campus, with speakers on Irvine, Grad Towers, and other locations, until one day in the late 90s when it ceased to function.

The new carillon.

Fast forward to 2004 when the new Carillon was purchased and installed, made possible again through a generous donation from Mr. Huber. New speakers were placed on top of the Sweeten House, and a fantastic repertoire of popular and traditional songs were loaded onto the machine’s now computerized memory (the old Carillon worked off of magnetic tapes) to supplement the traditional Westminster chimes. Recently I realized that after many years of listening to the same songs twice a day (Bridge over Troubled Water is a fantastic song when set to bells, but after the 60th time or so it gets a bit old) it was time to consult the song catalog and freshen up the list of tunes that the Carillon is capable of playing.

Next time you are on campus at noon I hope you will drop by College Green to enjoy John William’s score for Star Wars…Carillon-style.

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June 7, 2011 · 2:58 pm

PennMOVES Turned Trash into Treasures

Author: Stephanie Yee, C’08

This past Saturday, I volunteered for the morning shift at PennMOVES. The goal of PennMOVES is to help Penn students find a home for items they can’t take with them when they leave campus at the end of the school year. The program does this in a way that is socially responsible and environmentally aware. PennMOVES collects usable items, such as clothes, furniture, kitchen gear, and non-perishable food items in order to help West Philadelphians and other nearby communities in need. This year, Penn collaborated with Goodwill Industries, and all of the proceeds from the sale went to support Goodwill’s local job training programs. Since its inception in 2008, PennMOVES has collected close to 300,000 pounds of items. Imagine all that stuff in a landfill!

The sale was scheduled to begin at 10:00AM. Admission was free, but bargain hunters could pay a $5 early bird admission fee to get in between 8:00AM and 10:00AM. I arrived at 7:15AM for my 7:30AM shift, and shoppers were already lined up outside with their personal shopping carts.

At 8:10AM, we started to see some activity, but not much was happening in the checkout line (AKA my post).

A Quiet Start

By 8:36AM, it was packed.

Full House

This was the 4th year of PennMOVES. I volunteered two years ago when the sale was at the Penn Ice Rink, but this year, the sale was moved to a warehouse at 3401 Grays Ferry Avenue. Initially, I was skeptical about this new location because the Penn Ice Rink is huge and is in such a convenient location for staff, volunteers, and shoppers. However, as soon as I showed up at 3401 Grays Ferry, I knew the move was genius. One major improvement was the addition of a clothing room. The organizers did such a great job sorting all of the clothing. The room looked like it could be a real store.

The left side of the clothing room

Right side of clothing room

By 10:45AM, the main room had almost cleared out. I couldn’t believe how many items had already sold.

Quiet Once Again

I can’t wait to find out how much money PennMOVES raised for Goodwill. It’s never easy waking up early on a Saturday morning, but it was worth it to see all the happy faces leaving the sale and to see items quickly disappear from the warehouse. PennMOVES turned trash into treasures and helped the community and the environment at the same time. Now that’s what I call shopping for a great cause.

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June 6, 2011 · 4:03 pm

Alumni Voices

Author: Kelly Graf

One of the perks of my job at Penn is that I get to meet and learn about some of our very dedicated and generous proud Penn alumni. Every other month, I interview one of our Ivy Stone Society members for the Society’s newsletter, the Ivy Stone Insider. Every interview reveals fascinating details about the individual including why they came to Penn and why they give
back to the University. Today, I am happy to share one of these profiles with you!

Name: Caroline Finger
School/Class Year: C’07

Where Are You Now?
I currently live in New York City and work for an affordable housing redevelopment non-profit. I’m also working towards a Master’s degree in Real Estate at NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.

What made you choose Penn when you first enrolled?
Choosing Penn was a simple decision. As a legacy, my positive experiences stretch as far back as I can remember, and I had the Penn wardrobe as a child to reflect that. However, my decision to ultimately choose Penn was far more individualized. As a prospective student-athlete, I knew Penn would provide the perfect balance between top-notch academics and competitive athletics, with an administration, faculty and coaching staff that took both pride in and supported their student-athletes. This coupled with the University’s location within one of the nation’s most celebrated cities made my decision to choose Penn extremely easy.

Your history of giving definitely makes you a Proud Penn Donor. When did you first start giving to The Penn Fund and what prompted you to make The Penn Fund a priority?
My first gift to The Penn Fund was made as part of the Class of 2007’s gift drive. The beauty of Penn is that it is an expansive University with a diversity of experiences to be had by all students. Rather than focus all of my giving towards the particular experiences which positively benefited my time as an undergraduate, I find it important to support The Penn Fund, whose mission is aligned with the overall undergraduate student experience.

What has inspired you to continue giving every year?
Although I’ve graduated, the University continues to afford me many services and opportunities, and my connection to Penn continues to grow. I view my giving to The Penn Fund as not only a thank you for the University’s continued support but also as a personal pledge to current and future Penn students and graduates to help provide them with the benefits that have been made available to me.

What is your favorite memory of Penn?
It is impossible to pin-point a singular favorite memory of Penn. Aside from attending my first basketball game at the Palestra at the age of 4, other memorable moments were my first regular season game freshman year at Franklin Field wearing the Penn uniform as a member of the Penn Women’s Lacrosse team, my summer semester abroad in Florence and living in such close proximity to all of my closest friends. However, of all of those memories, it is hard not to include the graduation ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences where the large screen flashing the name and major of each graduating student froze on mine for approximately 10 minutes.

What advice do you have for current students at Penn?
College has its stressful and challenging moments, but it should not be defined by those moments. If, for whatever reason, you find yourself overwhelmed, pull the lens back and realize that you are at an amazing university, living in a remarkable city and among life-long friends. Your undergraduate years should not be entirely about the books, so try to absorb as much of the full Penn experience as possible to ensure you have the best time. Be mindful that in a few years you will undoubtedly wish you could do it all over again, so make sure to enjoy it while it lasts.

How would you advise Penn students to give back and how would you stress the importance of it?
First and foremost, giving to Penn is not measured by a dollar amount. There are many different ways to give back to the University and each way is just as important as the next. It is evident that Penn’s support systems have been largely provided to its students and graduates through the generosity of its alumni; and as recent graduates it is imperative to continue and build upon that mission.

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June 2, 2011 · 4:38 pm

The Summer is for Traditions Too!

Author: Lex Ruby Howe, C’07

Penn is a place of year-round traditions.

From the Econ Scream to Hey Day, these traditions fill up the days and nights of our undergraduate students. The summer is no different – traditions abound – and the good news is that our alumni can delight in them too.

Each summer, Penn’s regional clubs across the U.S. host annual events – or traditions – to excite their members. Many of these clubs host send off receptions for incoming freshman, welcome receptions for recently graduated seniors who are landing there after a summer vacation. Added to that are the multitude of networking opportunities run every year by the Trustees Council of Penn Women.

This year, Penn Alumni and the Young Penn Alumni (y-Penn) program are starting traditions in Boston and Washington D.C. On June 11, D.C. will host one of the signature alumni events known as the “HighBall” – and they’re expecting over 200 people to turn out and reunite. Boston young alumni are borrowing a campus tradition – the famous wine-tasting preceptorials – and are throwing an “Arts & Wine Night” at Boston’s International Poster Gallery.

If you’re looking for something to do, check out the alumni website for more information on these. Worst case scenario, if you can’t make any of the events, think about throwing toast at your next board meeting! Happy summer!

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June 2, 2011 · 3:36 pm

City Girl?

Author: Tory Gobat, SEAS’10

The other day, my parents drove in to Philly in my dad’s pickup truck, a trailer in tow, to help me pack away most of what I own for moving. I pointed out my toenails to my mom. The night before, I had painted them a shiny royal blue (taking up time I could have used for packing…). She said, “Those make you look like a city girl to me.”

Six years ago, I was amidst my complex search for the “right” college. Part of the challenge in this quest was trying to find an institution that would allow me to pursue a major that was neither common nor clearly defined. I wanted something to do with computers, and graphics, but not too artsy since I rather lack talent in that area… Also, I wanted to be part of a marching band. During high school, I played in one and only grew to love that experience more and more. It became a must-have college criterion.

I didn’t have too many other preferences in college features, except I was sure I did not want to be in a city environment. Having spent my whole life  in one house in a small town, surrounded by nothing much but other small towns (and some shopping centers), city life seemed to be a big, scary, and unsafe experience.

Flash forward to this past spring. It’s freezing cold, and I’m late. Stalwartly positioned on the familiar corner where Locust Walk becomes Locust Street, I peer up 40th Street, hoping to see for the golden display on a city bus reading: “40 2-LOMBARD.” Over time, I’ve learned that certain  SEPTA buses are off schedule sometimes, but I’m hoping one might be coming soon. I’ve made an amazing number of trips on SEPTA now: buses, trolleys, and subways. I haven’t patronized a wide variety of routes, but navigating those I do take has become second nature. In fact, I’ve just purchased my June 2011 monthly pass, demarcating completion of my first full year of regularly riding SEPTA.

Every day, I swipe and step onto a SEPTA vehicle of some kind; crossing paths with numerous other city dwellers. “City dweller.” Is that who I am now? Penn provided my fledgling urban living experiment. It wasn’t an easy road: my first subway ride into Center City was made on the command of a friend, who dragged me to Chris’ Jazz Café because I had to see and write about a live jazz performance for the Jazz Style & History course I was taking. I realize now that my ventures off campus over the years remained relatively few in number and limited in scope.

Nonetheless, the Penn environment was the stepping stone I needed. I was (and still am) in love with the beautiful campus area surrounding Locust Walk. There, I felt protected from the streets when I so desired. But the bounding streets (34th, Spruce, 40th, Walnut) were of course just a block away in any direction, and I crossed them daily.

For the past year after graduation, I resided with fellow Penn students/grads of my same year, just a couple blocks west of campus.  Starting June 3 though, I will be a new resident of Center City. Leaving University City for Center City feels like the final step in detachment from Penn — certainly not that I want to be away from it. But one of my key motivations for staying (i.e. living and working full-time) in Philadelphia was to explore the city much more fully than I had done while living on campus. I have since made some progress and am eager for more; settling in this new spot will be one more step along the way.

So, am I a city girl now? I don’t think I can totally claim that title yet (and perhaps not for awhile). But I do know that I am truly enjoying the process, and am grateful for the critical part that my Penn experience has given me.

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June 1, 2011 · 1:52 pm

No Students, No Lines

Author: Bart Miltenberger, C’97

Since the spring semester ended, an eerie quiet has descended on campus.  And, though it’s strange to head down Locust Walk and see only a few summer students around, there are certain aspects of life at Penn that do become a little easier when the students are gone. For me, one of those advantages is short lines at the food trucks.

When I first came to Penn, I was a little skeeved out by the concept of the food truck. Where these things even remotely sanitary? Well, maybe, maybe not. But I can tell you that since my first food truck meal back in 1993, I have probably eaten from food trucks a couple thousand times and never gotten sick once. I absolutely can’t say the same for restaurant eating.

Here are my current top three recommendations in case you happen to be near West Philly any time soon:

Don Memo’s (38th Street just north of Walnut) – corn flour tacos and burritos as big as your forearm. The ingredients are fresh. They cut up the avocado and chop the tomatoes and cilantro right there in front of you while they make your food. It’s not the cheapest truck around, and the workers are fairly slow, but when the lines are short, you can get your order in ten minutes. Much better than the usual 45 minutes during the school year. If students are willing to wait that long with their busy schedules,you know the food is good. In fact, it’s easily one of the best trucks at Penn and probably in the whole city.

Magic Carpet (at the bottom of Locust Walk at 34th and Walnut) – the line for this vegetarian food truck can be 25 or 30 people long during the school year. At lunch today, there were only five or six people in line. The food is prepared fresh every morning at an off-site kitchen. The workers are friendly (one is the owner), and they always play music to listen to while you wait. My favorite dish is the Magic Meatball “meal” which consists of tofu meatballs cooked in a marinara sauce served over mixed rice (brown and long grain) and vegetables. And a nice warm piece of pita bread. It’s delicious, although the garlic and onion content is rather high so when I go home and kiss my wife she always seems to know when I’ve had the Magic Meatball. Even gum doesn’t help. Oh, well. It’s a fair price to pay for a great and healthy meal.

Hemo’s (on Spruce Street just below the 37th Street entrance to the Quad) – this truck mainly features grilled chicken sandwiches served on long hoagie rolls. On the surface, nothing all that special…that is until they top it off with “Hemo Sauce.” My discriminating palate tells me that Hemo Sauce is probably a mix of mayonnaise and a sweet Dijon mustard. That’s it. But somehow, it does make the sandwich taste really good.  And Hemo’s also makes a delicious egg and cheese breakfast sandwich too.

Check them out, if you can. Just keep it between us, so we can keep the lines manageable over these next few student-free months.

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May 31, 2011 · 6:58 pm

Penn Fine Arts Abroad

Thanks to a generous gift by Howard A. Silverstein, W’69, and his wife, Patricia Belznak Silverstein, C’81, PennDesign students have been able to participate in the Howard A. Silverstein and Patricia Belznak Silverstein Studios Abroad. Offered every two years, these studios allow a number of undergraduates and graduates from Penn Design the rare opportunity to travel to an exciting, developing city and immerse themselves in its sights and culture.

In 2009, several friends of mine were able to go to Beijing, China where they lived and created work (and blogged). When they returned from the trip, jet-lagged and dazed, I was amazed by the stories, videos and images they shared as they unpacked all their equipment and files–it took every ounce of self-control I could muster not to feel terribly jealous. Several weeks later, I was equally floored at how quickly they were able to turn around work for the gallery show.

PennDesign in the Forbidden City, Beijing

East West South North - show card

The work was surprising, beautiful and inspiring.  The show received a review from the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Penn’s President Amy Gutmann viewed the show with commentary by the artists. Click here to view more photos from her visit to the gallery.

Student describing work to Penn President Amy Gutmann

This year, fourteen undergraduate and graduate students traveled to Mumbai, India to create work for Populous Flows. Again, I was floored by the beauty, color and life in the images and videos. Again, I could really only act like I wasn’t completely and utterly jealous that these students, faculty members and staff were able to experience Mumbai so closely.

Penn Design in Agra, India

The following images were created by a faculty member and a staff member–both of whom I truly admire and respect. The first image was taken with and iPhone and does the piece absolutely no justice. I apologize…

Image from Populous Flows

And amid the hustle and bustle of life and color in the students’ work–to me, this image rounded out the experience, and made it all seem just a bit more human:

Sam Belkowitz - from Populous Flows

Populous Flows is on view at Charles Addams gallery until July 12, 2011. Anyone can view the show 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you have any interest in photography, art or India, I strongly encourage you to visit!

Populous Flows - Mumbai trip show

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May 30, 2011 · 9:00 am

They Call It Summer Vacation

Author: Matt G., W’14

Finals are over; alumni weekend completed; graduation finished; so what’s next?

This thing they call “summer vacation.”

Summer vacation used to be exactly that: vacation. During the summer when I was a kid, we would spend summers hanging out with friends, swimming, watching time slip by. But when college hit, that all changed. Now, the word “vacation” has become a trick, a lie really. Summer is no longer for lying around, but rather it’s the time for a workplace change. Instead of sitting in a classroom taking notes, or studying in a library, we are on computers in offices or conducting experiments in labs. Or in my case, removing all the drywall in my home (internship doesn’t start for another couple weeks and my mom has put me to work).

Even though this is my first “college summer,” I think that I’m starting to understand why it’s so important to have a break from school. On top of the work experience and resume building, it reminds me of what I’m going to have to face in the real world. No matter how demanding school becomes, at the end of the day, it is still fun. These next three years will be the only three years for a long time, that I will be able to make mistakes without worry of being fired from a job.

But with all that said, the cliche still holds true at Penn: here, students work hard and play harder. No matter where we’re working, I’m sure we’ll all find a way to have a good time and…and somehow, to still have our summer vacation.

What I'm Doing for Summer Vacation

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