Author: Casey Ryan, C’95
Today is the Penn Traditions Move-In Lunch behind Sweeten. Parents, proud of their kids, are spending the last possible moments together before they return for home. They are bidding their freshman children adieu until Fall Break, Parents Weekend, Thanksgiving, or, for some, the end of the semester. In the meantime, the students will return to their dorm room to negotiate who will take which bed, to discuss their studying habits and to learn more about this stranger cum friend whom they’ve been paired.
With the start of the academic year upon us, this inspired me to share with you my favorite student perspective blog entries from the last year, written by our Sweeten House student workers.
10. CBI? – Jonathan Cousins, Eng’14
I was amused that to this day students mock Penn’s affinity for acronyms, however in the daily life of students, one can be stumped by the appearance of a new one. CBI is the College Basketball Invitational, a postseason tournament in which Penn competed last year.
9. My Life as a (Pretend) Wharton Student – Kayleigh Smoot, C’13
One of our work study students, majoring in psychology, made a commitment to take Wharton classes during her time on campus.
8. Top 4 Things I’m Looking Forward to Next Semester – Jonathan Cousins, Eng’14
I enjoyed this anticipatory look at the then upcoming Spring 2012 semester, full of sports, social activities and Fling!
7. State of the (Union?) School – Dan Bernick, C‘14
The first of three of Dan’s blog entries on the list, this blog focuses on student government at Penn and the State of the School in which the six branches of Penn Student Government to discuss their accomplishments and plans for the year ahead.
6. Midwestern charm meets the Ben Franklin Bridge: A Chicago Girl in Philly – Mari Meyer, GEd’12
I was charmed (pun intended) by our graduate intern’s take on her time in Philadelphia and how she drew comfortable parallels with her beloved Chicago.
5. Penn vs. Yale – The Trials of a Quaker Fan – Dan Bernick, C’14
Outside of coursework and learning, the drama of our Penn sports team provide some of the need escape from the stresses on campus. Though we all know how this game ended, it’s still the hope of a fan that his or her team will succeed and that’s what keeps him or her coming back.
4. Fall at Penn – Sabrina Shyn, C’13
Sabrina’s photo blog entries are always poignant moments of Penn still life, and just in time for fall, I wanted to share this photo entries on my list.
3. September at Penn – Dan Bernick, SAS ’14
To balance out Jonathan’s wishful blog for the future, I wanted to share Dan’s happy reminiscent blog about a charming first month at Penn.
2. Eine schöne Sprache – John Mosley, C’14
As a linguistics major, I am always proud of students who absolutely love learning a language here at Penn, especially where there are so many different ones available to study!
1. To Sleep or Not to Sleep? – Christine Uyemera, C ’13
“To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub.” In this Hamlet allusion titled entry, Christine tackled the question student asked themselves universally in a humorous take on how the sleep deprived cope.
Frankly Penn 