By Kiera Reilly, C’93
We are playing catch-up in our #93tothe25th count-down…the weekend of December 2-3, 2016, was the, “75 Weeks To Go,” mark.
How do we keep track of all these dates and weeks – look ahead to our reunion that is in 2018 and also look back on the things we did last month? With calendars! These days, more often than not our calendars are accessible through our phones or on our computers. There are electronic and online resources galore to note days, weeks and months, appointments, schedules, and meetings, etc. How did we manage when we were students at Penn? Before the internet was really a thing?
I kept track of my day-to-day schedule in the spiral-bound Penn Planner, designed and produced by Penn Student Agencies. And, because I save everything, I went through my box of Penn things and found one of my planners from the 1991-1992 school year!
The Penn Planner
The 1991-1992 Penn Planner, produced by Penn Student Agencies.
When I opened it up, I flipped through to see what I noted. None of my classes were listed on my daily schedule, which was odd. I marked going to the movies, out to dinner with friends, or a student performing art group.
You can see my activities for a week in March here.
The week of March 16, 1992 as noted in the Penn Planner
When I flipped through the planner, I found a page at the back for noting my classes. I guess since I went to the same classes every week, I didn’t need to note them on the weekly schedule.
Fall Semester classes noted at the back of the Penn Planner
Penn Students Produced the Penn Planner
In the front of the planner, I was surprised to see the students responsible for its production – Belinda Bentzin, C’92, (now Belinda Buscher) and our classmate John Hawkins, C’93!
The inside cover of the 1991-1992 Penn Planner
I asked Belinda and John what they remembered about putting the planner together. Here are Belinda’s thoughts (and John said he agreed with what she said):
I totally remember that! I stayed on campus the summer of ’91 and worked with a team of people to put together the wall calendar and weekly planner, as well as the printed Penn directory. Both were sold in the bookstore, as well as directly to people all over campus. For the planner that year, we decided to select old photographs from the Penn archives and then we laid everything out, with the help of Vince Cipollone, who had graduated in May ’91 but wanted to stay working on campus that summer until he started his “real” job. We probably printed several thousand of the weekly planners. I remember it was a really fun summer job and I rented a room in the Alpha Chi Rho house for the summer. I’m sure I still have a copy of two of the planner lying around and probably the directory and wall calendar, too!
Lea Salonga at Penn
Looking at my schedule from this particular week in March, I saw that I noted the Lea Salonga event with Connaissance. Connaissance invited Ms. Salonga to speak at Penn as she was the then-star of the Tony Award-winning musical, “Miss Saigon,” on Broadway. I found a few pictures from that event.
Tony Award-winner Lea Salonga speaking at the Harold Prince Theater at Penn, March 1992.
Brian Fan, W’92, accompanies Ms. Salonga on piano
Connaissance board members Rich Smith, C’92, W’92, Meg O’Leary, C’93, and Kiera Reilly, C’93 with Lea Salonga
What did you use to keep track of your schedule at Penn? Did you have a Penn planner or a Penn calendar?
Penn Class of 1993 Reunion Countdown
The weekend of December 2-3, 2016 marked 75 weeks until the 25th Reunion of the Penn Class of 1993 (May 11 – 13, 2018)! Join us we count down the weeks to our reunion #93tothe25th:
- Do you have old photos or mementos from our time at Penn? Photos of Spring Fling? Football at Franklin Field? Classes at DRL? We are taking a trip down memory lane and would love for you to share your memories with our class in a future post. Please email us upenn1993@gmail.com!
- Follow us on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
- Classmates are invited to join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
Frankly Penn 