Author Archives: Penn Alumni

March 23, 2011 · 8:30 pm

The Competitive Beast Within

Author: Leigh Ann Preston

The energy and competitive nature of Penn students infiltrates every aspect of campus life – from being at the top of one’s chemistry class to being in the front of the line at the salad bar at Houston Hall – and Sweeten Alumni House is no different.

We compete with ourselves for record-breaking event attendance year after year at Alumni Weekend and Homecoming. We compete with previous years’ staff retreat committees to see who can come up with a more fun retreat theme. We compete with peer institutions’ alumni clubs to see who has more active alumni globally. Our staff also competes in NCAA tournament brackets, celebrity gossip leagues, and unreasonable workout challenges, but that’s another post for another time. Even the naming of this blog became a competition for a Starbucks gift card. Unfortunately, my suggestion, “Quake ‘n’ Bake” was not met with the enthusiasm I expected.

The latest competition of note is among each reunion class’s registration numbers in anticipation of Alumni Weekend 2011. I so enjoy watching our attendance climb each week, seeing which class is surging ahead of the others. In 2010, the 30th reunion set record numbers for a 30th reunion at Penn thanks to tireless publicity and teamwork, and the 5th reunion had more people than any other reunion, ever! As of this writing, the 70th reunion has more registrants than the 15th. The Class of 1941 is ready to go!

Below is an artist’s rendering of alumni competitiveness.

Why I Love the Penn Bookstore

Author: Aimee LaBrie

I am a creature of habit. Every single morning, I buy my coffee at the same place: the Penn bookstore on 36th and Walnut. It’s actually more a matter of laziness in some aspects; I arrive on campus from the 36th Street trolley stop, so I almost can’t avoid the bookstore. But I also love books, and I love that they change the displays all the time, so you there’s always something new to see, some new book I didn’t know about or a new cat calendar or a Penn t-shirt I’ve never seen before.

I like the possibility inherent in these things–maybe one day I actually will read a nonfiction book about bears (unlikely, but I like that I could). Look, look how bright and shiny it is. And they have everything. I actually bought my rain boots at the bookstore one rainy day when I was walking around in wet socks.

The other thing I like about the bookstore is the coffee staff. There’s one girl who works there and she knows that I always order a large coffee with room. Often, she sees me before I see her and the coffee is waiting for me when I arrive at the counter. They’re also generous with their coffee cards. You only need to buy 10 drinks, and you get a free one–of any kind. That means that technically, I can have a free mocha latte with a shot of vanilla every two weeks. Except that I also am a hoarder, and so I squirrel away finished coffee cards should the day arrive that I have no money at all. This same person also only ever charges me for a grande coffee. ALSO, the Starbucks coffee costs less there; I don’t know why, but it does. So, I’m saving like 14 cents a week. Hey, it adds up. And lastly, it’s the one of the few places in the world where two of my very favorite things converge: coffee and celebrity gossip. What more could you ask for?

At the Game

Author: Casey Ryan, C’95

I had the pleasure of watching a Penn baseball game over the weekend. The Penn Club of Hampton Roads, headed by Joel Nied, C’90, invited Penn Alumni in the area to watch our Quakers take on the Norfolk State University Spartans in the first game of a double header this Saturday. Penn won, 3-2, and went on to beat the Spartans in their second game that day, too.

As Joel and I introduced ourselves to the Penn-appareled crowd, we met a hard-core crowd of Penn Baseball fans – the parents of the team members. Both alumni and parents chatted and had a great time while the alumni got the inside scope on players and their skills as the game continued. The Alumni Club joined the parents to cheer on native son, #36 John Beasley, C’13, of Virginia Beach, when he took to the mound to pitch for the Quakers. One proud mother thanked the club for coming out and supporting the baseball team, saying it was really touching that some alumni came to cheer the team and her son on and she really appreciated it.

While I watched the intense 14-inning game, I sweated so hard that my “waterproof” sunscreen dripped off, and then I found $5.