Category Archives: Alumni Perspective

September 27, 2013 · 6:21 pm

Penn Cares with the Penn Club of Northern California – Habitat for Humanity

By Betty Huang, ENG’12, GEN’12, and Jenny Zhan, C’10, W’10

Donning hard hats at 8:30AM on a chilly and grey Saturday morning, volunteers from the Penn Club of Northern California joined in on ground-breaking work with Habitat for Humanity of Greater San Francisco. The work was more physically challenging than usual because we were doing foundation work, that is, a lot of shoveling, waterproofing, wheelbarrowing, and moving dirt around. Despite the difficulties, it was very gratifying getting in on a project from the very beginning: Habitat had just received permits for a 28-unit single family development named Habitat Terrace, an ambitious project in the Oceanview neighborhood and the organization’s largest development yet in San Francisco.

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We are proud to contribute to Habitat’s mission to provide a helping hand to families in need of improved living conditions. The homes that we helped lay the foundations for will be sold to families at no profit and financed with 0% interest mortgages. In addition, new owners will put 500 hours of work into their own homes. It will take over 100,000 volunteer hours to finish this Habitat Terrace development in the next 2 years, and the Penn Club of Northern California is looking forward to seeing the project through. Thank you to all our volunteers on August 17th, and if you live in the area, please join us in serving our community!

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Read about our experience helping at the San Francisco Food Bank here.

Read about Penn Serves LA helping at Habitat for Humanity here.

The Penn Softball team volunteered at Habitat for Humanity in New Jersey last year – here’s the link to a story and video about their experience.

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Alumni Programming, Clubs, Events, GAN, Guest blogger, Penn Clubs, Photos, Volunteering, West Coast Regional Office

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September 18, 2013 · 9:39 am

Penn Student, Again!

Author: Lillian Gardiner, MSEd’11, Program Director, Institute for Law & Economics, University of Pennsylvania Law School

When I finished my Master’s program, I thought I’d never go back to school. But after a very short period of time, I actually found myself missing the classroom and having a teacher.

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Now, I’m taking my first class as an alumna (and Penn staff member) and am still amazed that this is one of the benefits included in being a graduate of Penn.

As alumni, we can take courses through Penn’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies. There’s a wide variety of course offerings, with many classes offered in the evenings.

I’m currently enrolled in the Sociology of Bioethics, taught by Collette Joyce. The goal of the course is “to understand the nature of the bioethics profession and its modes of argumentation, and to explore the cultural, social, political, and professional underpinnings of bio-ethical debates.” Class meets for three hours once a week on the evening. The readings have been challenging but manageable with my work commitments. I love  being back in a classroom, learning for the sake of learning and not worrying about my grade.

If you’re local, hopefully you can take advantage of this option at some point. See you in class!

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Lillian G., Penn Law

September 17, 2013 · 11:00 am

Two Weekends Full of Penn

Author: Stephanie Yee, C’08

My next two weekends will be full of Penn. First up is Penn Spectrum on September 20-22, 2013.

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Penn Spectrum is the University’s weekend-long alumni conference devoted entirely to celebrating diversity. Though any interested alumni may attend, Penn Spectrum will focus on programs of interest to Asian, Black, Latino, Native American, and LGBT communities, the populations served by the existing volunteer coalition of the Penn Alumni Diversity Alliance. Penn Spectrum is only every 3 years (the first was in 2010), so you definitely don’t want to miss out. The next one won’t be until 2016!

I am most looking forward to the academic panels and breakout sessions. As Programming Chair of Penn Spectrum, I made sure to populate the panels with only the most impressive and amazing Penn faculty and alumni. My job wasn’t hard since there are SO MANY incredible Penn faculty and alumni to choose from. A few of my favorites…

My friend Terra L. Gearhart-Serna, JD, C’07, will be on the Legal Matters panel. Terra and I have been friends since my freshman year. I can’t wait to hear her speak about her pro bono work on immigration and women’s rights. I am also excited about hearing from Kristin Haskins-Simms, C’93, Principal Designer at Krysi (formerly Strangefruit), on the Career Paths panel. Kristin was a contestant on Season 8 of Project Runway – I remember watching her on tv! I heard Kristin speak at a Multicultural Outreach Career Spotlight in 2010, and she was fantastic. The keynote speaker for the Asian/Pacific Islander Alumni Reunion seated dinner is Dr. Angela Duckworth, Ph.D., G’03, GR’06, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology. Dr. Duckworth’s research on grit is fascinating, and I can’t wait to hear her speak live for the first time. There’s something for everyone at Penn Spectrum 2013. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Don’t miss out! Click here to see the full schedule.

The weekend after Penn Spectrum, I will be attending the Penn Reunion Leadership Conference (PRLC) on September 27-28, 2013. logo
PRLC is designed to help alumni volunteers prepare for their upcoming class reunion. The conference covers everything from how to get the word out about your reunion to event planning to how to raise funds for your class reunion gift. If your class reunion is coming up in May 2014, come to PRLC to start planning the big celebration! I attended PRLC last year to start planning my 5th reunion. It was a great place to reconnect with classmates and to start building our reunion committee. This year, I will be attending PRLC as a member of the Alumni Class Leadership Council (ACLC). The ACLC is the governing and advisory board for alumni classes and the host of PRLC. We are a council of volunteer alumni leaders from classes across eight decades – that’s right, EIGHT DECADES! PRLC is a must attend for anyone interested in reunion planning. You will learn a lot, and you will have a lot of fun. Don’t miss out!

So there it is. My next two weekends will be spent at Penn, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Penn Spectrum, Stephanie Y.

September 4, 2013 · 11:14 am

Calling all Artsits, Artisans, and Crafters

Author: Sandra Scutt, W’86

All alumni are invited to participate in the annual Penn Alumni Arts Fair to be held on Saturday, November 9 from 10 AM until 5 PM during Homecoming Weekend.  We welcome any medium–from paintings, to sculpture, to crafts or drawings. Although this is not a juried show, vendors include high-caliber professional artists as well as those whose work is a passionate avocation.

This is the fifth year that Penn is celebrating Homecoming Weekend featuring Arts & Culture.  We would love to have our largest group of artists to date!

Not sure if this fair is a fit for you? View images submitted for previous fairs in 2009   and  2010 and see photos from the 2011 and 2012 Arts Fairs.

Register online today! Tables, linens, and lunch will be provided for participants; the booth fee is $30, and there is no commission taken.

We hope you can join us! Have questions? Contact Sandra at sscutt@upenn.edu or 215.746.3239.

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Fine Art, Homecoming Weekend featuring arts and culture, Sandra

September 3, 2013 · 11:12 am

West Philly Summer Blooms

Author: Stephanie Yee, C’08

I blogged about spring blooms back in April. Now it’s post-Labor Day, and fall is in the air. Here are some photos I took this summer in West Philly. My commute to and from work always take a little longer because I stop to take photos of the beautiful blooms. How can I resist these beauties?

In full bloom

In full bloom

Roses in June

Roses in June

One of my new favorite flowers

My neighbor’s front yard–so green and gorgeous

Pretty in pink

Pretty in pink

 

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Campus Life, Stephanie Y.

September 2, 2013 · 9:55 am

Three Things I’m Looking Forward to this September…

Author: Molly Rand, GEd’13

 1)      Penn vs. Delaware Volleyball Match

Penn Volleyball hosts Delaware on Tuesday, September 10 at 7pm in the Palestra.

As a former Delaware Volleyball student-athlete and active UDVB alumna, as well as a prior staff member with Penn Athletics and Penn Volleyball Development, I am very excited to see the Red & Blue take on the Blue & Yellow!

Who will I be rooting for? Let’s just say I’ll be wearing Blue. You have to come to the game to see the rest…

For the full 2013 Season Penn Volleyball Schedule, visit here.

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VS.

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2)      Time to Shine NYC and Boston

On September 17 and September 25, I’ll be traveling to NYC and Boston with several Penn colleagues for the Time to Shine Campaign Celebrations. I’m excited to see President Gutmann’s presentation on the Making History Campaign and mingle with many of the wonderful alumni in the region! Don’t forget to visit the Time to Shine website for more information and to register for the event in your local city!

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3)      Regional Clubs Team Retreat

On Thursday, September 19, we will be having our first Regional Clubs Team retreat. I’m looking forward to hearing from our featured guest speaker about strategic planning, leadership development, and ways to enhance engagement of alumni volunteers – I’m also excited about the free breakfast and lunch!

Interested in learning more about the Regional Clubs team? Check out our staff page here.

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Athletics, Molly S.

August 30, 2013 · 12:48 am

Penn Cares with the Penn Club of Northern California

By Betty Huang, ENG’12, GEN’12, and Jenny Zhan, C’10, W’10

On Saturday, June 15th, we held our inaugural Penn Club of Northern California community service event with eight Penn alumni at the San Francisco Food Bank warehouse in the Potrero Hill neighborhood. The San Francisco Food Bank delivers 100,000 meals worth of food every day to senior and families in need, and relies on volunteers year-round to help package and distribute the resources. Our Penn Cares volunteers spent three hours that Saturday afternoon manning the apple juice table – that is, we were responsible for filling each food donation box with two bottles of apple juice. Packed additionally with cereal, canned fruit, and other pantry staples, these boxes would go out to the 11,000 low-income seniors in San Francisco, where approximately one in four seniors live at the risk of hunger.

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We were blown away by the efficiency of the Food Bank staff in directing all the volunteers, for many of whom this was a first-time experience at the warehouse. We all gathered around an assembly line in an orderly fashion, and worked at such a rapid pace that we had to constantly switch positions because our arms would get sore (lifting bottles of apple juices was quite a workout)! Nevertheless, everybody had a great time, and our three-hour shift passed by quickly as we all chatted away while multi-tasking on the packaging. Volunteers like us work in shifts to provide the Food Bank with the equivalent manpower of 70 full-time workers – this in turn allows the Food Bank to save on salaries and turn 96% of all donations directly to their programs. At the end of our shift, we were asked to guess how many food boxes we had packaged – we were all astonished to hear that together with the other volunteers, we had packed exactly 1,377 boxes in three hours, helping 1,377 seniors for one entire month – It was such an instant gratification knowing that each box we packed would go to one senior and alleviate some of his or her food security-related stress for the next month!

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If you live in the San Francisco area, we encourage you to join the Penn Club of Northern California, and sign up for their free email newsletter to be notified of other Penn Cares events. www.ncpennclub.com

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Alumni Programming, Clubs, Events, GAN, Guest blogger, Uncategorized, Volunteering, West Coast Regional Office

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August 23, 2013 · 1:41 pm

Welcome Class of 2017

Penn Traditions is SO excited to welcome a new class of freshmen into the Penn family! We started last night with our annual Highball to Hey Day presentation, where freshmen learned about Penn’s most exciting traditions.  Special thanks to the Penn Band, Glee Club, cheerleaders, and the Quaker  mascot for helping us get fired up.

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Check out how many first year students already signed their class banner!  We can’t wait to bring it back out for their fifth, tenth, fiftieth reunions.

class of 2017 banner

We’re off to another fun New Student Orientation event, but stay tuned, we think this class will accomplish some BIG things during their time at Penn and beyond.

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Campus Life, Nicole S.

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August 19, 2013 · 10:08 am

Another School Year? How about attending First September?

Author: Nicole Oddo, C’05

When you step on Penn’s campus, you can observe all the construction and the quiet before the students start to arrive.  Another school year is around the corner.

With each new academic year, students have new opportunities to meet people. Penn Alumni also have this opportunity with First September.  In 2011, I wrote the following article for this blog  about how much I enjoy this annual event.

This event happens in cities all over the world. It’s our way of welcoming the newest class of alumni, this year the class of 2013. It’s great to meet newly minted alumni, those returning to Philadelphia, and those who are just re-engaging with Penn.

If you are in Philadelphia, join us for the First September event to be hosted at Nodding Head, a Center City Brewery, on Thursday, September 19 from 6 to 8 PM. The event is free to current Penn Alumni members, and $15 for non-members. Click here to register now.

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Nicole O.

August 13, 2013 · 9:59 am

Penn Alumni Club of Philadelphia Board Open House

Author: Stephanie Yee, C’08

The Penn Alumni Club of Philadelphia is hosting an open house on Tuesday, September 10th at Sweeten Alumni House on Penn’s campus.

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We will be meeting at beautiful Sweeten Alumni House.

We invite you to join us for wine and Insomnia Cookies to mingle, provide feedback, and share ideas! BTW did you know that Insomnia Cookies was founded by Seth Berkowitz in 2003 from his dorm room while attending Penn? Now there are more than 30 store locations nationwide. Hooray for Penn alumni baking up tasting treats!

Insomnia Cookies. Need I say more?

Insomnia Cookies. Need I say more?

 

The Penn Alumni Club of Philadelphia is always looking for new alumni volunteers who are interested in planning social events and volunteer projects. The open house will be a great way to get involved with the club, meet other alumni, and have fun. Feel free to bring ideas for activities or projects to share, or just come and network.

Sign up for our open house here! How can you say no to Insomnia Cookies?

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Filed under Alumni Perspective, Clubs, Penn Club of Philadelphia, Penn Clubs, Stephanie Y., Sweeten Alumni House