Category Archives: Alumni Weekend

April 26, 2011 · 2:51 pm

New Eats on Penn’s Campus

Author: Stephanie Yee, C’08

May is quickly approaching, which means Alumni Weekend is right around the corner! Young alumni are always asking me why they should come back to campus for Alumni Weekend. They still keep in touch with classmates because they only recently graduated, and they most likely just came to campus during Homecoming last fall. First, I tell them about all the great events planned for Alumni Weekend, starting with the 3 P’s: parade, picnic, and parties! Then, I gush about the new restaurants and food trucks they have to try. Here are some of my new favorite food places at Penn:

Tyson Bee's Food Truck

Come back to Penn for Alumni Weekend and let us know what your favorite eats are!

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Filed under Alumni Weekend, Campus Life, Food Fiends, Stephanie Y.

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April 25, 2011 · 7:43 pm

Alumn-iPad

Author: Leigh Ann P.

 
Those of us who have worked at the registration tables at Homecoming and Alumni Weekend in the past have become all-too familiar with the archaic sounds of – what I call – the credit card stamper thingie.
 
*SQUEEEEEAK*CRUNCH!…. *SQUEEEEEAK*CRUNCH!
 
This is a device you may have seen in the early ’90s at your elementary school’s annual crawfish festival fundraiser; it’s a prehistoric adventure of capturing credit card information.  It leads to bottlenecking and sadness.
 

You can also pay us using clams or other shells.

 
If you’re like me, you may associate this level of technology with something my generation calls the Zack Morris phone.
 

Kelly? Meet me at the Max after school!

 
But not anymore!  The Penn Alumni Weekend registration team has stepped into the twentieth twenty-first century and we will be using iPads to process payments at Alumni Weekend next month.
 
My husband and I purchased iPads last week (thank you, anticipated tax refund!).  So far it has been money extremely well-spent.  They have drastically changed our technological lives as we know them.  I mean, look at how many tomatoes I’m growing in my Smurf Village.
 

La, La, la-la-la-laaaa, Laaaa-la-la-la-laaaaa

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Filed under Alumni Weekend, Leigh Ann P.

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.

 

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Filed under Alumni Weekend, Fine Art, Leigh Ann P., The Sweeten Life