In April, 1992, the Penn Class of 1993 celebrated Hey Day and after an official declaration from Penn President Sheldon Hackney, became Seniors at Penn. We celebrated when the Anniversary of our Hey Day turned 21 with this
post four years ago, but I knew there were more memories to share (see more of our 25th reunion countdown posts here:
#93tothe25th and read more about our countdown at the end of this post).
Now, our Hey Day is twenty-five years in the rear view mirror. I wondered first who might still have their Hey Day shirts? Would anyone have any pictures to share? Would classmates have memories from that fun day? As luck would have it, Penn 1993 remembered Hey Day, still had their shirts, and saved some good photos and had many memories to share.
Hey Day Shirts Survive!
Howard Levene and Allison Davis Talibi still possess their Hey Day shirts – and the shirts are in pretty good condition considering they are twenty-five years old.
Penn Class of 1993 Hey Day Shirt shared by Howard Levene
Back of our Hey Day shirt, photo courtesy of Allison Davis Talibi
We had a few brave classmates who donned our Hey Day shirts again in 2017, including me!
Howard Levene is in this photo from our yearbook, and still has his shirt, hat and cane today!
Hey Day photo from the Penn Class of 1993 Yearbook, courtesy of Howard Levene
Howard Levene in his Hey Day shirt with hat and cane in 2017!
Here I am with friend, and DP photographer, Jeff Hurok, C’94, and wearing my shirt today.
Me with DP Photographer Jeff Hurok, C’94
Wearing my Hey Day shirt in 2017
Josh Frank models the front and back.
Josh Frank wears his Hey Day shirt in 2017
Josh Frank shows the back of his shirt
I found a picture of Mitchell Kraus in my Hey Day photos and he sent a photo wearing the shirt today.
Mitchell Kraus waves his cane in the Quad. Photo by Kiera Reilly.
Mitchell Kraus proudly wears his Hey Day shirt in Santa Monica, CA.
Lisa Nass Grabelle shared a photo of her friends in the Quad on Hey Day, and then a picture of her daughter Alexa wearing her Hey Day shirt at Penn in 2015.
Lisa Nass Grabelle and friends in the Quad on Hey Day
Lisa Grabelle and her daughter Alexa (wearing Lisa’s Hey Day shirt) at Penn in 2015.
Inspired by the original post, Debbie Jaffe, C’93, found her shirt and wondered why we all wore size XXL.
Debbie Jaffe models her shirt today
Ken MacFarlane, C’93, found his shirt and wore it on Town St. Bridge in Columbus, Ohio.
Ken MacFarlane, C’93, with the back of his Hey Day shirt.
Justin Sowers, SEAS’93, and Ebru Ural, W’93, proudly wear their Hey Day shirts in 2017. They met at Penn, are married, and now have two young daughters.
Justin Sowers, SEAS’93, and Ebru Ural, W’93, proudly wear their Hey Day shirts in 2017
Memories
- Alex Dunne remembered this, “Hey Day ’92 I lost my styrofoam hat but gained a red motorcycle helmet. The story and the helmet are, alas, lost in time…”
- Brian Newberry wrote, “I still have my shirt somewhere. Cane too. In fact, somewhere … is a picture of my son using the cane in a Christmas play as part of a shepherd costume a few years ago.”
- Joel Yarborough shares that, “I hated the shirt, but do still have my cane shoved in a box with posters.”
- Emily Culbertson remembers, “I got a GREAT number in the housing lottery (#7 or #9) my junior year and used it for a single overlooking Junior Balcony for Hey Day. What a shock: I have zero memories of the day.”
Several classmates were able to find non-incriminating photos to share.
Allison Davis Talibi
What do I remember? Hmmmmm….I guess it sounds cliché but I really remember feeling the camaraderie of that day. I saw a lot of people I didn’t see regularly. I remember being so excited to be a senior. I remember starting to drink at 10 or 11 in the morning in our apartment in the high rises. And taking a nap in the afternoon so we could go out again that night!
The photos are not as good as I remember somehow. Also, I edited out the ones with beer bottles and cigarettes!
Allison Davis Talibi and her roommate Tammy Howell
Allison Davis Talibi’s other room mate Dionne Hosten is on the far left in this pohoto.
And Allison shared a photo of the Quad.
- Hey Day for Penn 1993 in the Lower Quad. Photo courtesy of Allison Davis Talibi
Jeff Liebert
This photo Jeff shared captures the pure joy of Hey Day, and becoming a senior at Penn.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Liebert, SEAS’93, and Ebru Ural, W’93, of Darren Klein, W’93
Hanging out on Hill Field, photo courtesy of Jeff Liebert, SEAS’93. L-R Howard Blecher, CAS ’93, Alan Steenstrup, CAS ’92, Justin Sowers, SEAS ’93
Relaxing on the grass is Justin Sowers, SEAS ’93, photo courtesy of Jeff Liebert, SEAS’93
Ebru Ural and Justin Sowers
As noted above, Ebru and Justin met at Penn and are now married.
Ebru writes, “Hey Day is such a fantastic tradition and was a bittersweet day for me – while filled with jubilation it also marked the beginning of the homestretch, the first step toward our final year at dear old Penn. Being on Locust Walk in a sea of red shirts was such a unifying and energizing moment for our class. Seeing so many people you got to meet in three years since stepping foot on campus and feeling a part of Penn’s history is hard to describe!”
Hey Day April 1992 in the lower Quad. Photo courtesy of Ebru Ural, W’93
Hey Day on College Green, photo courtesy of Jeff Liebert, CAS’93 L – R: Justin Sowers, SEAS ’93, Ebru Ural, W ’93, Unknown Photobomber, Alan Steenstrup, CAS ’92, Jeff Liebert, SEAS ’93, David Haynes, SEAS ’93, Howard Blecher, CAS ’93
Jessica Zirkel-Rubin
“Sadly, I have virtually no memories from Hey Day, except that apparently I forgot to order a tee shirt, felt weird about it, and kept a fairly low profile 
. Insecurity is a buzzkill!”
Jessica did have a photo to share of Hilary Davis and, “some mystery legs with roomy jeans shorts.” She also saved the front page of The Daily Pennsylvanian, though she said she is not a, “DP hoarder,” she did save this particular issue!
Hilary Davis, C’93, and some mystery legs with roomy jeans shorts, photo courtesy of Jessica Zirkel-Rubin
Front page of the DP the day after Hey Day – saved by Jessica Zirkel-Rubin
Front page of The Daily Pennsylvanian the day after Hey Day in April 1992 – saved by Jessica Zirkel-Rubin
Zach Conen
“I remember an early morning Evel Circel (don’t ask) followed by a really fun, friendly day of bumping into people all over campus, with an increasingly fuzzy memory of the details as the day progressed.”
Anne Roma, Brad Essen, and Dan Charney celebrate in the Quad, photo courtesy of Zach Conen
Mike Innes, Megan Chase, and Emily Hellstrom, photo courtesy of Zach Conen
Zach Conen and Lauren Siegal, photo courtesy of Zach Conen
Frank Pugliese and Derek Denmead, photo courtesy of Zach Conen
Tim Michals and Sibby Browne, photo courtesy of Zach Conen
Amy Chen Aubrecht
Amy Aubrecht sent in this photo and writes, “I swear I can’t even remember what I did last weekend, never mind from 1993!”
Alice Yang Ho, Amy Chen Aubrecht, Helena Choi Lee, Sue Yu Yim, photo courtesy of Helena Lee
Joanna Kwa
Photo courtesy of Joanna Kwa, L-R Stephanie Alexander, Laura Appleman, ’94, Lisa Bardfeld Shapiro, Ellen, Joanna Kwa
Jaci Israel Leit
“It’s hard to remember that day for many reasons. I remember being on the balcony, surrounded by all of these people. It didn’t matter if I knew them or not because everyone was talking to each other. There was so much excitement!!! I had no hat left midway in. It was great spending the day being able to hang out with the people who made Penn my home: my friends, my roommates, my fellow theater geeks, my sorority sisters. I still laugh because it was during Passover so I was drinking potato vodka & a really sweet wine. I will totally admit that a lot of that day is a bit of a blur but it is still one of my favorite days!!!!”
Jaci with Bardo Ramirez and Tamar Climan, Photo courtesy of Jaci Israel Leit
Jaci with Jennifer Kornreich, Laura & Allyson Haber, photo courtesy of Jaci Israel Leit
Jaci with her sorority sisters at SDT, photo courtesy of Jaci Israel Leit
Natalie Taub Cutler
Natalie shared this photo as our class walked down Locust Walk. Natalie and her friend are in front of the Palladium, “In my picture I’m with Jen Merves Robbin from Class of ’92 who was celebrating Hey Deja Vu. I remember hanging out at the Alpha Chi Rho house on the afternoon of Hey Day, overhearing the speeches for primary candidates for the 1992 Presidential election. I guess there was a rally on College Green.”
Photo courtesy of Natalie Taub Cutler
Josh Frank
Gathering for Hey Day fun: Michael Berman’s girlfriend Robyn (not a Penn student), Michael Berman, Doug Kalish, Benjamin Kupersmit, Josh Frank, Eric Palace, Eric’s girlfriend Debbie (not a Penn student), Josh Kopelman and Jefrey Pollock. Photo courtesy of Josh Frank,
Here’s what I remember (which isn’t much) — everyone was enjoying adult beverages much earlier in the day than was normal, or would ever be recommended. I remember hanging out with friends, having fun and laughing a lot, which really made it very much like a typical day at Penn, except for taking bites out of hats and drinking before noon.
But when I looked at those pictures and thought about my “memories,” I had one overwhelming sense, which was melancholy. My two favorite pictures from Hey Day include Eric Palace. For those who didn’t know Eric, we were roommates freshman year (shout-out to Warwick One!), pledged fraternity together, and lived together in our off-campus house junior and senior year. Eric tragically passed away over fourteen years ago, when his wife was pregnant with their first child. There was a lot of acute pain at the time for those of us who were close to Eric. With the passage of time, the acute pain has abated, but I still think about Eric almost every day, about all of things that he’s missed since his passing. It’s usually small moments, or something completely unexpected. … The group of us who lived together junior and senior year get together every few years for a reunion, and there’s no question that we’re always missing a key part of our group. We all loved Eric so much, I still can’t fully process that he’s not coming to those reunions.
So my memories of Hey Day are us being so very young, the strong ties of friendship that we’d formed in college, and how excited we were for our senior year and beyond. Everything was ahead of us, and we thought we were invincible. Eric taught us in the most painful way possible how fleeting that feeling was, and I always think that our young adulthood ended with his passing.”
Josh Frank, Jef Pollock and Eric Palace
Kiera Reilly
“I remember it being a cold and rainy day, but that we all looked forward to drinking screwdrivers and marching down Locust Walk. Lisa Bardfeld Shapiro and I had a hat and t-shirt for our friend Marianne Alves Brogdale who was studying abroad in Russia, so we took the hat around asking people to take a bite out of it for Marianne. I wanted to preserve my hat (perhaps I knew deep down that I would need it for this post?), so I didn’t let many people take bites, and I kept it with me – moving from Penn to New York, then Virginia and finally California.
Watching as the class enters the Upper Quad and streams through to the Junior Balcony.
Hats and canes and red shirts take over the Quad. The Penn Class of 1993! Photo by Kiera Reilly
Remember double exposures? Here I am with Stephen Golden, but you can also see me and Lisa Bardfeld posing too.
Julie Berliner Bell
“I remember we (the senior class board) had to clean up the quad with all the bites of Styrofoam hats, and of course everyone was so drunk.”
Julie wins the best photo award because she’s with Murph!
Julie Berliner Bell poses outside of Murphy’s Tavern with Murph himself!
Julie and Mike, Photo courtesy of Julie Berliner Bell
Greg Ford and Julie Avila, Photo courtesy of Julie Berliner Bell
Julie and Evelyn Pan
Julie Avila and Stephen Bell
Julie and Marnie
Hurrah, Hurrah!
Our memories might be slightly foggy, our pictures somewhat faded, but our hearts still remember with fondness our Hey Day. It was chilly, it was wet, it was grey, but we had fun and began a year-long celebration as a class as we marched toward graduating in May, 1993.
The Penn Class of 1993 visits Penn President Sheldon Hackney at College Hall for Hey Day in April, 1992. Photo by Kiera Reilly
Waving our canes at President Hackney, demanding that he declare us seniors!
Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion Countdown
The weekend of May 5 – 6, 2017, marked 53 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.
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