UPenn's marriage with the Summer Discovery Program has created a, in my honest opinion, perfect program for high school students who are concerned about their academic careers and futures, but who also realize that life it too short!
Today's orientation at Myerson Hall was phenomenal and Madeline and I were allowed to attend the two and a half hour meeting. First, there was a general orientation where both academic and housing aspects of the program were reviewed in detail. Students were told that they must attend ALL classes, not be tardy, come to classes prepared, and follow all housing/dorm life rules (like not leaving the UPenn area without a Summer Discovery chaperone, checking in every morning and night, room check at 10:30pm, and all of the other typical stuff), and if they could not, they would simply be sent home. This program is definitely not for the faint of heart. Students here are serious about their studies but are also eager to participate in school run activities, like attending three different plays, going to the Jersey Shore, and other exciting trips that I can't wait to "tag" along for.
After the general orientation, all of the Bio-Medical students, which is the largest program with 70 students, met for another hour. Susan, Courtney, and Cynthia got to meet their professor and then got to meet the section leads and choose one of 13 available sections, each with a different focus ranging from the evolutionary theory of cancer to neurogenerative disorders to DNA replication to circadian rythms to other things I couldn't even pronounce! It's been 20 years since I've taken Bio and I never took this kind of Bio at my school!
The girls are all very excited about their particular focus area and they each chose a differnt focus area. They then went back in a big group to their dorms to meet with their hallmates and Resident Counselor and to have milk and cookies. Madeline and I finally got to go to our hotel to rest and in order to go to the first Bio-Med lecture tomorrow morning at 9am. However, we have to meet at "the tree" in the upper quad at 8:30am and we will all walk together to the lecture hall for our first day of class.
Madeline and I are then planning on visiting the offices of La Casa Latina, the Pan-Asian American Community House, and the Undergraduate Admissions Office. I look forward to another great day at UPenn.
Patty Crespo
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3 comments:
Thanks Patty,
Your posts are valuable. We are learning more about the importance of the UPENN program. The insight that you are giving us will help us decide if this is a worthwhile program for our students.
Continue to keep us posted and let us know how UPENN may be a good fit for our high school students.
Enjoy your day.
Charles T. Ramsey
School Board Member
West Contra Costa
Unified School District
I have to admit that the more and more people that I meet at UPenn, and the more that I find out about all of the amazing resources available to students on campus, the more that I am sure that UPenn's program is a perfect fit with the results that we envision for the Ivy League Connection. We're getting our foot in the door and learning so much about the school, school admission policies, its commitement to diversity, and the financial help that is available to students. We've also already made many great connections at UPenn already. Madeline and I were very busy today.
Thanks.
Patty--Thanks for the posting.
I love the air of discipline they're invoking at Penn. IN the real world, most employers are unforgiving about tardiness, being missing in action and being unprepared. They also take a dim view of people who are supposed to be in one place but then can't be found.
I hope our kids can appreciate the seriousness of these restrictions and also their value.
Maybe, by the time they get back, they will have also learned to respond to us with a yes sir and yes ma'am. Okay--maybe that's asking for too much.
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