Sara Himeles
Recent articles
Election and economy make Washington D.C. a hotter spot for the semester
After the buzz about the 2008 election died down on Locust Walk, nine Penn students followed the excitement to the District of Columbia for the Washington Semester Program - the study-abroad experience only a few states away. According to some program directors and participants, the combination of a new administration and a bad economy is spurring more interest in Washington for the Washington Semester Program opportunities.
Flyers and funds - or a feminist statement?
This week on Locust Walk, "vagina" is the new "register to vote." As part of a week-long campaign to eliminate a taboo and promote the play, members of The Vagina Monologues have been inundating passersby with the word "vagina" from their table outside the Penn Women's Center.
'The Vagina Monologues' cast members reflect on female identity at Penn
On a Sunday afternoon last month, members of The Vagina Monologues sat down for a group arts and crafts project. The assignment? Represent the Penn vagina. At the 2009 performance, those posters will be on display for the audience. The designs turned out to be "completely different" from one another, according to College senior Rachel Garber, the producer of the play at Penn.
Vaginas find their voice on V-Day
"If your vagina got dressed, what would it wear?" So asks one performer in Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues - the popular play that is part of a global movement to stop violence against women and girls, now in its tenth year running at Penn. The name of that global movement is "V-Day," where "V" stands for "Victory," "Valentine" and "Vagina.
Perspective | Note-sharing site lets students cash in on class notes
Best note-takers, worst note-takers, no-note-takers: take note. You could be making money - or making the grade - on GradeGuru.com, the file-sharing Web site that pays you to upload your notes and allows you to download the notes of your peers for free. If it sounds like an impossible business model, it's because the year-old site isn't bringing in any revenue just yet.
Eating healthy? N.Y., Penn Dining can help
Penn students with internships in New York City this summer will have no guessing to do when it comes to calorie counting. With a new regulation by New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, scheduled to take effect on April 15, all New York branches of national chain restaurants must post calorie counts on their menus.
Quidditch clinic adds magic to muggles' lives on campus
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon on the high-rise fields at 40th and Walnut streets until 15 members of the Middlebury College Quidditch team pulled up in two vans. Out emerged the Quidditch players - broomsticks, bludgers, hoops and quaffles in hand - ready to share their adaptation of the Harry Potter sport, as described in J.
Wasted cafe food prompts donation program
At 8:50 p.m. at Au Bon Pain in Huntsman Hall on March 5, the cafe's last customers watched workers empty full baskets of leftover bagels, croissants, muffins and pastries into the trash. The waste at the cafe two weeks ago was hardly a one-time event. Nursing sophomore Emily Wallhauser said she was "astounded" when she observed the routine for the first time last semester.
Paying a hefty price for summer
It's no secret that the top summer internships are often unpaid. But what's less known is that many students must pay their universities to receive the academic credit that some employers - wary of labor laws governing unpaid internships-require as a condition of the job.
Feelin' the Love
Today is the day to think about love. But this Valentine's Day, some social scholars are taking a new perspective: they want to know what love means and where traditional notions of it have gone, especially on college campuses. What is love at Penn? Hard to define, if anything.
Celebrating female sexuality
Women comprise 51.7 percent of the student population at Penn, according to the Admissions Web site, and yesterday marked the kick-off of a 10-day program devoted to bringing them all together. In its fifth annual "Women's Week," the Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women is presenting a series of 12 events hosted by women's organizations across campus and sponsored by the Penn Women's Center, Trustees' Council of Penn Women, the Connaissance committee of the Social Planning and Events Committee and the Annenberg School.
From supply and demand to Sundance
He was featured in a documentary at the international Sundance Film Festival last month in Utah. Soon, his peers at Penn may be seeing him in theaters nationwide, even at next year's Academy Awards. College freshman Yoni Gruskin might be a rising movie star - but not for his acting skills.
"Sent from my Blackberry mobile device"
From Au Bon Pain to Pottruck Fitness Center, a growing number of Penn students are traveling with their e-mail accounts in tow. Few can deny it: The BlackBerry mobile device has earned its place in undergraduate culture at Penn. Au Bon Pain shift supervisor Tamika Deshazor said a majority of customers in the Huntsman Hall cafe approach the cashier with a BlackBerry in hand, and many are rudely preoccupied during their turn to pay.
Putting Management 100 to use after just one year
With two courses in management under their belts, some Wharton sophomores are invited to put their skills to the test - by managing their own classrooms. Management 100 team advisors, unlike traditional teaching assistants, are educators, facilitators, mentors, fans, even friends, all at once.
The search for summer lovin' replaced by the search for a job w/ Interactive Feature
Almost two weeks into the spring semester, the Penn InTouch shopping season is nearing its end and students are quickly turning their eyes and ears to a new order of business: the summer. Love it or hate it, the season of the internship search is here, the time when many students feel the burn of Penn pre-professionalism.
Personalities: He will cure your hangover
He's the man who invented Bui's famous "hangover special" - the breakfast combo that brings long lines of Penn students to the food truck on the corner of 38th and Spruce Streets those particularly painful Sunday mornings. "One day I was sitting at home thinking, 'What can I do to satisfy [Penn students]?'" explained the proud combo-creator, who asked to be identified as Bui, Jr.
Facebook: for more than just your friends
The deadline for On-Campus Recruitment resume submissions is tomorrow, and everyone wants to look good on paper. But a killer resume can only get applicants so far - the recruitment process has made its way to the Web as well. "Employers who recruit at Penn are searching Facebook and they're googling candidates," Director of Career Services Patricia Rose said in an online podcast located on the Career Services Web site.
A day of service around Philly
Celebrate the long weekend by acknowledging why we have one in the first place: Martin Luther King, Jr. Head to the Franklin Institute Science Museum to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King on the anniversary of his 79th birthday. The museum's three-day celebration kicks off Saturday at 5 p.
MBAs sing their way to success
Think Wharton grads can only talk the stock market? Think again: at least 19 of them also know how to sing. They call themselves the "Whartones," the co-ed a capella group for MBA students and their partners. And when it comes to a capella, this singing group means business.
Tunes and talk at Writers House
Politics met music last night in the Arts Cafe of the Kelly Writers House. Four award-winning political journalists, along with musical guests The Spinning Leaves, visited Penn for a public recording of "LIVE at the Writers House," the center's monthly radio program.
