Members of Penn's outgoing senior class began and ended their college careers with a week's worth of activities to which their entire class was invited.
But while New Student Orientation four years ago provided members of the Class of 2004 with an opportunity to meet new people, Senior Week was a chance to reconnect with old friends and perhaps to say goodbye to others.
Beginning May 8 and continuing up through graduation weekend, the schedule of events included trips to Six Flags and Atlantic City, a formal dance at the Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue, Senior Performing Arts Night and, of course, the traditional Walnut Walk.
The events were planned by the Class of 2004 Board, headed by recent College graduate Meredith Seidel.
Planning the event was "a lot of work but a lot of fun," she said.
Students seemed pleased with the line-up of events, although few managed to attend all of them.
"You could pick and choose what you wanted to do," said recent College graduate Andrew Schutzbank, who participated in the Atlantic City and Six Flags Great Adventure trips, along with Walnut Walk.
Schutzbank added that, while "Great Adventure was the most surprisingly fun" event, Walnut Walk particularly stood out.
"One of our friends got hurt and we got him a wheelchair and pushed him around. That made it memorable," he added.
Recent Wharton graduate Yana Stunis agreed, saying, "Walnut Walk was fun. You run into people that you haven't seen in years."
"I wish there were more things to do on campus, though," she added.
Some graduates who were not on campus were unable to attend any Senior Week events.
"I was pretty upset I couldn't go, because it seemed like a good chance to see all of my friends one last time," said Leslie Dubeck, who graduated from the College in December 2003.
Other students made a decision not to attend many of the Senior Week events.
"A lot of my friends had their own parties," said Adriane Cheah, who graduated from Wharton.
Most students who did attend, however, seemed pleased with their Senior Week experiences.
Engineering graduate Lauren Moskovitz attended five events, including Walnut Walk and the Senior Formal.
"Walnut Walk was a little different from what I expected, but the Senior Formal was more fun than I expected, so it balanced out," she said.
"It felt like freshman orientation week, but it had the opposite effect, because you have no homework and you're saying goodbye instead of meeting people," she added.
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