Senior class president Brett Perlmutter | To the Fine'09

According to University Archives, in 1916 Hey Day was established as a "moving up" celebration to mark the advancement of each class. As Penn's Class of 2010 steps into senior status tomorrow during Hey Day, their Class of 2009 counterparts will be moving up as well with The Final Toast. The Class Presidents weigh in on what moving up means for their respective classes. To the senior class:

Tomorrow, our class - the ubersmart, unprecedentedly good-looking, and unquestionably successful Class of 2009 - will be engaging in a feat that we have proven quite good at over the last four years: throwing a great party.

As members of the Class of 2009, we are lucky enough to be the class that inaugurates a new celebration tomorrow, the Final Toast. As we hand over the reins of the University to the Class of 2010, we will raise our glasses to them indeed for a final toast. However, before we don our finest spring fashions and plastic Wayfarers, before Kweder takes the stage, be we get to bar, before we enjoy the gourmet food, and before we rock out as the Mask and Wig Band plays one more set, we should consider what exactly we are celebrating.

At the same time as we salute the juniors we will be engaging in a rite of passage of our own. Soon, we will be making the transition from the world of the Penn undergraduate to the world of the alumni. In doing so we will be leaving the Penn microcosm and adventuring out into a world that is at once scary and exciting. The Final Toast is the first is a series of "lasts" that we will be experiencing as we wind down our semesters and wind up for graduation. And we will have perfect weather (Fingers crossed!).

At Penn we love the word "tradition." It seems that we are quick to rattle off lists of things that we consider to be Penn traditions: the Econ Scream, Sophomore Skimmer, Hey Day, Feb Club, Ivy Day, and the list goes on. At the end of Spring Fling last weekend, I listened -- as I have for the past three years - in the Quad to the scantily glad Mask and Wig seniors perform their famous rendition of "Tradition!" It comes as no surprise that this too was a tradition. Some of us have our own Penn traditions; for instance, I celebrate the tradition of tripping at least once a day as I rush down Locust Walk. Likewise, there are some traditions at Penn which some of us have yet to fulfill (read: having sex under the button). Next, there are those aspects of our time here at Penn that we label as traditions, but really have never been a tradition (read: throwing things on Hey Day). At the Final Toast we will toast to the Class of 2010, something that harkens back to the tradition that once was when the seniors would toast to the processing juniors outside of the Palladium.

That said, rest assured that the traditions do not end when we have our diplomas in hand. The Final Toast marks our transition to the status of alumni and with that comes a lifetime of staying engaged with the University of Pennsylvania. Together we will remain members of the Fine '09 for the rest of our lives. Likewise, we will stay connected to Penn by becoming involved in regional alumni groups, planning our reunions, giving to the Penn Fund, and returning for Homecoming and Alumni Weekend. Some of us will be trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. Likewise, some of us will marry each other, have many children who will ultimately become legacy admits, become Proud Penn Parents, and return for our children's' graduations. Regardless of the way that life unfold for us, we will always be members of this community.

In closing, I would like to end with the oft-used Penn tradition of shamelessly plugging an event: We will see you tomorrow at the Final Toast on College Green from 1-4 p.m. Sign the pledge at www.Penn09.com.

Brett Perlmutter is the president of the Class of 2009 and a College senior.

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