Feb Club allows seniors to bond as a class one last time

For the past 18 years, seniors have looked forward to Feb Club, a month of bonding as a class and enjoying those last moments at Penn.

Planned by the Senior Class Board, this year’s Feb Club consists of 28 different events on every day in February. According to Class Board President and Wharton and College senior Jonathon Youshaei, this year’s opening night event at Xfinity Live attracted over a thousand students.

“With Spring Break in March, finals in April and graduation in May, things start moving a lot quicker after February,” Vice President of Finances for the Senior Class Board and College senior Zeke Sexauer, who is also a 34th Street editor, said in an email. “So we need to take this time to cherish our days and spend time together as a class one last time.”

Coming up with an idea for 28 different events, though, is not an easy endeavor.

“This is a full production, trying to put on Feb Club,” Youshaei said.

However, Feb Club wasn’t always such a packed month.

Up until 2004, Feb Club only consisted of six to seven events throughout the entire month.

According to Rodney Robinson, the Office of Student Affairs advisor for the class boards, “It sort of evolved over time into a Feb Club event every day. I think that the class that originated that idea was just excited about doing a lot of things and felt like this was a good time to do it.”

Robinson himself wasn’t too excited about this shift.

“I don’t know if having an event every day is necessary,” he said. Every year, Robinson suggests scaling back on the quantity and improving the quality of the events to students.

He does, however, believe that “the concept of enjoying your last full month as a class together certainly is a worthy tradition.”

For Youshaei, the fact that Feb Club has 28 different events “makes the celebration as successful as possible.”

“If people can’t make it to one day, there’s no doubt that there’s other things for them to do,” he said. “If somebody is more excited about one venue than another or somebody prefers a restaurant or community service over a bar, they have that option. Our real goal in all of this is to give something for everyone.”

One senior in the College, Michal Elias-Bachrach, appreciates the fact that there is an event every day.

“That way there’s always something to do,” she said. “And if you have to miss one day for a test or because you’re busy you don’t have to feel bad, because you always know there’s another event tomorrow.”

However, not everyone attends the events.

“I feel that senior year is a time to have quality time with good friends,” College senior Rebeca Liberbaum said. “Unfortunately my good friends aren’t excited to go to Feb Club events, so we end up doing our own stuff.”

Youshaei sees Feb Club as more than just another opportunity to hang out with friends. He believes it also gives people a higher chance of reconnecting with classmates and meeting new people.

“If throughout all the 28 events, people rekindle old relationships or have conversations or meet new people, then I’m the happiest person in the world,” he said.

For Youshaei it’s all about “the melding of cliques and social groups” and creating “a melting pot.”

While Robinson and OSA do provide some administrative support for Feb Club, the students on the class board plan and run everything themselves.

Youshaei acknowledges that putting on 28 events is tough work and probably “one of the craziest tasks you could put on,” but that didn’t stop the class board.

As soon as the class board finished planning Oktoberfest, a weekend full of events for seniors, they went “full force” into Feb Club.

Starting at the end of October, they spoke to past class boards and built off of their event lists, thinking of how they “could take it to the next level,” Youshaei said.

The board created a new framework for this year’s Feb Club: each week would represent each year at Penn, with events like a snow day study break during the first week, as a reminder of the two snow days of the class’ freshman year, and a trip to the zoo during the third week, representing studying abroad in junior year.

With Feb Club already halfway through, Youshaei is very pleased with how the month is going.

However, to the frustration of some students, several of the events have had lines stretching the entire span of Houston Hall.

“I think we just have a great class that’s excited to come out to events. That’s a high quality problem to have,” Youshaei said of the long lines. “People want to come out, [so] how do we make sure everyone has a good time?”

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