Forget the Dean’s list. Class of 2015 seniors are vying for an even more prestigious distinction before they graduate — a permanent place on the wall at Smokes.
Feb Club — an annual tradition taking place during the entire month of February — has arrived, allowing Penn seniors to celebrate their final semester with a month of fun events and class bonding. This year’s lineup, only half of which has been released, features 22 events. To earn a spot on the plaque in Smoky Joe's Bar, seniors cannot miss a single one.
“It’s really all about fostering class bonding while also getting seniors to explore Philadelphia and campus together,” senior class President Ariel Koren said of Feb Club. “It’s our last semester and also our last opportunity for all of us to be together and in Philadelphia.”
Events will kick off on Jan. 30, when students will be bused to X-Finity Live, a dining and entertainment concourse in Philadelphia. This year, Feb Club events include a night in Atlantic City with buses to transport students, a five dollar cover at Dusk Nightclub and hotel discounts for a night students will “never forget," Koren said.
Other highlights include an evening at Frankfurt Hall beer garden, pizza and beer at Dock Street, an '80s-themed roller skating night and a bash at the Palestra before the Quakers take on Yale in men’s basketball.
Additionally, this year’s agenda will showcase talent in the class of 2015. A coffeehouse event will feature student performers, and students will receive Feb Club credit for attending the Mask and Wig Club and Glee Club performances.
One event will highlight a performance from the Vagina Monologues, a performance that draws attention to sexual abuse. After the performance, students are invited to a bar with proceeds benefitting Women Organized Against Rape, Philadelphia’s only full service rape crisis center.
“It’s particularly exciting that we have this opportunity to give back as a class, and particularly to make a contribution in the context of an issue that is so important and that affects so many people,” Koren said.
The Vagina Monologues event holds a special significance for Koren because she will be performing, she said.
Senior class Web Master Dinesh Chugani has spearheaded the technological side of Feb Club by managing the event website and coordinating the main website with Facebook events for maximum exposure.
Students will receive their own Feb Club cards on the first night, which they will scan at every event for attendance credit. Students who tag their Instagram posts with a #FebClub2015 can see their photos live-streamed onto visible screens at several events.
Feb Club began in 1997, and became a month-long nightly ordeal in 2004. Previous classes have hosted events every single night, but this year’s class board is following the Class of 2014's lead and giving students Monday and Tuesday nights off to recover.
Koren is confident that her peers will surpass the average of twenty students that earn a place on the legendary plaque in Smokes for perfect attendance.
“I know that we are going to beat the record,” she said.
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