The week started out frigid, but Penn's nurses were in a particularly festive mood yesterday, eating free ice cream and chatting with their professors and administrators in the Nursing Education Building's atrium.
March 31 through April 5 is Nursing Spirit Week, planned by the board of Student Nurses at Penn.
Yesterday, Nursing sophomore Caroline Cantillon, SNAP's public events chairwoman, planned a faculty and staff appreciation dessert reception, catered by ice cream shop Scoop DeVille.
This is the first year that the School of Nursing is having a spirit week. SNAP President Jen Palladino said that Cantillon brought the idea to the board at the beginning of the semester.
"Caroline has been the one working on this.... She has done an amazing job putting everything together," said Palladino, a Nursing junior.
Palladino added that she was pleased that both the dean of the school and the undergraduate dean attended the ice cream social and spent time talking with students.
Afaf Meleis, dean of the Nursing School, was extremely thankful for the reception that SNAP planned and for the enthusiasm exhibited by the students attending.
"I knew I moved from California for a reason, and this is the reason," said Meleis, adding that the SNAP board should be used as a model at other nursing schools.
This Friday and Saturday are preview days for high school seniors who have already been accepted to the Nursing School.
"Basically, we show them how much we love Penn," Cantillon said. "And also about the different aspects of nursing."
"We are going to be giving tours and making these students comfortable here," Palladino added.
Saturday is the third annual Nursing Ball, also planned by SNAP, and will be open to the entire University for the first time. The event will be at the downtown club Toto this year, and some Nursing faculty members plan on attending as well.
The Nursing Ball "gets students and faculty socializing in a different mode," Palladino said. "Its interesting seeing our professors dancing."
Today is the community service aspect of the spirit week -- Nursing students will be making cards that will be delivered to nurses at the [Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia] on May 6, which is Nursing Appreciation Day.
On Monday, Nursing students gathered to watch the movie Patch Adams on the big screen -- in the Nursing Education Building.
"One of my best friends planned [the week]. I went to the movie event on Monday, which was fun," said Nursing sophomore Morgan Cohen, who added that she is also excited about the ball.
A volleyball match was planned for Tuesday, but canceled because the court was frozen. The event will take place during reading days.
