Green is the new red and blue - at least, that's the message Penn is hoping to instill in incoming students before they even set foot here.
PennGreen, a new pre-orientation program created by the Undergraduate Assembly earlier this year, will officially debut with a pilot run to train 14 recently-selected freshmen and sophomore leaders this August.
The pilot run was made possible after the Provost's Office and Facilities and Real Estate Services agreed this week to fund just under $2,000 of the program's costs. The other funding was provided primarily by the UA - $4,324 of the $6,564 test trial cost - as well as the Fox Leadership Program and the Department of Environmental Studies.
PennGreen will officially launch next summer with 40 students and join the ranks of PennQuest, PENNacle, PennCORP and PENNarts, the other optional pre-orientation programs for freshmen.
The program, brought to fruition largely through the efforts of Wharton sophomore Laura Boudreau and College sophomore Bob Goldman, will introduce incoming students to Philadelphia with bike tours, urban farm visits and organic restaurant outings and to the University with green facilities tours and discussions with professors involved in environmental research. Students will also go on hikes, camping trips and beach cleanups.
"We loved the program from the get-go, but we did want a detailed plan and budget before we could commit any funds, said Associate Provost Andy Binns, who said the Provost's Office was convinced to fund the program because of a compelling proposal from Boudreau and pre-orientation program coordinator Ty Furman.
FRES Vice President Anne Papageorge agreed.
"We've been looking for opportunities to collaborate with students on our sustainability programs, and I think this will educate undergrads on where we can work together to achieve Penn's sustainability goals," said Papageorge, who said she would like to see PennGreen peak students' interest early on in their four years.
According to Boudreau and Goldman, the idea behind PennGreen originated from a PennQuest leader in response to the popularity of current pre-orientation programs.
"It's beneficial to freshmen and also to the University," said Boudreau. "Freshmen get a head start on student and professor contacts and the University gets 40 really motivated students already interested in these issues."
"A lot of people coming into Penn don't know how much you can get involved in environmental issues in a city like this," Goldman said.
Fox Leadership associate director Chuck Brutsche will serve as the program's faculty advisor.
"The green issue is something everyone's talking about right now," said Brutsche, who said he was interested in helping students learn about the environmental and urban issues that he studied as a graduate student at Penn.
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