Convocation | 2013: 'talented and diverse'

At every convocation, the University president and provost welcome a class of freshmen even brighter and more ambitious than the preceding one.

This year was no different.The class of 2013 was formally welcomed to Penn yesterday at 7 p.m. in the Palestra.

Convocation serves as a bookend for a student's time at Penn and is the symbolic opening of the academic year. It is the first of only three occasions in which the entire class will together - Hey Day and commencement are the other two. Yesterday's convocation marked the start of Penn's 270th year.

At the start of the ceremony, students filled the stands while the Penn Band played "Pomp and Circumstance." Between speeches, freshmen were entertained by a cappella group Off the Beat and the Glee Club.

The ceremony opened with an invocation by University Chaplain Chaz Howard, who urged students to be passionate at Penn. He beseeched freshmen to motivate, inspire and change the world.

University President Amy Gutmann described the class of 2013 as "the most talented and diverse mix of students we have ever enrolled." She encouraged the freshmen to "make noise" during their time at Penn, after which the crowd responded with a raucous eruption of cheers. She was also greeted with applause after acknowledging each of the four undergraduate schools separately.

Gutmann gave the class of 2013 three pieces of advice from her own experience. She advised them to ask good questions, resist the lure of easy answers and grow by thinking freely and making mistakes.

She described her own educational college mistake of leaving her senior thesis to the last minute, forcing her to write it in only four days - and three consecutive all-nighters.

This year, the class of 2013 became the first-ever group of freshmen to attend convocation in the Palestra. Traditionally, the freshmen proceed down Locust Walk to College Green where the ceremony takes place, but due to the possibility of rain, the location was changed.

"It was really hot," College freshman Emily Turner said about the location. "But I could really feel the Penn spirit in the air of the Palestra."

Turner added that she enjoyed the speech given by Provost Vince Price, who told students to take advantage of their "newness" at Penn. Price himself is entering his first full year as the school's provost.

He encouraged the class of 2013 to continually renovate themselves ­- just as Penn is continually renovated - but not to reinvent themselves completely.

"You were chosen because of who you are," Price said.

After singing "The Red and Blue," freshmen were treated to the traditional dessert reception hosted by Gutmann and Price. A few upperclassmen were also seen milling among the freshmen, toting tupperware for leftover desserts.

Prior to convocation, freshmen were prepared for life as a college student with New Student Orientation. They participated in six days of orientation events, college house activities and partying.

Wharton freshman Mike Kozlow said he felt much more integrated into the community after experiencing NSO, and now, convocation.

"I definitely feel like I'm in college now," he said.

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