Faye Cheng: Like most little girls, Wharton sophomore Faye Cheng wanted to grow up to be a ballerina. But when her hand-eye coordination failed her, she decided to enter the business world instead.
Swan Lake’s loss was Penn’s gain, though, according to Cheng’s friends.
Former Sigma Kappa President Lucy Obukowicz, a Wharton senior, praised her sorority sister and Wharton Women colleague’s “passion and dedication” in an e-mail.
Cheng has distinguished herself through her eagerness to “take on more responsibility and give back,” Obukowicz said. She became Wharton Women marketing chairwoman when she was a freshman.
Upon coming to Penn from a Chicago suburb, Cheng knew she wanted to join student government, as well.
Potentially a triple-concentration within Wharton, Cheng has always been interested in “making sure everything works as efficiently as possible” — which is why she was attracted to her current position of UA secretary, she explained.
This attention to detail has informed other parts of her life, too — such as her love of the American Constitution and cleaning her room.
Cheng’s organizational skills, along with her thoughtfulness, are unique, agreed College sophomore and Sigma Kappa sister Ariel Goldenthal.
“I would trust her with anything, to make anything better than I could even imagine,” she said. “Faye keeps the trains running all the time.”
Mark P. Pan: College junior Mark Pan was more than ready for Penn when he first stepped onto campus.
Having never been to the East Coast before, the San Jose, Calif. native came to “the big city” excited to get involved, he said.
“I wanted something new,” he explained. “I wanted to get involved in politics and civic engagement” in both the Penn and Philadelphia communities.
And he did indeed get involved.
While pursuing a major in Urban Studies and a minor in Education, Pan joined Lift Philadelphia — a group of student social workers — and City Step — an organization that teaches hip-hop to elementary-school students.
Though his primary dance experience comes from “the occasional frat party,” Pan said he loves City Step because it allows him to enjoy himself and engage with the community at the same time.
He has come to love serving on the Undergraduate Assembly, he added, for very similar reasons.
Though he initially joined the UA for the “impractical” reason of pursuing dining dollars’ acceptance at Wawa, he said he has seen that the UA can make an “absolutely amazing” impact on campus.
Pan, also a residential advisor in Harrison College House, brings this same focus on change to everything he does, according to his friend Michelle Lu, a Nursing sophomore.
He is “action oriented,” she wrote in an e-mail. “He takes an idea and fully commits to it — as outrageous as some may be.”
Emily Shaeffer: Engineering sophomore Emily Shaeffer has gotten very good at breaking down stereotypes.
As a high school freshman, she joined the boys wrestling team because she was “pretty aggressive, probably too aggressive for basketball,” which she had played all her life, she said.
Though Shaeffer thought it was “the coolest sport,” she ultimately gave it up because she said her responsibilities as the sole female wrestler were unlike those of other athletes.
“If you lose, women lose — it’s a lot different than just losing for yourself,” she explained.
Nevertheless, when Shaeffer moved from her Philadelphia suburb to Penn’s campus, she brought with her that same bold attitude.
In fact, the initial reason that Shaeffer joined the Undergraduate Assembly was that she’d learned there were only seven women involved.
The rower also joined Kite and Key and got involved in the LGBT and Engineering communities. She is the vice chairwoman of the Jewish Bisexual Gay and Lesbian student group and the vice chairwoman of Internal Affairs for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
At the root of Shaeffer’s varied interests is her love of people.
“Any chance to be around lots of undergrads is my favorite thing,” she said.
Engineering sophomore and Schaeffer’s friend Aaron Roth agreed that Shaeffer’s people skills set her apart.
“She knows everyone on campus,” he said. “She cares about people’s problems on a professional level, but she also cares about people on a personal level.”
