Hurricane delays pre-orientation programs

This article was published August 29, 2011 at 11:51 a.m.

For pre-orientation programs — the biggest feeder of early move-in students on campus — the show must go on, hurricane or no hurricane.

Early move-in for Penn students was officially postponed until Monday, but some students with no alternative were allowed to move-in to their rooms on Sunday. However, all five pre-orientation programs — PENNacle, PennArts, PennCORP, PennGreen and PennQuest — postponed the start of their programs until Monday at 3 p.m., but did their best not to let Hurricane Irene detract from students’ experiences.

“We actually did a pretty good job” fitting everything in, said College senior Ashima Sukhdev, senior director of PennGreen. PENNGreen is starting its days an hour to an hour and a half earlier to make up for the missed day.

“We had to cut one visit to the urban farm, which was definitely something we wanted to do,” Sukhdev said. But, she added, it was the only event cut from the schedule, and the program might organize the urban farm visit later in the year for a reunion.

“The people we’ve been working with have been extremely flexible,” Sukhdev said.

PennArts was able to keep all of its originally scheduled events. According to Marcus Mundy, College sophomore and PennArts student leader, like PennGreen, ”we just extended all the days a hour or two” to fit everything in, including arts performances and workshops in music, theater arts and print-making.

Jay Gill, a PennArts student already on campus, also participated in the month-long pre-freshman program in August. He originally planned to move out of Harrison College House on Aug. 27, but due to Hurricane Irene, Gill decided to move out a day earlier. The early move-out and a postponed start to PennArts hasn’t fazed him. “It’s been really relaxing because now I can just explore Philly and do whatever I want,” Gill said.

What did faze him, however, was when he saw a tree, battered by Irene’s winds, collapse onto a car on Spruce Street. “A tree just fell down in front of me‚” Gill said.

Due to a rise in water levels in rivers around the region, certain roads have been closed. The Division of Public Safety advises students and parents to check their routes as they make their way toward campus.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.