Mayor Michael Nutter announced "Philadelphia's Education Promise" - his plan to improve the city's education system - last night before a crowded auditorium at South Philadelphia High School. The speech outlined Nutter's plans to involve the entire Philadelphia community in working toward goals that include decreasing the drop out rate and increasing college enrollment.

Athletes weren't the only members of Penn's community participating in the Olympics last month in Beijing. Three of Penn's chefs and food coordinators worked with 250 other employees of Aramark, Penn Dining's official partner, to serve 3.5 million meals during the Olympics and Paralympics this August.

Coming off a tough 3-2 loss at the hands of rival Villanova Friday after leading 2-0, the women's soccer team was angry going into Sunday's game against East Carolina. Instead of letting their emotions get the better of them, the Quakers used their intensity to dominate the Pirates from the opening whistle.

As the men's golf team starts its 2008 fall campaign this weekend, there will be some fresh faces for the Quakers. They travel to Annapolis, Md., to compete in the Navy Fall Invitational and its par-71 USNA Golf Course. First, the team lost captain Dean Merrill to graduation; he's currently looking to compete at the professional level.

Alex Jacobson is a College junior from Los Angeles. Her e-mail address is jacobson@dailypennsylvanian.com.

A chance to explore public-service jobs To the Editor: Thanks to Julie Steinberg for calling attention to the career opportunities in government and public service in her column, "Preparing for Boomsday." To help Penn students learn more about these opportunities, we are hosting our third-annual Policy and Government Career Fair on Friday, Oct.

Some students and University officials are praising a move to discourage tray use in campus dining halls, but others are finding it difficult to adjust. In an effort to reduce food waste and conserve energy, trays in the dining halls are no longer easily accessible, though officials say they are still available.

Sitting in the audience at Freshman Performing Arts Night, many of the bits rattled me. The acts and the actors, the songs and the singers impressed me, but all the humor centering on having sex and having money left me quite uncomfortable. I'm not a prude, and I don't possess such a sophisticated sense of humor that I can't enjoy my peers' performances.

Yarimar Rosa has already received international acclaim for her volleyball prowess. At the ripe age of 15, the outside hitter played for the Puerto Rican National Team, and one year later, became captain on its under-18 squad. Now, she's a junior at Florida International University, which hosts a four-school tournament this weekend.

Val Cloud has lost plenty of recruits to William & Mary over the years. Indeed, a rising freshman spurned the Penn field hockey coach to play for Tribe. Cloud has returned the favor - tapping the high-school pipeline for talent that had considered the Williamsburg, Va.

Information Systems and Computing has reconfigured Penn's wireless settings. ISC has remodeled the available wireless networks on campus, consolidating older networks and creating new ones to provide better access and support. Prior to this summer, AirPennNet, AirSAS, AirSEAS and Wireless-PennNet were all wireless networks available in specific areas around campus.

During freshman year, I decided to audition for CityStep, an organization under the Civic House umbrella that provides an extra-curricular dance program for several elementary schools in the West Philadelphia area. Imagine my surprise when I found out halfway into my service at the Harrity school that because of a piece of legislation passed in the spring of 2007, the school district would be requiring all volunteers to undergo criminal background checks and fingerprint testing by the FBI.

Despite a new dean, Penn's major undergraduate admissions policies and initiatives have remained intact. Early decision enrollment and Exploring College Options have become standard admissions programs at Penn, and according to Dean of Admissions Eric Furda - who took over the position in July - both are here to stay.

A chippy match at Myslik Field fell Penn's way, 1-0, by a penalty, as the Quakers secured their second tournament title of the young season. Omid Shokoufandeh nailed a handball-induced penalty kick low and right in the 24th minute, and Drew Healy picked up his fourth consecutive clean sheet.

The Penn women's field hockey was forced to swallow its second tough loss tonight at Franklin Field, falling, 2-1, to Saint Joseph's. Although the Quakers swarmed the opposing goal over the final five minutes, their late offensive show didn't lead to a shot, as they lost to the Hawks for the third consecutive year.

As they say, you can put lipstick on a pig - but it'll still be a pig. Pennsylvania's Liquor Control Board is using a whole lot of lipstick. The Board, which regulates alcohol sales, recently announced a $3 million effort to revamp the image of Pennsylvania's state-run liquor stores.

Legal experts are divided over whether universities are common targets in discrimination lawsuits. In July, two former University employees - one of the Medical Center, the other of the Dental Care Network - filed lawsuits against Penn, citing discrimination and retaliation.