Reports of a weak national economy could spell trouble for students receiving their diplomas next week - but Penn students will hopefully remain unscathed. In its monthly report on national employment, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that employers only added 88,000 jobs in April, the smallest increase in two years.

I have a confession to make: I was never really all that into sports. Not at first, anyway. I casually followed baseball and hockey, but wasn't one of those guys who could recite stats or name 500 different players. And I was in the marching band in high school, but really couldn't care less about how our thoroughly mediocre football team did.

On Spruce Street, behold a clash of the salad titans. Located just a few steps away from each other, Saladworks and Gia Pronto may feature similar menus, but their cultures are vastly different. Saladworks is simple and efficient, one of dozens of franchises in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania area.

After this semester, running out of ink to record grades in bubble charts will no longer be a problem for Penn professors. For the first time at Penn, professors were able to submit final grades online. College faculty were made aware of the switch over the course of the spring semester through e-mails from their respective departments and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Joanne Tong is a Wharton junior from Manila, Philippines. Her e-mail address is tong@dailypennsylvanian.com.

With an 11-game winning streak, a No. 2 national ranking, and only one loss this year - to No. 1 Northwestern - women's lacrosse coach Karin Brower hoped for a top-three seed in the NCAA Tournament. She didn't get it.

Graduate students in the School of Arts and Sciences will receive stipends next year of $18,300 - an increase from the current $18,000, but the lowest figure in the Ivy League. And graduate student groups are none too happy.

Former Wharton professor Scott Ward was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday and was also levied a $17, 500 fine. Held without bail since an Aug. 27 arrest, Ward pled guilty on February 20 to producing child pornography for importation into the United States.

When I was looking at colleges, a big factor in my 17-year-old head was sports. I saw one school's chancellor talk about how excited he is that his school no longer focuses on athletics. On a tour at another, I scoffed when the guide explained how while the school's teams are horrible, some students still cheer for them.

Coach John Cole is proud of how far he has brought his young Penn team. "[The media] didn't give us a chance, . counted us out early," Cole said. "And we won our first [division] title in 12 years." But with the Ivy League crown and a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line, the Quakers' magic ran out against Brown.

I sat staring at the computer in my guidance counselor's office.

Throughout the year, we constantly get asked the questions: "What does the UA do?" or "Why should I care about student government?" These questions, while seemingly simple, cannot be answered in this limited guest column. We hope, however, to explain some of our accomplishments from this past year and give you a preview of what to expect in the coming year.

Playing under a new league format, the Penn softball team had a chance to take the first-ever Ivy League championship series. But Harvard's Shelly Madick wouldn't have it, as she limited the Penn bats to one hit in over nine innings. The Quakers fell 4-0 in game one, and the Crimson completed the sweep with a 4-2 victory in the second contest to earn the Ivy League title.

Don't stress - graduation is not the deadline for discovering a passion or finding a career that you love.

Usually, it's the antics of players like Ron Artest that draw the ire of the National Basketball Association. This time, however, the NBA has a slightly less athletic target: a Wharton professor. Business and Public Policy professor Justin Wolfers recently completed a paper with Cornell University graduate student Joseph Price that suggests implicit racial bias exists on the basketball court.

Here is an anecdote I am not proud to tell. As a freshman I vigorously debated with my roommate, Ben Kowitt, the value of admitting athletes to Penn, and I was the one who stubbornly believed that athletes did not have special or worthwhile role at Penn. However, something changed that year.

When mom and dad ask us "What are going to do with your life?" they ask with a lot of worried expectation.