College junior and founder of the Collective Success realized last fall that first generation low income students often do not have the “social capital” that enables more privileged students to advance in their professional careers.

2017 College graduate Samip Sheth said events like Feb Club served an important role in bringing graduating seniors together. “It’s really special to see how people are coming together to celebrate the memories we’ve made in the last four years,” he said.

Popular trends in the past include Redcup, an application for fraternities to notify students about when and where they were having open parties and the Instagram account @YungBenFranklin, a predecessor of the Penn Facebook meme page. 

Penn students who choose to graduate a semester early often stress the financial benefits, explaining that it allows them to save a semester's worth of tuition.

“Every single inch of the building is being touched in some fashion,” Design and Construction Project Manager David Dunn said, whether that means new flooring, furniture, window coverings, or air conditioning. 

College sophomore Louis Lin said he decided to run for Judge of Election when President Trump alleged that between 3 and 5 million illegal votes had been cast in the General Election.

To mark the occasion of Penn's 261st Commencement, The Daily Pennsylvanian took a look at the last four years in the newly-minted graduates' lives, beginning with Monday's ceremony and going backwards to document the trends, events and people who dominated the Class of 2017's time in University City. 

Bridge Café, which opened in 2012 and was managed by Heathland Hospitality Group, came to the end of its six-year contract Penn decided not to renew it. Instead, the University signed a contract with its primary food service provider, Bon Appétit Management Company, to open Pret A Manger.

Hundreds of students, parents and alumni participated Penn’s annual Yardfest — a strolling competition where different Greek organizations perform synchronized dance routines in a single-file line. The event kicked off the Intercultural Greek Council’s Penn Relays weekend of activities.

The winning group was Twine, a human resources software company that helps employers save money by retaining their top employees. The group, who beat over a hundred other participants, won a $30,000 grand prize.

From award-winning primotologist Jane Goodall to former Vice President and future Penn professor Joe Biden, Penn hosted a range of notable speakers this year. 

Career Services data over the past six years consistently lists Penn as one of the top employers for recent Penn graduates: for every year since 2010, 16 to 43 students have been employed full-time by the University. This is not counting the many other students who juggle part-time work at Penn with other jobs.

“It was a 20-minute walk to and from DRL,” College freshman Jackie Wexler said. “It’d make planning my schedule very difficult, it’d make going home when I have an hour between classes difficult, and the Radian seemed a bit more convenient."

"If a resident reports their laundry stolen, we encourage them to file a police report. The reality in most cases is that another student is responsible for the missing laundry, whether maliciously or accidentally,” Director of Residential Services John Eckman said in an emailed statement.

“There was not much communication up until an event was getting shut down,” President of the IFC and College junior Bradley Freeman said. “Our goals were to form a relationship and better understanding between monitors and presidents.”

Vice president of Sigma Alpha Mu and College junior Matt Foman said he felt the Greek community was a good place to start expanding mental health training. “I think that Greek life is a place where people can be very real with each other and aren’t really afraid to talk about more intimate things," he said.