While most students were dozing through Friday morning recitations two weeks ago, College sophomore Cameron Clark and his classmates were exploring African and Native American Art artifacts. The excursion was a required field trip for his World History Class to the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

Coming off their first win in 16 games, the Quakers finally have some confidence heading into a weekend series. "There are positive thoughts," coach Pat Knapp said. "That's where it all starts." They hope to build on that and reverse their fortunes from earlier this season when they host Dartmouth (8-14, 5-3 Ivy) and Harvard (13-9, 6-2).

Bum shoulders shouldn't slash the Quakers' trophy hopes this Sunday as the team heads to Columbia for the Intercollegiate Fencing Association championship tournament. Penn's men will have to overcome shoulder problems by Sunday if they hope to improve upon last year's third place team finish.

Not that clever To the Editor: I am amazed, frankly, that Penn undergrads can't be more creative than singing "you suck" at opposing teams. Way back when, we used to have clever buttons for large sports games, with sayings on them like, "The Tigers have mini-paws.

When the Penn women's tennis team faces off against the Terrapins, the Quakers will play a young team that is out to prove itself. Of the eight women on the Terps' roster, seven are underclassmen. That doesn't mean Maryland (1-4) doesn't have what it takes to win.

Yesterday, some of Penn's most powerful decision-makers, the University Board of Trustees, weighed in on key University projects. Six committees met and discussed prevalent issues in the first day of the board's winter meeting, one of three meetings held each year.

Checking Facebook anywhere in Philadelphia will still soon be possible, even though the company running the city's wireless network is dropping out. Last week, Earthlink announced its plans to sell its municipal wireless business - which includes Philadelphia's program.

For Carol Baniqued, a Wharton junior described as a "TV addict" by her closest friends, the Writer's Guild of America Strike could have symbolized the apocalypse. But now that it's over, Penn students are realizing that while they missed TV, the strike wasn't as bad as they thought.

It's already been a milestone season for the women's squash team. The Quakers were the first Penn squad ever to visit South Africa, where they experienced 10 days full of cultural experiences and excellent squash. They followed that up with an undefeated regular season and their second Ivy League title in program history, en route to a No.

The announcement late last week raising the minimum Ph.D. student stipend by 6.7 percent has generally received positive feedback among the Penn graduate population, though students are urging the University to do even more. The increase, which will take effect in September, raised the minimum stipend for students completing 9-month programs from $18,000 to $19,200.

On paper, the process might not have seemed so foreign. Play over the summer to stay sharp. Arrive in August to meet with the team. Start practice on the first day of September. But former Penn women's basketball standout Joey Rhoads was a long way from the Palestra.

Yesterday at Skirkanich Hall, a crowded computer-science class struggled with questions about programming code until Engineering sophomore Isaiah Greene explained the answers. For Greene, this wasn't a chance to impress his teacher. It was a chance to teach the class, which in this case was comprised of 12 high-school sophomores from Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy.

Spending a little extra on a can of soda might actually be worth more than you think. Many of the College House convenience stores - which sell everything from childhood relics like Dunkaroos to urgently-needed late-night coffee - mark up their prices in order to attempt to break even.

Every Tuesday last semester, I rushed to class in order to arrive early. Not because there was an interesting lecture that day or because I wanted brownie points. The reason I hurried was simple - because if I didn't, I wouldn't get a seat. For a number of classes I've taken, there simply aren't enough desks, meaning students are forced to play musical chairs.

Last week's shooting at Northern Illinois University - when a gunman fired into a lecture hall, killing five people before turning the gun on himself - has brought the issue of campus security into the spotlight. But as major tragedies, such as the NIU shooting and last April's massacre at Virginia Tech, are difficult to predict, universities' efforts must focus on response preparation, Penn officials and outside experts say.

The opponents may be better at Cornell and Columbia, but pure inconvenience makes Harvard-Dartmouth the toughest Ivy League road trip. Like every team, Penn will be doing its best to keep bodies fresh and spirits high for the long stretches of travel. Senior captain Brian Grandieri, who has been on seven roadtrips in his three years of playing, said that each roadtrip presents its own challenges.

Sometimes it's better to be the math Olympiad winner than to be crowned homecoming queen. The Benjamin Franklin Scholars program, which offers students access to Benjamin Franklin seminars, undergraduate research opportunities and a four-year advisor, will invite newly admitted high-school students to become scholars this spring, based primarily on students' academic standing.