Spending a month working in a Tanzanian hospital seems like an unlikely summer vacation for most students. College junior Rebecca Davis begs to differ. A nearly 20-hour trek to Tanzania, via Amsterdam, led Davis to a tiny village outside the city of Arusha, where she spent a month working in a local hospital.

While Benjamin Netanyahu says technology is not necessarily the key to economic growth, modern gadgetry certainly helped keep the former Israeli prime minister safe when he visited Penn yesterday.

An unusually high number of Advanced Placement exams were reported missing this summer after high school students took the exams in May. Tom Ewing, a spokesman for the Educational Testing Service, which scores the exams, said that roughly 1,500 exams or portions of exams remain missing and unscored.

Charlie Allen, who manages the CVS at 43rd and Locust streets, has begun to stock an item not usually carried by drug stores - ping-pong balls. Allen said that his decision to carry the balls, essential for the popular drinking game Beirut, is a result of the store's recent increase in business from Penn students, stemming from a shuffle in drug stores around campus.

At Colgate University, there's a summer reading list that suggests five books before freshman year. At George Washington University, days of orientation are devoted to the subject of separation anxiety. But only parents need apply. These programs are examples of a growing array of university-run programs that help parents say goodbye to their new college freshmen.

Zeta Beta Tau will attempt to re-enter campus this semester, but the fraternity will look different than when it left two years ago, national ZBT officials say. "We're very intent as an organization on getting a quality group of guys," said Matt Tobe, director of expansion for the ZBT national organization.

The School of Arts and Sciences' Webmail has experienced its first technical hiccup of the semester, though New Student Orientation festivities may have caused students to overlook the glitch. SAS Webmail regularly runs updates from its software company, Sun Microsystems Inc.

Several cultural groups have gotten some new space in the ARCH building, but some say they'll take more if they can get it. "We're on a roll right now, so we want to keep that momentum going," Asian Pacific Student Coalition Chairwoman and College senior Mana Nakagawa said.

By DEENA GREENBERG The Daily Pennsylvanian Penn may have dropped to No. 7 in August's U.S. News and World Report rankings, but it barely made the top 40 in another publication. Washington Monthly, a left-wing publication that discusses politics and current events, ranked Penn at number 30.

Only several blocks from the lively corner of 40th and Walnut streets, the intersection at 40th and Market boasts far less impressive retail and activity. A collection of community stakeholders, however, is convinced that this does not have to be the case.

When college junior Amanda Dewundara logged onto Facebook.com yesterday morning, she quickly learned which friend broke up with a boyfriend, who declined what party invitation and what all her freshman buddies took pictures of during New Student Orientation.

Pouring rain put a damper on some events that were scheduled to occur yesterday. The Student Organization Fair that was scheduled to take place on Locust Walk has been postponed, with no decision yet as to if and when a make-up will be held. Wharton senior Corey Hulse, a New Student Orientation coordinator, said students interested in learning about clubs and organizations that are available at Penn should visit the NSO Web site, which has a listing of groups that would have been present at the fair.

Penn students are now only a mouse click away from all the free - and legal - music they can download. But they aren't supposed to have it yet. As news slowly spread over the weekend that Ruckus - a music downloading service spearheaded by the Undergraduate Assembly - is available, students began registering for the site, which allows them unlimited digital music from its library of 1.

Investigators uncovered child pornography in the Penn office of Wharton professor emeritus Scott Ward yesterday, piling fresh charges on top of allegations that he brought child pornography into the country. University Spokeswoman Lori Doyle confirmed that investigators found a CD containing more than 80 still images of sexual acts between a man believed to be Ward and a teenage boy.

Penn's School of Medicine ranked second in the nation in National Institutes of Health research and training grants received in the last fiscal year. The NIH awarded Penn 924 individual grants worth $399 million, a 1.4-percent increase from last year and a record sum for the University.

Thanks to a newly reformatted SAT exam, the national class of 2010 saw the sharpest drop in scores in 31 years. Students entering college this fall have an average SAT score that is seven points lower than that of the previous class. The decrease consisted of a five-point drop on the critical reading section and a two-point drop on the math section.

Touching on both poetry and the threat of terrorism, University President Amy Gutmann welcomed the Class of 2010 to the Penn community with a message to stay passionate. Convocation for incoming freshmen and transfer students - at which they are formally recognized as Penn students - took place on a muddy College Green last night and was followed by a dessert reception at Wynn Commons.