In August 2005, the winds and waters of Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, and Penn students have been helping to rebuild the area ever since. Yesterday, the Fox Leadership Program hosted a "celebration and call to Service," congratulating student groups from Penn for previous and upcoming community service trips to the area in the past two and a half years.

It will likely take years, not months, for many colleges to fully upgrade their computer systems to Vista, and Penn is no exception. In a recent informal online survey, Gary Roberts, Alfred University's director of information-technology services, found that, of 33 colleges he polled, 28 had not yet completely upgraded to Vista, Microsoft's year-old Windows operating system.

With the Democratic presidential nomination still up for grabs, the issue of superdelegates is on the forefront of media attention, grabbing headlines and yes, even one of Jon Stewart's jokes at the Oscars last Sunday. Despite this attention, many Penn students - and Democratic voters across the country, it seems - are still unclear as to what superdelegates are.

Some student-loan lenders are cutting back or have stopped offering federal loans to students, but members of the U.S. Congress have recently stepped in to try to help. Major reasons the student-loan industry is suffering include market pressure on lenders and cuts in subsidies from Congress.

Penn students and Philadelphia residents might soon be bidding SEPTA tokens farewell. With plans in the works for a new "smart-card" fare-collection system, SEPTA passengers will only need to wave a card to ride the subway. SEPTA plans to use contactless bank cards that will make the use of public transportation just a "common retail purchase," SEPTA spokesman Gary Fairfax wrote in an e-mail.

Brown and Stanford universities' announcements of free tuition, room and board for undergraduates below a certain income level sound impressive - but Penn's program is already very similar. In the past week, both Stanford and Brown announced expanded financial-aid policies that increase the amount of grant aid given to qualified students.

Cora Daniels, the author of Ghetto Nation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless, which calls 'ghetto-ness' a "mind set which embraces the worst," came to the Penn Bookstore yesterday to promote and discuss her book.

If you think stress has to be a normal part of your Penn life, think again. Last night, several student organizations on campus hosted leaders from various groups for the campus' first Mental Health Camp. The initiative was started to provide students with practical mental-health techniques and strategies they can apply in their everyday lives.

"I've never tried this before" is the last thing you want a doctor to say to you. However, there is a first time for everything, and medical procedures are no exception. Fortunately, Penn's School of Medicine uses advanced technology to enable students to practice procedures on mannequins that can simulate complex surgical procedures.

Madonna. Cher. Prince. Quaker. So famous he needs no last name, the Quaker, Penn's famous mascot, holds a special place in the hearts of students and alumni. When not relaxing in his memorabilia-laden dorm in the Palestra, "Penn Athletic's #1 Fan" can be found cheering on his beloved football and basketball teams, encouraging the fans and meeting past and future Quakers alike.

With the pending stress of Fall Course Registration on the horizon, the School of Arts and Sciences is doing its best to make students happy. For some students, that happiness comes with more night-class options in the College of General Studies.

Burglary Feb. 19 - Jermaine Harris-Stevens, 27, of the 5400 block of Osage Ave., was arrested by Penn Police after he was observed allegedly removing metal scaffolding from inside a construction site at the Center for Advanced Medicine, located at 3401 Riverview Dr., at about 11:50 p.m.

At some schools like the University of Southern California and New York University, rush occurs within days of arriving on campus freshman year.

University President Amy Gutmann will receive a leadership award from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania on March 3 at the organization's 22nd annual Take the Lead awards ceremony.

Engineering freshman Dara Elass wears long sleeves, pants and a burkha, a head scarf traditionally worn by Muslim women, every time she pays a visit to Pottruck. She follows traditional Islamic law, which requires that women cover up in the presence of men - even at the gym.

Last Friday, the chapter presidents of Penn's sororities and fraternities met with a team from the University to discuss next year's facilities budget for the Greek houses. Every year, each chapter meets individually with the University facilities team to discuss fixed costs, projected utilities, rent and any additional small projects that need to be done around the house for the upcoming academic year.

Data breaches and identity theft have become a prime focus on college and university campuses. A recent report by Educational Security Incidents found that the number of data breaches on college campuses rose 67.5 percent last year, compared to 2006. But at Penn, officials say, a number of measures are in place to protect data.