For Wharton senior Laura Forton, it's all about shaking hands, making eye contact and knowing a thing or two about sports. Having spent her summer working as a technical analyst at Smith Barney, a subsidiary of Citigroup Inc., Forton said that being the only girl in a sea of ties and suits motivated her to work even harder in an initially "intimidating" environment.

The Quakers football team lost its last four games in 2005, and the offense was a big part of the problem.

Philadelphia high-schooler Priscilla Clinkscales remembers clearly a pivotal moment in her life: the day her uncle was sentenced to jail for a crime she is convinced he did not commit. Clinkscales was just seven years old at the time, but it changed her. She started watching Court TV and soon had big dreams of becoming a lawyer.

Simply being relevant to students tops the to-do list for this year's Undergraduate Assembly. With its first meeting yesterday, the UA rolled out an ambitious plan to revamp both its tasks and direction for the year. Its members are looking to increase the number of tangible projects they work on this year.

By Samuel Dangremond The Daily Pennsylvanian The back-to-school crunch will result in at least $36.6 billion spent by college students, but forget long lines at Target as you put the finishing touches on your dorm room. College students are spending their money online.

Penn Medicine alumna Dana Beyer could make history tomorrow by becoming the first openly transgender person to run on a party ticket for state legislature. However, Beyer, 54, faces tough competition as one of eight Democrats campaigning for three seats in the 18th district of the Maryland House of Delegates in the primary tomorrow.

Upon arriving in Charlotte, N.C., last weekend, the womens' volleyball team met southern hospitality with a special song mix entitled "The Dixie Chick Quakers Come to UNC," made by parents of team members. Despite the warm welcome, the Quakers fell in all three tournament matches.

School of Medicine students are about to get hands-on experience helping patients who can't bleed or die but can yell back. A grant from the Measey Foundation has lead to the creation of an 800-square-foot simulation center that includes two interactive mannequins that can take the place of patients during advanced training.

In a two-day tournament that consisted of 578 team shots, only two strokes stood in the way of a Quakers win. The Penn men's golf team took second place at this weekend's Navy Invitational in Annapolis, Md. The team score of 10-over par tied them with Winthrop as Loyola (Md.

A sea of red marched up and down Columbus Boulevard yesterday flashing signs and sounding off on local politicians. And all that the protestors want is some peace and quiet in their neighborhood. In an effort to halt the proposed construction of a casino located on the waterfront between Tasker Avenue and Reed Street, over 100 Southeast Philadelphia residents lined Columbus Boulevard yesterday, protesting the traffic congestion, crime and other quality-of-life issues that they feel a casino may bring to the area.

A perverse theorem keeps proving itself true in my relatively brief time as a teacher at Penn: the students give back to me far more than I can ever impart to them. They help me to get through things, instead of it being the other way around. A year ago, in the early afternoon of Sept.

It's one of those sports cliches that makes journalists cringe and editors pull their hair out. It's a go-to word for coaches and players in post-game interviews and a vaguely-defined cure-all for any team's ills. And it's exactly the word that Penn senior captain Tracy Bienenfeld used to describe the key to the women's soccer team's victory over Richmond yesterday: "Heart.

Hindus, Christians, Jews and Muslims left their places of worship last night to remember together the events of Sept. 11, 2001. But they did more than remember. They sang, prayed, performed poetry and reflected, on this fifth anniversary of a day few Penn students will forget.

What a difference a week makes. After a disappointing loss on opening weekend, the men's soccer team held on to beat Hartwick, 2-1, and then blew out Marist 4-0 to capture the Mayor's Cup in Oneonta, N.Y. Towson's 3-2 loss to Hartwick clinched the tournament for Penn, which will now have its name on college soccer's oldest trophy.

For most students, the years spent at Penn are fairly self-absorbed. It's time spent boosting a resume, or partying, or studying for final exams. From Wharton to Nursing, a Penn education is a ticket to a better life, but it's a ticket that bears a very high price: a responsibility to do everything we can to contribute to our community and to our world.

With 40 percent of its members being students of color, Penn's class of 2010 is its most diverse to date. But this triumph of diversity was not won without aggressive effort. As admissions officials nationwide, including Penn, fight for higher percentages of minorities at their schools, more and more are using a range of multicultural recruitment programs.

Five years ago today, the world was irrevocably shaken. Who does not remember where they were? Who has not told the story a dozen times? Huddled around television sets across the country, we watched New Yorkers flee from Lower Manhattan, a swelling cloud of dust and ash chasing them from their offices and homes.