04/25/07 5:00am
Sayre High School's new health center won't be your normal high-school nurse's office
Officials broke ground late last month on a new $1.2 million health center at Sayre, located at 58th and Walnut streets, saying the new building will be a boon for both Sayre students and the West Philadelphia community.
04/19/07 5:00am
A relaxed atmosphere, class evaluations, maybe some donuts: These are the traits that characterize the last days of class at Penn.
But the bar may have been raised yesterday, when Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Blink, and rising musical star Kenna appeared on campus to lecture at Sociology professor David Grazian's "Sociology of Media and Pop Culture" class.
04/10/07 5:00am
Looks like it's out with the old - and out with the Nu.
After a few incidents at a Sigma Nu-sponsored party this weekend at Club 27 downtown, the IFC announced on Monday that it would be suspending the fraternity's charter indefinitely and that they would lose their house at 38th and Walnut streets at the end of the semester.
04/06/07 5:00am
In most cases, "school" tends not to rank among students' most popular spring break destinations.
But for a group of 30 Philadelphia high schoolers, visiting a Penn Anatomy Lab, performing neurological exams and listening to Psychiatry professor Benoit Dube show a Justin Timberlake video-spoof about "Bringing Paxil Back" is a long way from "school.
04/05/07 5:00am
Tyler Morris shrugs his shoulders at Philadelphia's degree of bike-friendliness.
"It's average," said Morris, a College junior and a daily bike rider. "They make an effort to accomodate bikers."
But if Alex Doty, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, has his way, bicycling in Philadelphia will never again be just an "average" experience.
03/26/07 5:00am
Geoffrey See's creation of the EduHealth program opened two doors.
One was for himself, and the other is for hundreds of West Philadelphia students both now and in the future.
After arriving on campus this fall, the Wharton and College freshman has engaged in research relating to urban health education, ultimately developing a project known as EduHealth.
03/26/07 5:00am
A resident of Southwest Philadelphia, Cheryl Thomas has been working at the Starbucks Coffee in 1920 Commons for two years.
Ethel Gurley is a janitor with Penn Facilities and has been working at Penn for over five years. She says she "loves it."
In all probability, neither would have been on campus 10 years ago, had the University and the Health System not made a concerted effort to hire more minorities and women from the surrounding community.
03/20/07 5:00am
The City of Philadelphia decided this month to reduce the police presence at the MOVE house - originally installed to prevent the area from becoming a hotbed for violence.
03/19/07 5:00am
The commercials recently developed by the University were not shown during Penn's NCAA Tournament game last Thursday because CBS decided not to broadcast any university advertisements during this year's tournament, Vice President of University Communications Lori Doyle said Friday.
03/16/07 5:00am
With the Philadelphia School District facing budget cuts of $67 million, it's possible that funding for Penn's partnerships with West Philadelphia may take a hit once again.
City officials announced last week that the school district will have to cut $67 million in programs next year unless the city and state governments contribute a significant amount of increased revenue.
03/14/07 5:00am
When a university's energy efficiency is directly related to tuition increases, it's time to start paying attention to the environment.
At Penn, this was one of a multitude of factors that led to the Penn Sustainability Plan, a study spearheaded by Architecture Professor Bill Braham in which every building on campus will eventually be evaluated for energy efficiency and consumption.
03/14/07 5:00am
Students punching teachers in the face, setting lockers on fire, trespassing - turmoil has reached a boiling point at West Philadelphia High School.
West Philadelphia High, which had been experiencing major discipline problems over the past month, saw former Principal Clifton James fired by the Philadelphia School District last week, but the move has only prompted more violence on several of the school's teachers and students.
03/02/07 5:00am
In the very near future, laziness will no longer be an excuse for area residents not to recycle.
Beginning March 5, the City of Philadelphia Streets Department will implement its Single Stream Recycling methods in West and Southwest Philadelphia.
"Single Stream is the wave of the future, and the wave of the present for a lot of cities already," said Evan Belser, community organizer for the Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia.
02/28/07 5:00am
For the first time, Penn has chosen to take advantage of the free ad space given to all tournament participants by the CBS network and will air one of three 30-second spots that it has developed with the advertisement agency Red-Tettemer.
02/22/07 5:00am
Last week, Leo Saavedra was all set for the grand opening of Tacos Don Memos, his Mexican food truck on 38th and Walnut streets.
Then the snow came, the city failed to remove it quickly, and Saavedra's plans had to change.
"They must do something about the snow," Saavedra said as his truck opened this week, still surrounded by ice.
02/20/07 5:00am
Gary Onufer is flat-lining, and he's never been happier.
Last Monday, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania made the 46-year-old former fitness instructor the first person in the Northeastern United States to receive a Total Artificial Heart, a cutting-edge "Bridge to Transplant" technology that will keep him alive until he finally gets a heart - and a heartbeat - of his own.
02/19/07 5:00am
Richard Smith knows the value of a good pair of gloves.
In an attempt to avoid the cold, Smith stands near the entrance to the subway at 40th and Market streets, trying to absorb some of the heat coming from underground.
02/16/07 5:00am
For three area universities, a joint effort is what it might take to stop youth violence in the area.
Representatives from Penn, Drexel University and Temple University have joined forces, along with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and various community-based organizations, to make up the Philadelphia Collaborative for Violence Prevention Center - a collaborative project with an aim to make violence among 10 to 14 year olds a thing of the past.
02/09/07 5:00am
After the first five years of Philadelphia's experiment with private management of district public schools, a study released last week indicates that it may be time to go back to the drawing board.
But not so fast, education officials say.
According to the study, released in part by Philadelphia-based Research for Action, students in the privately managed public schools - schools controlled by Educational Management Organizations - did not score higher than students in regular Philadelphia district schools on national and state tests, despite the extra money that is spent on these students
Six private institutions, both for-profit and nonprofit - including Penn - manage the 41 EMO schools in the Philadelphia District.
02/07/07 5:00am
One asthma workshop has quickly turned into the possibility of a larger project to improve health and well being at a West Philadelphia high school.
Last year, College juniors Amanda Rubenstein and Rachel Conrad co-founded the Active Asthma Workshop, which sends Penn students to Sayre High School at 58th and Walnut streets to promote awareness about asthma and general health and nutrition.
