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First Generation Students

Celebrating the ‘incomparable’ Class of 2021
graduate close up with sunglasses and yellow color

Celebrating the ‘incomparable’ Class of 2021

Penn’s 265th Commencement honored students who are defined by their inspiring growth, unrivaled resilience, gracious appreciation, and undoubted ability to create a better future for us all.

Lauren Hertzler

Increasing access for students on ‘Faculty Fridays’
Amy Gutmann meets with students virtually on Zoom

Increasing access for students on ‘Faculty Fridays’

For the past few years, PennCAP has hosted “Faculty Fridays” as a means to better connect first generation, lower-income students with the University’s professors. These efforts have continued virtually during COVID-19.

Lauren Hertzler

COVID communications and first generation students
Marcus Wright

Marcus Wright, undergraduate program manager and academic coordinator in the Department of Sociology. (Image: Courtesy of OMNIA)

COVID communications and first generation students

Marcus Wright, undergraduate program manager and academic coordinator in the Department of Sociology and doctoral student at the Graduate School of Education, analyzes academic messaging to expose blind spots.

From Omnia

Student financial ambassadors promote financial wellness
A pig drawn with thought bubbles of a bag, car, and house with a banner reading "finance your future"

Lydia Ko, a junior in the Weitzman School of Design, designed the graphics for the financial education campaigns.

Student financial ambassadors promote financial wellness

A new team of student financial ambassadors offer peer one-on-one counseling and workshops on personal finance basics as part of the program launched this spring.

Kristina García

A Move-In like no other
students moving into the quad

A Move-In like no other

Penn undergraduates start arriving on campus to move into College Houses during an extended eight-day period in keeping with pandemic health and safety protocols.
A virtual Convocation for Penn’s newest students
college hall with lights

A virtual Convocation for Penn’s newest students

Defined by their mission-driven grit and unity as a community, the Class of 2024 is welcomed with open arms—and inspired to ‘make the impossible possible’—during such an unprecedented time.

Lauren Hertzler