Welcome Penn Class of 2024!

Once again, congratulations on starting your new journey at Penn!

New Student Orientation (NSO) is here and our staff wants to provide you with pivotal information and tasks that need to be completed whether you are learning remotely or coming to campus shortly. Over the next few weeks, you’ll need to complete Phase One of Thrive at Penn (TAP), our mandatory online orientation program which includes the Penn Reading Project (PRP). Below you'll find more information about TAP, PRP, and more.

If you have any questions regarding NSO activities, please feel free to contact us at provost-nso-ai@pobox.upenn.edu.

- NSO Staff

Thrive at Penn (TAP)

Phase I: Live Monday, August 3; Completion Required by Thursday, August 20
Phase II: Goes live Monday, August 24; Completion Required by Monday, August 31
Phase III: Goes live Tuesday, September 1; Completion Required by Thursday, September 3

TAP is a mandatory three-part online program that readies incoming students for their Penn experience. TAP prepares students to make healthy choices as they begin their university experience and provides information about resources available to support student success. Topics covered include thriving at Penn during the COVID-19 pandemic, thriving at a research university, wellness and health, the risks associated with alcohol and other drugs, healthy relationships and sexual violence prevention, and other resources for first-year students.

Throughout your undergraduate career, TAP will be available through Canvas, Penn’s learning management system. At your own pace, you’ll be asked to complete each phase of this mandatory program before the respective deadline.

Penn Reading Project (PRP) 

Phase I (August 3-August 20): Read/view all PRP selections.
Phase II (August 24-August 31): Engage in group discussion and complete reflection exercise.

The Penn Reading Project is now in its 30th year of introducing the incoming freshman class to academic life at Penn. The Provost, the Council of Undergraduate Deans, and the Office of New Student Orientation and Academic Initiatives are pleased to announce that this year's selections comprise of four short readings and a 30-minute documentary: "Home (from The Source of Self-Regard)" by Toni Morrison, "My Dungeon Shook (A Letter to My Nephew)" by James Baldwin, "The Purpose of Education" by Martin Luther King Jr., "Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania" by Benjamin Franklin, and Song of Parkland by Amy Schatz. These are the 2020-21 Penn Reading Project selections to kick off the Year of Civic Engagement.

As civic engagement is a core value here at Penn, the recent challenges taking place around the world call us to work together across many lines. This year's PRP selections call for attention, advocacy, and action to address some of society's greatest challenges and the role that education does, could, and should play in addressing these issues.

The PRP selections for 2020 are now available through the TAP 2024 Canvas page.

All incoming freshmen are required to participate in PRP. Beginning August 24 and continuing through August 31, you will engage in an on-going discussion within Canvas discussion boards with a small group of other Penn first-year students. Additional members of the Penn community—upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and staff—will serve as facilitators in each group.

Penn First Plus (P1P) Programming

NSOAI, in partnership with Penn First Plus (P1P), Greenfield Intercultural Center’s First-Generation Lower-Income (FGLI) Program, as well as Penn First, the University’s student-led organization for first-generation and/or lower-income students, offers specific programming designed to assist FGLI students in the preparation and transition to Penn and college life.

Penn First defines “First-Generation” as any of the following ways:
·One or both of your parents have not received a college degree
·You are the first in your family to pursue higher education in the United States
·You are the first in your family to pursue higher education at an elite institution like Penn
·You are the first in your family to make efforts toward changing your socio-economic status
·One or both of your parents started pursuing a college degree but did not complete it

Communication to FGLI students identified by Penn was sent out on July 23, 2020. If you didn’t receive the email and self-identify with some of the characteristics of the Penn First definition listed above and would like to receive Penn First Plus communications, please contact our office at provost-nso-ai@pobox.upenn.edu.

Still have questions?

For questions related to COVID-19, please reach out to coronavirus@upenn.edu. For questions related to NSO, free to contact us at provost-nso-ai@pobox.upenn.edu.