August 30, 2001

• School's open
  The neighborhood elementary school that Penn helped create is opening its doors next week, and Nancy Streim, who oversaw the educational planning for the school, can't wait.

• Egypt shares its treasures
• Rubenstein named EVP and dean
• Rambo rises

• A Penn venture seeds its first tech business
• Chinese opera meets Western symphony
• Research: Sickle cell hits home — and homeland
• Student spotlight: A tale of two thespians
• Staff Q&A: Young staffer Troy Odom finds himself running a staff advocacy group after just one meeting
  

• Event Listings
• Editor's Pick: To the lighthouse in the garden
• Tips on getting into college
• You can make a difference
• Readers' Best: Hot times, hot reads

• News Briefs
• Bookquick from the University Press
• Quoted Recently
• Awards & Honors
• Appointments
• Campus Buzz

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VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

You can make a difference

Want to help prepare a high school student for the world of work? Or would you like to mentor an eighth grader instead?

These are just two of the service opportunities available through Penn Volunteers in Public Service this month.

Penn VIPS is looking for people willing to hire University City or West Philadelphia high school students as interns, exposing them to career possibilities. Students earn academic credit for their internships.

The Workplace Mentoring Program pairs Penn staff with local eighth graders for help with academic, work life and personal issues. Mentors meet with their charges for a few hours each month.

Other volunteer opportunities include:

donating used computers to local schools, needy families and nonprofit agencies;

donating platelet cells to help children with leukemia at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia;

assisting with operations at the American Gold Cup riding competition at the Devon Show Grounds, an event that benefits Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine;

cleanup projects related to Citywide Clean Sweep Day, Sept. 15; and

painting, landscaping and graffiti removal projects in Philadelphia public schools on Oct. 13.

For information about these and other volunteer opportunities, call Penn VIPS Coordinator Isabel Mapp at 215-898-2020 or e-mail sammapp@pobox.upenn.edu.