WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2016
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West Philadelphia High School: A Closed Path to Penn Refathun Momo, the daughter of college-educated parents and a senior at West Philadelphia High School, is a native of Bangladesh who came to the United States in 2013. Interested in studying psychology, she failed to apply to Penn, fearing that the University would deny her acceptance. Since English is her second language, she did not think her SAT scores were up to Penn’s standards. Last year, the middle 50 percent of admitted students scored between a 2100 and a 2370 on the test. “You have to have very high SAT scores to get in, and I don’t have that,” Momo said. “I know I will get rejected.”
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AMINATA SY Staff Reporter
lose to home but a world away for many Philadelphia high school students, Penn’s high standards make it nearly impossible for many of them to apply to or to be accepted at the Ivy League University. Among the 3,697 high school students admitted to Penn last year, just 483 of them were from Pennsylvania. Only 170 of those students called Philadelphia home. For students at some Philadelphia high schools, the path to Penn is clearer than others. On Thursday at 5 p.m., regular decision applicants will find out if they have a future at the University.
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THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
For local Philadelphia high school students, the path to a spot at Penn is not always clear
Even if she were able to attend Penn, she is still intimidated by the fast-paced environment of the campus. For Momo, her perception of Penn is only counterbalanced by the students she interacts with in her advanced placement classes; Momo said she has never seen a Penn admissions representative at her school. “I think they don’t come to our school because it’s a neighborhood school,” she said. Penn’s Office of Admissions wrote in an email earlier this month that it was unavailable to comment on this and other articles, as it is preparing to release regular decisions on Thursday. Despite the fact that she didn’t apply to Penn, Momo made applying to college a priority — and she has already received eight acceptance letters from other colleges, including La Salle University and Saint Joseph’s University. In the future, she wants to go back to Bangladesh and build two free hospitals for women and children. Ultimately, she believes what matters is how a student benefits from a school. “If you go to a good school, it doesn’t make you a good person,” Momo explained. “The important thing is what you are learning from that school and how the school is shaping you.” She said SAT scores do not reflect a student’s overall academic and personal abilities. “If a student doesn’t have good SAT scores, it doesn’t
mean that he or she is a bad student,” she said. For Momo, this sentiment applies to Penn. “[Penn] should be more focused on what the student is doing and how that student is working hard toward their goals.” Crystal Little, school counselor at West Philadelphia High School, is puzzled by the lack of relationship between her school and Penn. The school, which reopened at a new address in 2011, had a negative reputation at its previous location, which Little speculated might be part of the reason her students are so disconnected from the University. However, in order for that relationship to change, Little said she needs to better understand what Penn is looking for in her students. “We need to know what we’re not doing,” she said. Little said if the two schools had an open communication, West would know how to better prepare its students to fit the “Penn mold.” “I feel like we’re neglected,” she said. “If none of our kids apply there, that would be a problem for me if I were working at Penn.” She added that she would have asked, “West is right down the street — why don’t we get any applications from them?” Little couldn’t hold back her tears as she described Momo’s drive to succeed and how she feared applying to Penn. “I am not going to apply to Penn because of my language,” Little recalled Momo telling her. “I don’t think
I will get in.” Little said Momo is the kind of student who could thrive at Penn because of her determination. “I will put my job on it,” Little noted. “She is going to be the one that does something monumental in the world. For her to get doors slammed in her face upsets me.” She added Penn should take a chance on her students even if they are off on their SAT scores. “We’re good enough for the programs,” Little said, referencing the tutoring and partnership programs that currently exist between West Philadelphia High School and Penn. “Why aren’t our students good enough to attend your school?” she asked. Principal of West Philadelphia High School Mary Dean expressed a similar frustration and urged Penn to offer her students access. “My issue has always been that Penn sees West Philadelphia High School as a place where their students can earn community service hours,” she explained. “I talked to them about individuals from this school attending Penn. It doesn’t happen.” Last summer was the first time Penn admitted West Philadelphia High School students to their “first taste of college life” program, Dean said. She added Penn SEE PATH TO PENN PAGE 5
Campus experiences a sweep of power outages
Penn Med profs study twin in space, twin on Earth
At least ten buildings lost power briefly, including Van Pelt Library
Researchers look into outerspace’s biological effects
JAMIE BRENSILBER Staff Reporter
ADELAIDE POWELL Contributing Reporter
The Division of Public Safety sent out a UPennAlert on Tuesday at 11:29 a.m. about a large power outage on campus. Penn experienced power outages in Van Pelt Library, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Law School, English House, Annenberg Center and School, the Franklin Building, Franklin Annex, Golkin Hall, parts of 3401 Walnut Street, the Jaffe Building, Kings Court, Sansom East and the tunnel entrance of Sansom West, according
Twins are normally compared for their similarities and differences, but only one set of twins can say they have been studied for their reactions to space flight versus time on Earth. Astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent 382 consecutive days in space — the record for any American — completed a one-year mission on the International Space Station this March 1. He was analyzed for the effects of microgravity on his functioning in comparison with his identical twin brother who remained on
SEE POWER OUTAGE PAGE 9
COURTESY OF NASA
Penn Medicine’s twin study aims to look at new areas of physiology of which space may have an effect, such as sleep, memory and emotions.
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Earth, retired astronaut Mark Kelly. The brothers came up with the idea for the study. Perelman School of Medicine professors Mathias Basner, David Dinges and Ruben Gur have been working with NASA to research the cognitive and behavioral effects of space flight, or lack thereof, on the twins. “Now that the in-flight data collection has been completed, the post-flight data collection has commenced,” Dinges said. The scientific investigators are not allowed to talk about their findings yet as they are still in the process of making sense of them — the data is on lockdown by NASA until the Kellys SEE ASTRONAUT PAGE 9
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