Reception for New International Students

On the evening of Tuesday, August 21, Penn staff and faculty gathered at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at a reception to welcome this year’s incoming international students. Over 550 international students and their family members enjoyed an evening of conversation, hors d'oeuvres, and new friendships at the event cosponsored by Penn Global, International Student & Scholar Services, and Penn Parents.

In his remarks, student speaker Neeraj Chandrasekar, a rising senior in the Wharton School, emphasized the central importance of the relationships he has forged at Penn throughout his time here as a student: from his alumni interviewer, to his residential adviser, to the peers he works with as president of the Assembly of International Students.

Vice Provost for Global Initiatives, Ezekiel Emanuel, then addressed the students, and – after humorously mulling over Penn administrators’ institutional imperative to include Benjamin Franklin in every address – exhorted the incoming students to “read many Ben Franklin biographies” and follow the example of the University’s founder in cultivating both a sense of deep curiosity about the world and a hunger to improve it.

The Class of 2022, which will be officially inducted with Convocation on Monday, August 27, counts among its 2552 members over 350 international students from 88 countries around the world. It is Penn’s privilege to welcome these young scholars to our West Philadelphia campus.