We asked people about their proudest and dumbest moments at Penn

Crystal Ng Wharton ‘18 Undeclared

Proudest moment

“Passing CIS 160.”

Dumbest moment

“Deciding to take CIS 160.”

Noah Baron College ’19 Undeclared, possibly Statistics

Proudest moment

“In high school, I had to do a science research project in physics, but when I got to the summer program to do it, I didn’t do anything—it was all just grad students, and I felt really bad. So then I created my own entire project using baseball statistics. My teacher was really mad at me—he told me it wasn’t real science and he threatened to make me drop the class. But I was passionate about my project and I knew what I was doing, and I ended up winning the Siemens award for it, as well as some other local science fair competitions like West Rock.”

Dumbest moment

“At the beginning of the year, I went to take a shower and forgot my keys, and my door automatically locks, so I had to go down my hall completely naked except for a towel, just knocking on people’s doors and saying, “Hey, can I have a pair of clothes?” And all while this is happening, I’m supposed to be meeting my hall to go see a show together—which I was really excited about—so I was rushing too. So I had to borrow a shirt from a girl next door and a pair of underwear and shorts from a guy down the hall, and then I had to grab a key to unlock my door…But by the time I was ready it was too late for the show.”

Karen Zhao College ‘18 Cognitive Science

Proudest moment

“This year, I decided to put myself out there and co-found a yoga movement with my friend. It’s called Be Here Yoga. We decided to teach yoga classes every single day, and we actually got certified this summer. We’ve been doing yoga on High Rise Field, up in the lounge, just creating noise on campus and getting people to take care of themselves. It took a lot for me, as a shy person, to do that, but it’s been amazing, and it’s still going on.”

Dumbest moment

“I was once walking home with a friend on Locust Walk, and we were both feeling super tired from organizing an NSO event for freshmen, and we just started playing “Rack City” on my phone, at the loudest volume possible, just down Locust, like, “Rack city bitch, rack rack city bitch.” It was pretty badass.”

Siddharth Challani SAS & SEAS ‘19 Math & Electrical Engineering

Proudest moment

“Getting into Penn Lions.”

Dumbest moment

“Staying up till 4:30 in the morning playing board games just for fun. I didn’t have class the next day but I had to wake up early.”

Zahraa Mohammed, College ‘19, Biological Basis of Behavior

Proudest moment

“I’ve learned to better manage my time in the one month that I’ve been here, which is an extreme accomplishment because I never thought that I could actually put aside time for studying.”

Dumbest moment

“Yesterday I was at Commons, and…it was the lack of sleep I’m assuming…So I had a bowl of ice cream, and you know how you’re supposed to put the bowl back, well, instead I threw it in the trash. And it was really bad, and there were a lot of people around, and I was like, you know what, I’m just gonna go. Because by that time, people were already piling trash on top of it, so I was like, I’m not gonna dig…Imma just leave.”

Rachel Davidow, Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice ‘19, Social Work

Proudest moment

“My proudest achievement at Penn was getting in, and I’m also a first year social work student, and I’m really proud of myself for starting my field placement. I’m working as a school counselor at a school in Germantown, and that’s going really well so I’m pretty happy about that.”

Dumbest moment

“I’m really embarrassed to say that yesterday, I went to my advisor to try to switch out of a class and I had a mini meltdown, and I actually cried. So that’s pretty embarrassing, but I think that happens to everyone in academia…It’s a pretty high pressure situation, so I’m trying to go easy on myself, but it’s taking a while to get over the embarrassment.”

Eli Slamowitz, Wharton ‘19, Undeclared

Proudest moment

“Getting into Wharton.”

Dumbest moment

“I dropped a weight at the gym, which was pretty embarrassing because it was my first time there and it was all the really strong guys around me, so you hate to do that.”

Montell Brown, College ‘19, Criminology

Proudest moment

“Getting elected as Executive Vice President of Class Board 2019.”

Dumbest moment

“Just walking alone and singing around Locust Walk all the time, just because I’m bored and have nothing else to do.”

Rebecca Van Sciver, College ‘17, Premed & Fine Arts

Proudest moment

“I managed to keep the basil plant that I bought as a freshman alive for three years. It’s still alive, and I use it to cook all the time. I feel like it’s really hard to keep the little things in your life in order, when you’re under the stress of school and familial and romantic and friend and whatever relationships, and I take great pride in not letting go of the details, so I’m glad my basil plant isn’t dead. And it also tastes really good on pasta.”

Dumbest moment

“I think I was very naïve when I came to Penn, so I think that I definitely took on too much academically my first semester, which was really awful. I think that a lot of people have done that, that’s definitely a common theme. But it was hard, being the smartest kid where I came from—a really small town—and showing up here and being not even close to the smartest kid. So I think the most ridiculous thing I ever did was pulling three all-nighters in a row, and I failed all those midterms, so 10/10 would not recommend…Yup, I stayed up for three consecutive nights, and two days. Caffeine does wonders…but still would not recommend.”

Julia Hegarty, SEAS ‘16, Mechanical Engineering

Proudest moment

“I took a course called Design of Mechatronic Systems and we had to build and program a team of robots—hockey-playing robots—that were autonomous. So at the end of that course, it was a graduate course, we competed in a group of 24 teams, and we ended up placing eighth I think, so it was really really cool for us.”

Dumbest moment

“Freshman year, my friends and I were supposed to meet some other friends at a frat party and decided we didn’t want to go, so we instead walked to the Rocky Steps at midnight and ran the Rocky Steps, and ran around the statue gardens in the back. It was probably the craziest thing I’ve done…it was fun.”