Finding Community

When I first got to Penn, I thought it would be very hard to make friends. Although I have to admit it was quite hard to find my people, the people I feel most comfortable with, Penn has so many incredible resources for finding a community. The university really fosters a sense of community that motivates the upperclassmen to help incoming freshmen.

In my specific case, the first place that did this for me was Mex@Penn. I am an international student from Mexico and to find a place that made me feel at home was the most heart-warming feeling in the world. The Mex@Penn president, who was a senior at the time, found all of our numbers and made a groupchat with the Mexican freshmen. Each one of the board members texted us individually to let us know that they were there for whenever we needed them and some of them even took us out for coffee or lunch. These "coffee chats" evolved into great friendships that included movie nights, long study sessions and talks about life in college and at Penn.

Hearing upperclassmen telling you about their experience with classes, friends and the culture at Penn was incredibly calming, it gave me a deeper sense of belonging and showed me that I'm never alone. There are dozens of people, me included, that would be willing to do this for any incoming freshman. 

- M. Villela