ELP Student Center Continues Virtual Engagement with End of Session Party

ELP Student Center Continues Virtual Engagement with End of Session Party

by Elaney Tedder

On Friday, June 12th, the English Language Programs held a virtual End of Session party, serving as a celebration of the end of the Summer 1 2020 session, and as a farewell for those students moving on to the rest of their academic journey. During this virtual party, students, staff and teachers at the ELP gathered together to socialize and celebrate.

The End of Session party, organized by the ELP Student Services Coordinator Jessica Keating-Whitney and her program assistants, lasted approximately 1.5 hours and engaged attendees by asking them to vote for their favorite Student Center coffee type and favorite restaurant in Philadelphia, as well as by placing everyone in teams and encouraging them to work together to complete a quizzo – or trivia competition – about Philadelphia, the history of the ELP, and U.S. culture and history. At the end, the students who won were rewarded with multiple prize options, ranging from a University of Pennsylvania t-shirt, to an English Language Programs t-shirt, to a box of Insomnia cookies.

As the final activity of the party, a departing student, Jassar Aljohani, gave a thorough presentation about the history of the ELP. He found many news prints about the Conversation Partners program through the ELP Student Center, which still runs to this day, as well as several prints about the inception of the English Language Programs. He compiled all of these documents, as well as his own experience, into a well-thought-out and cohesive presentation, which all in attendance enjoyed.

Finally, everyone said “goodbye” to our departing ELP students, wishing them luck in their future and hoping they would come back to visit, and “see you later” to those continuing for the Summer 2 2020 session.

The ELP is in awe of our staff for continuing to build engaging student activities to ensure that all students continue to receive the amazing experience that the ELP is known for, even when studying remotely. The ELP is also very proud of all of our students moving on in their academic journey, and we wish them the best of luck!