Pub is a beloved Wharton tradition. Each Thursday, the entire student body convenes around 4:30 pm to devour pizza and guzzle motivational beverages. It’s my favorite part of the week. I see people I might not see otherwise, stuff my face with free food, and celebrate the onset of a three-day weekend. Life is good here.
Pub is always fun, but lately it’s been superb. Two weeks ago, Out4Biz organized a “pub spectacular” to celebrate National Coming Out Day. Our stat professors danced in drag, Dean Howie starred in a short film, and Kembrel warmed up the audience with the following cheer: “Give me a ‘W’…give me a ‘H’…give me an ‘A’… Kembrel spelled out “Wharton”, with a captive audience shouting each letter on his command.
I felt giddy during that chant. I was screaming, jumping, and bursting with excitement, surrounded by 1,000 students doing the same. The energy in that room was indescribable. I had one of those life-doesn’t-get-any-better-than-this moments, thinking: “There’s nothing in the world I’d rather be doing right now!” Leave it to Kembrel to bring out the cheerleader in me. I spelled Wharton’s letters with all my might.
This week’s pub had a hard act to follow, but it did not disappoint. It was the cluster dance off competition. Imagine grown men and women (most of them around 30 years old) dressed in absurd costumes dancing like it’s 1999. I’m in cluster 2 and we rocked. The competition was not even close. We DESTROYED the other teams. Utterly, completely destroyed them. Again, I found myself screaming, jumping, and bursting with excitement as our team performed flawlessly under Vasco’s watch. Again, the energy was indescribable. The room felt alive. There was something in the air.
I tend to pick favorites. In Michigan, football games were my favorite. In New York, Saturday brunches were it. Let it be known: in Philadelphia, it’s pub. I love you pub. Let the motivational beverages and three-day weekends continue.