Houston Hall hosted the Fall Porch Party on Sept. 29.
Credit: Devansh Raniwala
Houston Hall hosted the Fall Porch Party, an annual event welcoming the new season, at the Perelman Quadrangle on Monday.
The gathering featured pumpkin ornament decorating, seasonal pastries, and outdoor games such as cornhole and Connect Four. Alongside the seasonal decorations both inside and outside of Houston Hall, Penn Violence Prevention and the Cultural Resource Centers held booths informing students of their programs.
“The changing of the seasons is something very important to celebrate, because it is tied very much to our wellness and our mental health,” Jonathon May, Penn University Life associate director for student development, said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian. “You know, this idea that things change. Even if I’m stuck in a rut, stressed, or if I’m feeling stuck emotionally or physically, that change will come.”
May, who was also in charge of the event last year, said that attendance in fall 2024 was nearly 600 individuals. He highlighted that the gathering was not only for undergraduate students, as he hoped for Houston Hall to be a hub for the entire Penn community.
“We want students to be exposed to as much diversity as they can throughout their four years of college, or two years of grad school, or whatever it is,” May said. “We want them to get those experiences.”
He noted that, in recent years, attendance at the Fall Porch Party has been increasing.
Nursing junior Elayna Rinker told the DP that she believed the event was a “good mental break” from her day-to-day activities.
“It gives us a chance to hang out with friends that we see in class but sometimes don’t have time to hang out with outside of class,” Rinker said.
Sophia Yu, a Penn University Life graduate assistant and member of the office’s student development team, concurred. Yu also told the DP that she had seen increasing student interest in the event while overseeing its marketing.
“I was also acting as a photographer last year, so I took a lot of pictures and I posted on Instagram,” Yu said. “[Students] loved it, [and] they had a great response for that event.”
Alongside the fall-themed activities, PVP held a booth showcasing stress balls, keychains, and a “healthy relationships” chart. PVP Associate Director of Prevention Education and Programming Julie Hastings told the DP that she appreciated partnering with the Fall Porch Party because it introduced the resource to Penn students.
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“We don’t want people’s first time meeting us to be when they get referenced to PVP — because that could be scary, to talk about your relationship or your sex life,” Hastings said. “We want to be able to say that this is a friendly resource — that [students] got a stress ball from the table, talked about healthy relationships in pop culture, and then got to know us as a friendly face.”
The Cultural Resource Centers also held a shared booth. They informed students about the seven centers, where each was located, and what purpose they individually served.
“The partnership that we have with Cultural Resource Centers is really important in the fall, because it’s when many, particularly new students, are discovering diversity and differences,” May added.
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