Hill College House
All incoming students, regardless of school, live together in Hill College House in their first year. They will room with another BFS student, and there are BFS events in the House throughout the year. Many students go on to live with fellow BFS students after the first year.
BFS Events
The BFS program hosts various events for students throughout the academic year. These events engage students through their four years and facilitate living and learning experiences. From a traditional whitewater rafting trip in their first week to commencement and convocation Dinners, pre-registration dinners, masterclasses hosted by renowned faculty, and monthly informal events organized by the Undergraduate Advisory Board, BFS events help form a tight community within the larger Penn community.
BFS Peer Mentor Groups
The BFS program’s Peer Mentor Groups (PMG) connect first-year students with their upper-class peers and cultivate familiarity with the program. In the summer before their first semester on campus, incoming BFS students are assigned to small groups whose diversity reflects the diversity of BFS itself. Guided by a sophomore, junior, or senior Peer Mentor, each PMG participates in BFS-wide events, such as Convocation, while also engaging in smaller gatherings and socializing within their group. These relationships within and beyond students’ majors or schools sustains a connection that extends through and beyond graduation while advancing a principle BFS value of collaborative cross-disciplinary intellectual exploration.
BFS students may apply to be Peer Mentors in April, starting from their first year onwards. They will be informed of their selection in June and given the names of their mentees in August.
BFS Undergraduate Advisory Board
To unite scholars from different classes and schools across Penn, the BFS Undergraduate Advisory Board was established to foster a sense of community within BFS. The board collaborates with the Academic Coordinator to create events for the community, on and off campus. These events are varied and typically educational, with recent events such as:
- Study Breaks
- BFSuppers (Community Dinners)
- BFScreens (Movie Nights)
- Cultural excursions into Philadelphia include visiting the Orchestra, Art Museum, etc.
- Trivia Nights
- Alumni Panels
Profiles of current BFS UAB board members are listed below.
Laurel Caruso - UAB President
Laurel Caruso, Class of 2027, is majoring History of Art and has a minor in Statistics and Data Science, Logic Info & Computation. Aside from being President of the BFS board, she is a coxswain on the Men's Heavyweight Rowing team, the social chair of Penn's pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, the events director of Penn Appetit, and on the social media committee of the Daily Pennsylvanian.
Ezra Dubowitz - VP of Academic Initiatives
Ezra Dubowitz, Class of 2027, is a double major in Biology and Urban Studies on the pre-med track in the College. His other academic interests include anthropology and the history and sociology of science. In addition to serving on the BFS UAB, he conducts research at the Levy Lab in Penn’s Microbiology Department, volunteers with Service Link, competes on Penn Men’s Club Soccer Team, and is involved with other community service-related initiatives on campus and around Philadelphia. His hobbies include hiking, reading, spending time with friends and family, camping, and running.
Ariel Fader - VP of Alumni and Career
Ariel Fader, Class of 2028, is a double major in Cognitive Science and Computer Science.
Arush Arora - VP of Social Events
Arush Arora, Class of 2027, is an Artificial Intelligence major with a Computer Science minor in the School of Engineering. Besides his work in the UAB, Arush as been a Rachleff Scholar in the PennNLP lab and participated in PURM with the Lim Lab. He is also in Access Engineering.
Sheel Patel - VP of Marketing and Communications
Sheel Patel, Class of 2028, is a dual major in Health & Societies and Nutrition Science, with a minor in Chemistry, Sustainability & Envl Mgmt in the College of Arts and Sciences. Besides being a VP in the UAB, Sheel is the co-founder of the PULSE (K-8) Liaisons and Co-Head of Finance for GlobeMed@Penn.
Edwin Lapp - VP of Arts and Culture
Edwin Lapp, Class of 2028, is an International Relations major in the College of Arts and Sciences.
