Campus Activities
Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A.
Penn's Y.M.C.A. began in 1882, and its Y.W.C.A. began in 1884. The main objectives of the Y.M. and Y.W. were to hold prayer meetings, maintain Bible study, encourage individual efforts, support mission enterprises, and contribute to the betterment of college life at Penn. The Y.M. and Y.W. also went out of their way to plan campus events for Penn. The Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. ended around 1929.
May Day
The May Day Pageant was started around 1901 by the Y.W.C.A. The May Queen is selected from the senior women, by the men students, while the women elect a Cardinal to crown and attend to the Queen. The procession marches across the campus to the Queen's throne. The procession is led by two trumpeters, followed by the Queen and the Cardinal, and ended with the flower girls and the entertainers. After the Cardinal has crowned the Queen, the classes put on various forms of entertainment to entertain the Queen, which included the winding of the maypole. The day ended with a meal followed by a play or concert put on by the speech or music departments.
Penn Girls' Equal Suffrage League
Penn was known to have some of the most progressive women on campus. Penn girls formed the Penn Girls' Equal Suffrage League, January 12, 1916, to help gain support for women's right to vote, among other rights issues.
Eating Club
Eating clubs were formed at Penn prior to the creation of a dining hall. The food served however was not always the best. A sarcastic article was published in the Chronicle listing the foods frequently served at the clubs: dressing, pieplant sauce, rhubarb sauce, shriveled pickles, boiled potatoes, shrimps, oleo, dried apple pie, and aqua pura.
P for Penn
The Letter P was on the back campus on the north side of the college and begun in 1919 by the classes of 1922 and 1923. The students wanted to provide an insignia, begin a freshman tradition and establish an area of campus for school celebrations. Each year the sophomore class would pass the care of the P to the freshman class in a fall ceremony with speeches and music. Each class filled in the outline of the P with a stone that was engraved with their class year. The inside of the P was set for a bond fire. The P served as the symbol for Oskaloosa on air maps.