Being labeled as "the gateway between West Philadelphia and the rest of the city", the $46.5M Penn Park has finally opened and it marks the beginning of Penn's eastward expansion.

After the jump watch President Amy Gutmann introduce us to this beautiful new addition to Penn's campus.

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Over the past few years, DT has followed the great journey Brian Yanish (C'95, Mask and Wig) has been taking with his his Scrap Kins childrens property.

What started out as a few sketches from Brian's childhood has turned into a NYC-based Creativity program for kids based on the adventures of a group of monsters that live in a recycling center and build their world out of the things we throw away.

For you parents and educators out there, after the jump find out about Brian's fantastic new book that will keep your children occupied for hours.

...And see how actress Brooke Shields got involved with The Scrapkins!

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More and more entrepreneurs are coming out of Penn these days and their products are really stellar and green.

Such is the case for alumni Aakash Mathur (W'09 C'09, International Affairs Association, Intercol Director) and Jay Parekh (SEAS'09, Engineers without Borders, President).

While Aakash and Jay were at Penn they developed a state of the art water bottle you'll want to check out that is now hitting the market. After you read more, you'll think twice before drinking out of a plastic water bottle again.

After the jump learn about their Hydros Bottle, how it was developed at Penn ...and how you can win one next week in honor of Earth Day (4/22)!

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To kick off our Winning Women Week, Round 2 series, I've got a good follow-up story....

While she didn't win $350,000 for her film in THIS contest (although came very close), Kristin Fairweather (Penn Grad '01, Masters in Government Administration, Alumni Relations) is still a winner...

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In late April, I featured a TV News clip of Brian Yanish (C'95, Mask and Wig, Friars) talking about his Scrap Kins children's character property.

For all of you with kids out there and are doing some back to school shopping, Brian's "The Scrap Kins" recycled paper stationery is already on shelves in your neighborhood.  His pocket folders feature "Green Tips" on the back and his spiral themebooks give instructions for a recycled craft project kids can make using recyclables found at home.

Support Brian by choosing "Green" for your back to school supplies.

He has pocket folders ($1.29) and spiral themebooks ($2.49) at these stores nationwide: (Click on each name to locate a locate a store near you.)

• Rite Aid (They're also carrying Brian's soft lunchboxes).
• Albertsons
• ShopKo
  
• Duckwall-Alco

Brian's limited edition stationery is only in stores for a Limited Time through Labor Day, so get these collectibles before they're gone!

And this just in! Scrap Kins Recycled Plush dolls (made from recycled polyester (fabric spun from plastic PET bottles (soda & sports drink bottles) are planned for release in Spring 2010. Congrats Brian!

Follow Brian on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ScrapKins

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Kristin Fairweather (Penn Grad '01, Masters in Government Administration, Alumni Relations) is in the running for winning a  $350,000 production grant and a guarantee of a premiere at next year’s LA Film Festival. ...and they need your vote!

Once producer Kristin and writer/director Jenny Deller found out they were one of the top 10 semi-finalists in the Netflix Find Your Voice competition, they were tasked with creating the above 3-minute short that reflected the feature in style or theme. 
 
Tasked with shooting a 3-minute short they decided against doing a traditional trailer and shot a stand-alone script called "Save the Future" that we bill as "a companion piece" to the feature length film (and recent Nantucket Film Festival screenplay award winning) Future Weather.  If they are selected as the winner of the Netflix contest then they get the funds to shoot the feature.

"Save the Future" Netflix Short description:
In Deller's 3-minute companion short for the Netflix competition, FUTURE WEATHER's protagonist reimagines a day in her life as a public service announcement, blurring the lines between family struggles and fear of environmental apocalypse.

 Future Weather Feature logline:
Future Weather, is a coming-of-age tale about a 13-year-old environmentalist. Central to the stories of three rural women, is the gifted but lonely Laduree, an aspiring conservationist whose experiments to save the planet from global warming are destroyed when her single mom runs away to find herself.

Check out the film above.  It really is a beautiful piece of work!

Help Kristin get to the final phase of the contest by VOTING HERE or voting within the video module above! (voting ends July 5)

Find out why Kristin left her career in Politics and how she got started in entertainment HERE

Other Penn alumni who followed their passion and changed careers HERE

On an environmentally related note, check out all my posts about Penn going green HERE!

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This past Wednesday night (4/29/09), Penn alumnus Elon Musk (W'95, C’95) appeared on a popular late night TV program and discussed his electric sports car company Tesla Motors.

Find out:

• how much this car costs now(!)
• how the Tesla is environmentally friendly
• more about the electric car movement
• a preview of his sleek new, affordable Model S car which will come out in 2 years

At the end of the interview above, Dave cut Elon off just as Elon was about to make "an important point" about this new car. 

I emailed Elon and he told me that the "point was that the real comparison price for the Model S is under $35k, so it's comparable to a high end Ford Taurus, when you consider that gasoline costs a lot more than electricity."

Elon also did another interview late last week (see video below) with Charles River Venture Partner George Zachary. While this video isn't the best quality, Elon does mention Penn, as well as:

• his motivation behind his interest in cars
• what other transportation related projects Elon is interested in (inlcuding an electric plane!)
  
• more about the 2 companies he co-founded: SpaceX (space transportation company) and PayPal and how he broke into these businesses
• his dislike for firing people
• other CEOs in the Technology space from who he draws inspiration
• how this current political administration will be helping Tesla
• how he manages his time between running SpaceX and Tesla
  

On a related note, if you haven't already seen this movie, check out Who Killed the Electric Car...it's a fascinating documentary on the whole destruction of the electric car movement in the mid 1990s!

Musk was featured in the Nov/Dec issue of The Gazette HERE

Wikipedia info on Musk HERE

Other ways Penn and our alumni are going green HERE

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Eco-advocate and illustrator, Brian Yanish (C'95, Mask and Wig, Friars) has combined his talents and passions to create The Scrap Kins, animated characters that live in a recycling center and build their world out of the things people throw away.

Over the past 2 years DT has been following Brian as he has been developing out the Scrap Kins and we are happy to report that he has not only had successful meeting with some major publishers, but his his characters will be on children's notebooks and folders in Rite Aid stores across the country in over 4900 stores!

In the recent Los Angeles news segment from above, Brian shows us how he teaches kids to use their imagination and turn household scraps into crafts.

Happy Earth Day everyone!

Visit Brian's website HERE

Follow Brian on his Twitter page HERE

More from my "Pinching PENNies" series

Find out HERE how Penn has been going green!

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Check out this brilliant video above of how Penn continues to go Green!

My past posts about Penn's Green campus

Check out what else is happening on campus

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The deals keep coming for illustrator-author Brian Yanish (C'95, Mask and Wig, Friars) and his eco-friendly kids character property, The Scrap Kins.

If you recall from my previous posts , Brian created The Scrap Kins from his childhood drawings! The Scrap Kins are a group of creatures that live in a recycling center and build a world out of the things people discard. The Scrap Kins mission is to foster eco-awareness, promote recycling and encourage kids to use their imagination. The Scrap Kin's Do-It-Yourself resourcefulness empowers children to create and make a difference in their environment. (Ages 3-7)

He reportedly signing 3 new licensing deals with manufacturers (Aljan Corp, Some Publishing, and Lafayette Puzzle Company) to produce Scrap Kins back to school recycled paper stationery, sticker calendars, and puzzles. Keep an eye out for Scrap Kins kids products in stores in 2009!

Check out Brian's newly designed website at http://www.thescrapkins.com
(You can meet the characters, view our Green Tips, download desktop art & craft projects and order Scrap Kins organic tees and onesies.)

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At 36th and Chestnut, Penn's got a new type of trashcan! And it's quite unique...

Find out why this is the "Smartest Trash Can" you've ever seen!


This isn't the first time Penn is talking "green"...and certainly won't be the last (check back soon for another cool Penn "green" story)

Win the Cloverfield DVD in our May Contest

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Seems like everyone is going green these days. (as they should)

Check out this creative public service announcement (class project) video concerning recycling at Penn.

Other awesome Penn Class Projects

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