Fall 2016 was quite the semester – between classes, exams and projects, students may have felt overwhelmed. I know I have.  Throughout the semester, there were different events to help students relax and have fun (even if it was temporary). Some of you may have attended these events, so you know how much fun they were! For those who haven’t attended any of these events, don’t worry! There will be more fun events in the spring. One of them you may of heard about – International Night.

I want to reflect on some of the events that occurred these past few months, and talk a little about them.

Welcome Week wind down – the  first event of the semester was a wind down. There were several games in the multi purpose room available – corn holes and Jumbo Jenga. This was a chance for the students to have fun and play games during the first week of the semester.

Spirit Fest – an event that had students show their college pride. Students wore their schools’ paraphernalia and colors, to show their school spirit. There was also a spirit contest, and I ended up in second place, representing UB (the University of Baltimore)!

Groundbreaking event –  the Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Education building is under way. On October 19th, the campus held a groundbreaking event, to honor the construction of the new building.

Octoberfest – in the spirit of Halloween, USG hosted a Halloween party. Students gathered in the cafeteria, listened to some Halloween music and  danced along. There was also free food included along with a photobooth.

Election Night watch party – in honor of the 2016 presidential elections, USG hosted an event where students could watch the elections live. Students also had the chance to enter a contest by predicting which states would be Democratic and which states would be Republican. The winners got to choose from 3 different prizes.

Perhaps the most relaxing of the events was the destress lounge. The ping pong room, located in Building 3 next to the rec center, was transformed into the destress lounge. Throughout the week of December 5th, the destress lounge hosted several events – such as the Super Smash Bros tournaments, Yoga and Pause for Paws. The lounge was also available for students to come in and relax by using massage chairs, laying on giant pillows and drawing in color books.

Pause for Paws

Yoga

Smash Bros Tournament

These were only several of the events that occurred during this semester. They all shared a common theme – student life. Most, if not all, of the events were dedicated to the students. While many of them offered pure entertainment, some of them were beneficial either personally or professionally. Let’s make it a goal to attend some of the events occurring next semester!

Happy holidays and enjoy your winter break!