Fall is one of the best seasons of the year. The crisp leaves changing colors, seasonal drinks, and watching scary movies are one of the few things that set the tone for the spirit of fall.

On November 3, the Universities at Shady Grove had their annual Fall Fest hosted by the Student Leadership Advisory Council, the University of Maryland Association of Nursing Students, and the American Marketing Association. I am a general member of SLAC so I had the chance to volunteer and attend this wonderful event.

Since this is my first semester at USG, I have never been to Fall Fest, but I knew that I would have a good time. Usually, social events can be a bit anxious for me especially when I don’t know many people there, but since some of the SLAC members were there, I felt more comfortable knowing that there were people I knew at the Fall Fest.

The Fall Fest had different activities for attendees to participate in. We had pumpkin painting, creating bookmarks, water pong, a photo booth, and a guessing jar game where we guessed how many M&M’s are in a jar in order to get a prize.

I was looking forward to pumpkin painting as I enjoy art and wanted to get back into honing my craft. We had these pumpkins that could fit our palms and we got to paint them with whatever designs we had in our minds. The pumpkins we had were a lot easier than painting real ones in the sense that they didn’t take a lot of time.

After painting a couple of pumpkins, I went over to create a couple of bookmarks. Since getting back into reading, I haven’t really had any bookmarks to use, so this station was much needed for me. The bookmarks were fall themed and had stickers such as pumpkins, leaves, and Thanksgiving decorations to encompass the theme of fall.

Towards the end of the event, we guessed how many M&M’s were in a jar. I estimated about 380, but there were around 900 M&M’s in the jar. I was shocked as well as most of us at the event. Two students guessed close to the amount and had the choice of a parking pass for next semester or a polaroid.

Overall, this year’s Fall Fest was a success and I had such a great time. This was one of the first USG events I got to attend and I’m looking forward to attending more.