By Alexander Osornio, Sept. 21, 2021
ASI BEAT started the fall semester with a celestial bang through the latest iteration of its virtual speed friending event known as “Speed Friending: What’s Your Sign?” on Sept. 3, using astrology to bring the CPP community together.
Astrology remains popular among younger generations, but ASI BEAT sought to make the event open to both skeptics as well as people who were already invested in astrology.
Jocelyn Chung, student activity supervisor at ASI BEAT, said the idea for an astrology-themed speed friending event came from students as well as other BEAT members who had an interest in astrology. “Astrology doesn’t gear toward one certain major… it could bring people from all over campus,” she said.
As a way to bring in students unfamiliar with astrology, a crash course segment was presented which gave an overview of basic astrological concepts, such as the distinction between fire, water, earth and air signs, characteristics associated with each sign and how to learn one’s sun, rising and moon signs.
Monica Martinez, student activities assistant at ASI BEAT, took the reigns during the crash course segment. As someone who was first introduced into astrology in her high school days, she was excited to be able to educate others on astrological concepts while also speaking on her own experiences with it. “It’s a very big part of my life now,” she said. “My spiritual side has definitely grown throughout the past four years.”
In addition to helping her connect with her spirituality, Martinez also appreciates the sense of community she gets from interacting with other astrology enthusiasts, something she hoped attendants to the speed friending event would take from it.
Attendants were grouped into breakout rooms according to their signs. The first of these breakout room sessions grouped people of similar signs together; the second breakout room grouped attendants by corresponding sign types, such as mixing fire signs with air signs.
Other activities included a word-guessing activity, in which attendants received prompts related to an astrological term, and a scavenger hunt in which attendants grabbed items related to prompts such as asking them to grab something that makes them feel their best, or something that keeps them motivated.
Among the items held up by students for the scavenger hunt was a bottle of cologne, money and several Nintendo Switches.
For computer information systems major Angelo Domingo, this was one of the first campus events he participated in. Having first heard of the event through an email invitation from ASI, this helped him familiarize himself with the process of how ASI BEAT events are held and how they can bring students together.
“They really engage with each individual student, making sure they all felt welcome during the event,” he said.
While Domingo wished the event could have gone on longer and been held in person, he still commended ASI BEAT for bringing students together and providing them with a social space to get to know fellow CPP students.
To keep up with ASI BEAT events, follow the ASI BEAT Instagram. To sign up for ASI events and programs, visit the ASI Portal.
Feature image courtesy of ASI BEAT.