By Kelsey Coen, Dec. 13, 2022
The Bronco Events & Activities Team hosted a midnight madness event on Dec. 9 to help students destress from finals.
The week before finals can be a very stressful time as students try to cram for their upcoming exams , so the BEAT program wanted to offer a place for students to take a break and have some fun.
“We really wanted to create a place for students to just go and have fun for a few hours,” said Alexis Castelan, a coordinator at the event. “The week before finals can be a real strain on student’s mental health and we hope this event will help with that.”
Midnight madness had a wide array of activities for students to participate in. There was an air hockey table, arcade games and table tennis set up in the arcade room. Next to the arcade room students could pick up and decorate a free canvas bag. Down the hall, there was a hand-made minigolf course set up that students could play through. Downstairs there was a free donut station with an elaborate machine making the donuts for students to watch as they waited. There was a nacho station right next to the donuts and plenty of toppings laid out. Farther down were a couple of booths, one for airbrushed merch and another for caricatures, with a magician entertaining the students waiting in line. Finally, the games room had a photo booth with a cut-out chubby Billy Bronco next to the airbrush tattoo station.
From 10 p.m. to midnight, over 400 students explored the different booths set up around the Bronco Student Center.
The event was definitely a hit with students so most of the booths and activities had long wait times and large crowds, and though people were having fun, the long lines caused many to be disappointed that they were unable to try more before the end of the event.
“I really enjoyed being able to wander around with friends and play games,” said Miguel Mendez, a student at the event. “I only wish it was either a longer event or the lines were shorter so that I could do more. I spent over half the event in line for an airbrushed hat only for the booth to close right when I got to the front, that was definitely frustrating and I wish they cut off the line early enough that they could get to everyone waiting”
Eliza Magana, a BEAT program leader, explained why the event’s success was important to Associated Students Incorporated.
“BEAT is a branch of ASI that is in charge of hosting events and programs for students to create a better community on campus,” explained Magana. “After the pandemic, student life has started to regrow slowly, but we really want to bring back events like this as well as host new events. Students both attending events as well as giving feedback so that we can improve events is going to be really helpful in this process and we hope to get the word out about BEAT.”
The regrowth of campus life is really important to ASI, and they hope to reach as many students as they can through events like this.
To find out when future events are happening, students can follow the official ASI Instagram @asicpp.
Feature image courtesy of Kelsey Coen