Run by the Student Arts and Events Council, Beacon Week is the annual school spirit week. Usually right before the end of each term, SAEC leads a week of sponsored events. Here’s a summary of some of last week’s Beacon Week events.
Tuesday
Tuesday’s Marketplace had three bounce houses, food and a woman giving henna tattoos. In the middle of the room, located in the Clark Athletic Center, they had a company who came in and made fake license plates with personalized sayings on them. One girl’s Connecticut plate said, “Big Booty.”
Along with the Marketplace, the Black Student Center held their Battle of the Sexes in the same space. Their bounce houses had options for students to race against or joust another player off the stand. BSC had pick-up basketball for people to play and a final obstacle course: men versus women. The course included crawling under a table; doing the crab crawl backwards; hula-hooping; shooting a lay-up, free-throw, and a three pointer; and going under another table and running back to the start. Boys started off strong but when they were getting cocky and moving slower, the girls took over and in a final tie, student Alpha shot every basket one after the other and led the girls to victory.
The Game Show put on this past Tuesday by SAEC was an opportunity for students to play games with real cash prizes. Each of the three rounds consisted of three games and had four contestants. Three mini games also occurred in between each round and had two contestants. The winner of each round received $20 and faced off in the fourth, and final, round for a chance at $500 cash in the cash wind machine. In the end, the final winner took home over $200 and everyone got some great laughs and others got some cash. (author: Jennifer Magee)
Wednesday
On Wednesday, Giant Board Games were right outside the Campus Center with a Mario Kart and Super Smash Ultimate Tournament in the Harbor Art Gallery later that day. There was a $300 cash prize for first place.
Thursday:
Thursday’s Poetry Slam/Open Mic was sponsored by The Mass Media—located in the Harbor Art Gallery Event space 6 to 9 p.m., it was hosted by News Writer Rasheem Muhammad and a number of people brought their best work to perform. The Mass Media had Chinese food delivered to the event, high tables were set up for attendees to stand at to eat food, and a notebook was left out for people to put their names down. The rush of students didn’t come until around 6:45 p.m., after three people had already spoken. Mitchell Ll. Cameron performed a piece inspired by old German folktales and another student read a prose poem, followed by slam veteran, Dabem, who did an intense read from some of his older poetry pieces. In addition to poems, one student played his guitar and sang to break up the slam. As the night wore on, many came up a couple times to showcase more of their work as well as Muhammad, another slam vet. The Mass Media hopes to hold future events such as this one.
Friday
As people entered in the Venezia restaurant on Friday night for the annual Spring Ball, they were greeted by SAEC to check people in; a table set up with a giant ice sculpture of a hummingbird and ice enclosed flowers; a table filled with cheeses and different sets of crackers; and a bar to the side for drinks—non-alcoholic as well as alcoholic. There was even a pink, toile, curtain with pink flowers off to the side for people to take pictures in front of. As more and more people arrived, they finally let people into the ballroom at 7:50 p.m.. Folks sat down in their seats before heading to the dinner buffet of chicken, ham, and prime rib—cut right off the slab. There was plenty of salad and other greens; the pasta table was on the opposite wall.
More and more people arrived in long gowns, cocktail dresses, suits and ties, one tuxedo, and a few different types of outfits in between. Music blared while people were finishing up their dinners and they finally started to move toward the dance floor. SAEC cut off arrivals at 9 p.m. as the Ball lasted until midnight. The selections were everywhere—from Superstition by Stevie Wonder to Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani—students and their dates got down and danced like no one was watching. Many held it to be a positive experience and one attendee stated, “Yeah, I definitely will go next year, I had a lot more fun than what I expected.”