Gabriella Chikhani
Staff Writer
To conclude the summer road-trip themed Welcome Week, 500 students lined up at 10 p.m. on Sept. 3 in the Campus Center Ballroom for Carnival Night hosted by the Campus Activity Board.
“We decided to do a carnival themed event because we wanted people, especially the incoming freshman, to really get engaged in school and meet a lot of other people on campus,” said CAB co-chair and junior, Jasmine Marchbanks.
CAB and ASULV worked together to provide free carnival food from Bon Appétit like corn dogs, churros, chicken strips, shaved ice and cotton candy.
There were a total of 10 booths including: games, henna and a cartoonist. A $50 Target gift card was given away in a raffle.
“I thought this would be a cool event to come to with my friends before school starts getting a little tougher, and now that I’m a commuter it’s harder for me to see my friends, so these events help bring us together,” said senior sociology major, Jacqueline Perez Valencia.
“I would have preferred the carnival to be outside, but having it inside kept everyone together and actually made it more fun.”
Students walked with cotton candy in their hands and stopped to play games like Red, White and Pong, bowling and some tried their luck at ball toss.
“I try to come out to every event to show my support and love for La Verne and try to meet new people, because that’s what these events are for,” said junior business administration major, Kevin Sin.
A long table was placed in the middle of the ballroom with different letter cut-outs for students to piece together and spell their names or words to hang on as dorm room décor.
“I made my name, hung out with a couple of baddies and ate some DP chicken strips that never disappoint,” said junior speech communications major, Blasina Hernandez.
LeoFM played music for a fist-pump competition, where students got on stage, chose a stage name and performed their best Jersey Shore impersonation to win bluetooth Eco Beats.
Micah Madrid, freshman chemistry major, placed 10 tickets into the box for the Target raffle and took home the $50 gift card. He plans on spending the money on a microphone.
“I would have liked CAB to organize the lines better because no one could tell what the lines were for, especially the food line,” said sophomore undecided major, Danica Langaynor. “CAB set this event up perfectly. They had everything we needed: food and fun.”
“But I do like that the event was held at night, because we have class during the day and then work, so having it at night gives everyone the opportunity to come,” Langaynor said.
CAB invested a little under $15,000 into the event and ordered enough food to feed 250-300 students; however, with the 500 student turnout, the food disappeared within 20 minutes.
Gabriella Chikhani can be reached at gabriella.chikhani@laverne.edu.
