A carnival was hosted by the CCE SGA on campus on Sept. 9 to give CCE and traditional students a chance to meet, greet and eat. To attend, guests were asked to bring one can of food to donate through the Bonner Center.
The CCE Student Government supplied three bounce houses, free food, funnel cakes and snow cones to everyone on campus. The Learning Commons also presented at the event to let people know where they were and what they could do for students.
Originally planned for Sept. 2, the event was rescheduled because of the weather. This hurt the event a bit, causing a few different groups on campus such as CAB and the Hege Library to opt out of tabling at the event.
Attendees expressed the sentiment that there could have been more people from campus at the event.
“I think that certain departments could have been more involved,” said CCE junior Terri Jones.
Despite the rescheduling, the event had notable attendance. Roughly 300 people came to the event altogether, with 200 funnel cakes and 350 snow cones being given out.
However, a number of people failed to bring a can as suggested, resulting in only 60 cans brought to the event. On the bright side, the CCE SGA pledged another 100 cans and Guilford matched the adult donations, leading to a total of 260 cans being given to the Bonner Center.
Although many people came only to get their food and leave, plenty stayed to listen to music and socialize, which was the overall goal of the event.
“I think that the biggest thing that we were looking for is more of a feeling of alignment within the different people at Guilford,” said Jeffrey Ray, an event organizer and vice president of the CCE SGA.
“(We don’t want) the traditional students to feel like we are the older people that they don’t want to hang out with.”
Darla Lee, another event organizer and trea- surer of the CCE SGA, shared this sentiment when asked what she hoped students would get out of the event.
“Intermingle,” said Lee. “We want to see people step outside the cliques here (at) Guilford, and we want them to look at all of the student body.”
Though many of those who stayed to socialize were CCE students, there were a number of traditional students who enjoyed themselves. The funnel cake in particular was a big hit with a number of students.
“(My favorite part is) the free funnel cakes,” said Terri Jones. “You never get funnel cakes for free.”
Other students offered some insight into how the Welcome Back Social was working as it was intended to bring students together.
“Seeing everyone come together and have fun (is my favorite part),” said sophomore Lila Jones. “There’s a lot of new faces here too, a lot of new people to meet.”
“(My favorite part of the event is) engaging with students currently enrolled.” said alumni Crystal Jefferson.
Overall the Welcome Back Social was successful, but it had its failings. Many of the students who stayed seemed to be hanging out with mainly traditional students if they were traditional, or CCE students if they were CCE.
“I’m happy, (but) I could be happier,” said Ray when asked about the attendance at the event.
He also relayed some good news about something to look forward to in the spring semester.
“The local elementary schools have offered to co-sponsor another event like this in the spring,” said Ray.
This is definitely something to look forward to, a similar event, only bigger and better for the kids. For those that missed this first event, look forward to spring to be welcomed back once again.
