Boston University students ditched the cold weather and kicked off the spring semester at “Winter Weekend.”
Planned by the Programming Council, festivities began Friday night with free ice-skating at Agganis Arena and freshman dance party, along with a screening of movies “The Social Network” and “The Town” on Saturday night in Metcalf Ballroom.
About 160 students showed up to Agganis Arena Friday night, showing their winter spirit by bundling up and taking to the ice.
“I wanted to ice skate because I love it and haven’t gotten the chance to do it in a while,” said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Yayra Sumah. “I think the event is really great. A lot of people are enthusiastic about it.”
After unlacing their skates, more than 200 freshmen attempted to warm up at the SAO sponsored freshman class dance, dubbed “Fancy ‘14: Shake Your Class,” seizing the opportunity to dress up and have fun with their friends for free.
The DJ group GrooveBoston provided music and atmosphere, and the SAO offered raffles, snacks and nonalcoholic “mocktails.”
Many freshmen said that the dance was by far the best part of Winter Weekend.
“I came because the event sounded fun and unique, and it’s not every day that you get to dress up for a school dance in college,” said Allie DeAngelis, a freshman in the College of Communication. “I think it was a good way to enjoy the weekend, and I wish they did more events like this throughout the semester.”
Saturday’s movie night gave students a chance to calm down after a night of dancing and ice-skating.
“I think that this was a really good idea,” said CAS freshman Karissa Parker. “This was a great way to reunite our class.”
The SAO Coordinator of Programs Alan Fioravanti said that the weekend was the beginning of a new effort to provide events for each class.
“We did an event for seniors Thursday night, and we’re trying to do events for each class because when students first come to school, they do a lot of stuff for orientation, but then we don’t do a lot of class-specific events until Senior Week,” Fioravanti said.
“We’re trying to bridge that gap between when you come as a freshman and when you leave as a senior,” Fioravanti said. “We’re trying to keep the freshman together as a class, and welcoming them back to their second semester.”
The coordinators for the PC’s Winter Weekend had similar aspirations for welcoming students back after a long break.
“We wanted to have a winter themed event for the students,” said Chris Samper, the BUPC events coordinator. “We are hoping to make the free skate an annual event. For the movies, we wanted to have a Boston theme. I think we got a nice turn out for both events.”
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