Campus Unions will host its annual spring De-Stress Night from 5 to 7 p.m. in Griffin lounge tonight. The free event will feature cap decorating and a watermelon eating contest.
Campus Unions coordinates the event quarterly to offer students a chance to relax and take a break from finals. The De-Stress Night focuses on providing materials for graduating seniors to decorate their caps before their graduation ceremony.
“This is a special event geared towards graduates,” said Lexer Chou, Campus Unions program coordinator. “I don’t think any other department does anything for graduating seniors.“
Various arts and crafts will be available for the use of participants to make picture frames and friendship bracelets and decorate sandals.
“I think it‘s a great way to wind down [and] end the quarter,” said Ceci Mendota, a senior Spanish and education major.
The decoration of the caps is expected to be the biggest attraction.
“Decorating the graduation caps will be big,” said Mendota, one of three students in charge of coordinating the event.
“There’s going to be puffy paint, pipe cleaners, glitter, glue guns [and] construction paper to decorate the hats,” Chou said.
“A lot of bioscience majors will decorate their hats with a double helix made out of pipe cleaner, and plant science majors will make flowers and plants and stuff,” she said.
The other major attraction of the night, the watermelon eating contest, is operated on a first come first serve basis. The event tops out at roughly 10 to 12 people, Mendota said.
Participants are given a set amount of watermelon, and the person able to eat it in the fastest time will be awarded a $15 gift card to Jamba Juice. The runner-up will receive a $7 coupon to the Silo.
This academic year was the first include the presence of contests at De-Stress Night.
“In the fall, there was a contest to see who could construct the best ginger bread house,” Mendota said. “And in the winter, we had a competition to see who could make the biggest cookie person.“
In addition to craft activities, there will be a Nintendo Wii on a projector screen for participants to use.
“It’s a good place to come to relax,” Chou said. “Bring some friends and socialize for a couple hours and take a breather.“
The previous two events this year have been filled to capacity with 80 to 100 people in Griffin Lounge. “There’s a pretty good mix of people gender wise,” Chou said.
“I’m going because a bunch of my senior friends are going,” said Daniel Donnelly, a sophomore international relations and Spanish major. “But this will be my first time, so I don’t really know what to expect.“
Doors open at 5 p.m., so be there or be square.
CHARLES HINRIKSSON can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.XXX
