Friday, April 13, "Be a Kid Night" was held in the student union as a Late Knight event. It was held by the Young Children Council (YCC) to raise awareness about their organization.
They wanted to have a program that was able to reach everyone on campus. The night was filled with activities that were reminiscent of summer camp. Tie dye, sand art, jewelry making, and boondoggle were just some of the activities available.
Pavit Kohli, vice president of YCC stated "People had been waiting since around nine o'clock for the sand art, it was a really big turn out and we had to close down early because we ran out of supplies."
YCC works with children in the immediate community. They go to the Ronald McDonald house at least seven times a semester, work at local elementary schools, make pen pals for the children, participate in Adopt A Family and do the March of Dimes. They felt that this way more people can find out about what they do within the YCC and would like to help.
Upstairs, alongside jewelry-making and boondoggle, they had set up areas for students to make cards for children suffering from terminal illnesses. They also had a place to cover books for School No. 42 in Rochester, which doesn't have a big enough library to be considered an elementary school. Students were also able to make bookmarks.
“All of the supplies for the stand art had run out by 10:15, and we were out of T-shirts by the end of the night," Kohli stated. "We got all of the books wrapped and a lot of letters were written to the children as well."
However, this event was a success in more than one way, and the students had a lot of fun with it. "It was nice to get a break from exams and papers and just be a kid again," sophomore Caitlin Callerame said, "even if it was only for one night."
“I got to tie dye two shirts," sophomore Seth Plamer said. "They ended up looking really cool, but the dye has yet to come off of my hands."
“The program was very successful," Kohli said, "It let a lot of people know about the group and it will hopefully help a lot of the local schools in the area. I was really happy with the turn out."