Celebrating spring break with a beach party. PHOTO CREDIT: Ronan Himelrick | Managing Editor
On Wednesday the University of Rhode Island community came together to celebrate the annual Spring Break “Beach Party.”
Health Services organized the event, according to Jessica Greene, assistant director of health promotion and wellness at health services.
The Beach Party, which took place in the Memorial Union lobby, consisted of multiple booths featuring different organizations focused on how students can actively enjoy spring break safely.
“We had a lot of students attend and people seemed to enjoy themselves and were having a good time,” Greene said. “They’re learning information. They’re getting some safety information. We’re handing out things like hand sanitizer, free travel safety kits, all that stuff.”
Students could fill out “passports” by attending booths, which according to Greene, acted like bingo cards where students could attend tables to get raffle tickets to win prizes, food and gift cards. One of the organizations that participated in the Beach Party was the Community Wellness Leaders (CWL), a student organization that seeks to “encourage the mind, body and soul,” according to their Instagram.
CWL passed out gifts such as journals for meditation and affirmation according to CWL president and fourth-year student Dani Pyne.
“College is an overall stressful time for people and that is one of the reasons why we started this organization,” CWL vice president and fourth-year student Sarima Omodu-Amadi said. “We just wanted to let people know that those stressors can still follow you outside of the classroom, especially when you’re away.”
Greene added that the Beach Party was one event as a part of “Safe Spring Break Week” run by Health Services.
“I think that these reminders now are important for when they, you know, go away at the end of the week and have a nice relaxing, but safe time off,” Greene said.
The lobby was “packed” according to Lucas DeWitt, graduate assistant for the Office of Student Involvement.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” DeWitt said. “It’s cool to see students interacting and engaging with it and Health Services has a lot of cool booths that are very educational.”
DeWitt noted that the event was a great way for students to get more acquainted with Health Services, while also learning ways to stay safe over break.
“I think it’s good because it’s a great way for health services, not only to put on events, but like, make sure that they’re known that they have a presence here on campus,” DeWitt said.
Overall, the event was meant to inform students about potential risks over spring break while also giving students a space to unwind before the week ends.
“Sometimes students go away to relax and unwind after a stressful semester, and I think that sometimes they let their guards down and they forget that they’re maybe in a new place that they haven’t been before and they forget that there’s risks associated with that,” Greene said.