Students looking to make new connections shared small talk and pizza at the University of Rhode Island’s annual Speed Friend-ing event, a Health Services program designed to help students build friendships in a fast-paced, low-pressure setting.
The event was called Speed Friend-ing, and it was like speed dating. Its goal was for the participants to meet as many new people as possible, according to Rachael Musch, a health and wellness expert and co-host of the event
Students gathered at tables in the Memorial Union Ballroom to share conversation and eat pizza with some of their fellow students.
“We kept hearing about students, whether they were first-year students or transfer students or students who were still having a hard time making connections the first couple of weeks,” co-host of the event, Jessica Greene, the assistant director of health promotion and wellness at URI said. “Even though there were clubs to join and there were events to go to, this really spoke to them because they wanted to try something where they could meet brand new people.”
Musch said their goal is to get people to meet like-minded students together, who maybe are in their major or in their dorm, but they don’t even know they’re there.
“I think a lot of people associate it with speed dating,” Musch said, “It’s like the same type of platform, except we’re just building friendships and connections.”
This is Health Services’ second speed friend-ing event; they held their first last spring semester for about 20 participants, according to Greene. She said that the participants really enjoyed that opportunity to meet people they typically wouldn’t, and Health Services was excited to host it again to give new students that opportunity.
Musch also discussed the opportunities Health Services has, including the Flourish Fest, which was held on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the quad, celebrating student wellness.
She also discussed the programs they have year-round, like their collegiate recovery program, which she described as a meeting space for students who choose to stay sober and for them to meet like-minded peers.
Musch said. “So you can find other people [in the collegiate recovery program] who feel the same way and want to live the same lifestyle. And because we are Health Services and healthier promotions, we’re actually really trying to make sure that students have the opportunity to learn about programs we have coming up [and] services we have available.”
One of those programs Health Services has come up with is an art gallery evening mocktail event. That is an event that goes along with their collegiate recovery program, but is open to any student interested. Any student who is interested in participating in another health services event tailored to meeting new people, this mocktail event will be held on Friday in the basement of the Memorial Union from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. More events are listed on the URI Health Services website.
