Starting Anew

A Warm Welcome to the New School Year!

This Monday, the student welcoming fair commenced. The student body president and the head of the student activities board ( abbreviated to SAB) were interested in what the pilots wanted to see more of this year. There was a mention of volleyball, football, a game night (for Mario Kart in particular), and an increase in school spirit activities. Students received red tickets so that the student activity committee could keep track of how many people received school supplies. Each white bag had a yellow highlighter marker, a pack of pencils, Post-It tabs, loose leaf paper, two pens, index cards, a pad of sticky notes, a notebook, a binder and plastic dividers. The smaller purple bags were just in case the white ones ran out, and they most certainly did. The SAB came prepared. Aside from the free supplies, there was also one free snow cone per customer, served by Happy Belly’s Italian Ice Factory truck. Some students brought their snow cones and school supply bags into the cafeteria with them.

The Porte Grille was busy this afternoon. Every single table was occupied, usually by a group of friends. The campus police were eating together. Two comrades reunited and hugged. A mother and her small child were having a meal. Others were playing pool. Someone’s game must've gotten wild, because one of the balls tumbled near the fruit counter. Another person was playing the piano, which could hardly be heard because of all the chatter. People were happy to be back, if not a bit anxious.

The student organizations drew art on the University Center windows to remind students of the many opportunities that they have for campus or community engagement. There were colorful messages from the Pre-Health honors society, the Red River Gardening Club, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Phi Mu, Kappa Sigma, and the Pre-Dental Society. Members of the Shreveport Baptist Collegiate Ministry (or the SHV BCM) paid a visit as well, giving away chocolate candy or T-shirts (depending on what the spinning wheel landed on), cards for free Gola Coffee, and their own business cards. They were really friendly. One of them even asked me if I was having a good day. I had an amazing Monday.

If you missed out yesterday, you still have the rest of the week to meet new people, join clubs, or try out some goodies. In the meantime, you can run by the library to see if there are still free school supplies on the display table. It’s as if the library staff knew that I didn't bring a notebook or any good pencils. There were also pens and binders. If you are curious about what's happening for the rest of the week, then stay tuned for the Virtual Pride Goosechase that will last until Sunday, Paint Your Mark on Tuesday, Wednesday’s Week of Welcome Fair, Color Run on Thursday and a pool party at Pilot’s Pointe on Friday. Who says you can’t have fun before the semester really starts?