By: Bianca Viana
October 12-16 marked Adelphi’s 6th Annual Spirit Weekend, which took place on the Garden City campus with over 2,500 participants at events throughout the entire weekend. Sloane Somerstein, a graduate assistant in the Center for Community and Student Engagement (SCE) explained that the event is hosted by Adelphi in collaboration with multiple departments across campus each year “to provide a weekend full of activities for students, faculty, family and friends to enjoy.” Spirit Weekend hosted a variety of events, 39 to be exact, between Wednesday the 12th and Sunday the 16th. Some popular events included the Spirit Carnival, Adelphi 5K, Greek Sunday and Casino Night! Somerstein added that due to the pandemic, for many students and faculty this was their first time in attendance to a “normal” spirit weekend.
The results were a tremendous success thanks to many collaborators across campus, according to Anna Zinko, assistant vice president for Student Affairs. “It was amazing to see so many members of our community come together to celebrate their pride in Adelphi during Spirit Weekend. The schedule of events provided diverse opportunities for community members to participate in the best of what Adelphi has to offer, from athletics, to student organization programs, to off-campus trips leveraging our proximity to New York City,” she said. “It was amazing seeing members of the community enjoy traditions such as Casino Night, the Spirit Weekend Carnival and Greek Sunday."
Spirit Weekend kicked off strong on Wednesday the 12th with the annual Fall Arts Festival, an event that gives the community an opportunity to collaborate and celebrate the arts while also expressing and bringing awareness to a particular theme. This year, the theme of the event was “Peace of Art: Fostering Dialogues through the Arts.” Artists created art that focused on the concepts of war and peace. In addition to the beautiful art installations, this year's festival included poetry readings by creative writing students and alumni, music and dance performances, a film screening, a zine-making workshop and screen printing.
Thursday evening featured a magic show by magician Daniel Martin in the Ruth S. Harley University Center Ballroom. Friday, October 14 started off strong with a trip off campus to Crossroads Farm at Grossmans. The Adelphi community was invited to volunteer and work side-by-side with farmers and had the opportunity to learn about organic growing methods, plant care and local food. Fifteen students served at Crossroads Farms.
“Volunteering at Crossroads was an incredible experience where I got to work hands-on with passionate staff members and learn about what goes into the daily chores at a farm,” said Alyssa Geraci, a first-year graduate student and social work major who was part of the trip. "While at the farm, we had the opportunity to prepare land for crops, plant rye, seeds, harvest ripe pears and pick flowers. Everyone had a great time."
Also on Friday, at 3:30 pm, there was a Spirit Activity on the Flagpole Lawn hosted by the SCE and the Student Activities Board. Students had the opportunity to build their own panther, take photos in the photo booth or make their own custom keychains.
Friday night's main event was Casino Night from 8-10 pm. Before the event Somerstein said, “Attendees can play the slots or challenge themselves to a game of craps, blackjack and more. They will be able to compete for amazing prizes while enjoying hors d’oeuvres.”
The event was family-friendly and open to the Adelphi Community, alumni, Panther families and friends.
On Saturday morning 76 attendees participated in the Adelphi 5K run, which kicked off at 9:30 am in front of the Nexus building. The route consisted of our beautiful Garden City campus.
Saturday also featured the Adelphi Spirit Carnival over in Parking Lot 5 behind Post Hall. Tickets give attendees an all-inclusive wristband leading to fun carnival rides, catering and food trucks and family fun activities.
Mylo Fisherman, a senior who ran a booth for Students Beyond the Binary and Feminist Alliance at the Spirit Carnival said, “It was so fun being able to run the duck fishing game and raise money for (these) organizations. The game was a hit and it was interesting seeing the different tactics people come up with to try and win.”
The Prestigious Panther are awards, which honor students who have shown dedication and commitment to the Adelphi community throughout their time here, were announced at the Spirit Court. This year’s winners are Kelly Andreuzzi, Jende Uy, Miguel Velasquez and Jonay Jackson. Somerstein described the recipients of this award as, “mentors, role models and leaders of communities on campus and this is a recognition of everything they have given and done for Adelphi and the community members that come here each day. The Spirit Court has students that represent every corner of academics, involvement, passion and dedication that Adelphi has.”
Fisherman, who was a member of this year's Spirit Court said, “It was really nice being on the Spirit Court and being able to stand alongside other hard working, dedicated and school spirited students.”
The final day, Sunday the 16th, the fun continued with a food tour to Little Italy and Chinatown located right nearby New York City. Tickets cost $20 and included round-trip transportation and some yummy food options like Thai tea, fried dumplings, a famous New York slice and to end things off a cannoli. Sunday also featured a Spirit Send Off in the Hagedorn Hall parking lot where attendees could grab an ice cream cone from Mr. Softee, enjoy a video game truck and win some giveaways.
There were so many great events taking place this weekend. (You can find a full schedule of events for each day at https://www.adelphi.edu/spirit-weekend/). Spirit Weekend is no doubt a way to bring the community together and celebrate the Adelphi community.
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