For those in need of a recess from participating in the bonfire festivities tonight, Programming Board is sponsoring a candy night "bonfire break" scheduled to take place at 8:30 p.m. in Collis Common Ground. In addition, a midnight breakfast will be available on Saturday night in Common Ground at 11 p.m. Both events are free for Dartmouth students and visitors.
Tonight's event, which will be packed with candy, snacks and hot chocolate, is based off a Willy Wonka night held by Programming Board last year that was extremely successful," Ashia Sheikh '08, Programming Board chair, said.
The midnight breakfast, an event Programming Board hosts each big weekend, will offer eggs, bacon, pancakes and other breakfast favorites catered by Everything But Anchovies.
"We do have a big turnout for Homecoming events -- people usually love free food," Kelvin Quezada '08, membership chair of Programming Board, said.
Although Programming Board attempts to plan for a large portion of the campus showing up at the events, it is still amazes them to see how many people actually show up, Quezada said.
"Both events are packed with free food and a lot of people, which tends to constitute as a successful event around here," Celia Carmen, '07, who has attended these Programming Board activities in the past, said
Also on Saturday is the annual Fall Fling, a collection of a capella performances, hosted by the Decibelles. Vocal performances will include the Decibelles, the Dodecaphonics and the Deelzebubs, an all male a capella group from Tufts University.
"We are expecting a big turn out. These shows are a big deal. We are lucky to have it over homecoming because many alumni are back and always looking for something to do," Decibelles Musical Director Renee Brown '09 said.
Reflecting on the relatively few non-Greek social options in comparison to the many Greek events for students during Homecoming, Quezada said that he believes the Programming Board has sufficiently provided activities for the students.
"It would be nice if we had more Non-Greek events, but there wouldn't be a big enough turnout to make them worthwhile," Quezada said. "The reality is that the nature of Homecoming is about the freshmen sweep, bonfire and the Greek Parties. Our purpose isn't to be an alternative to greek life, but rather to provide supplemental social options for the undergraduate campus."
Anticipating more non-Greek student events, the Student Activities Office reserved venues for student organizations interested in hosting an event during Homecoming weekend.
"What we have done is held off Collis Common Ground and bigger places to see if anyone was interested in programming during that time," Helen Kang '06, Coordinator of Student Activities and the Collis Center, said. "What we are finding is that student groups avoid that weekend because it is too hard to get man power -- they don't think anyone will show."
Student Activities encourages student organizations to host an event if interested.
