If you believe you’re too cool for campus events, you’re missing out. Dance of the Decades is one of the most hyped events of the year, traditionally held in the Crystal Ballroom and filled with our peers decked out in flannel, fishnets and glitter. Students who attend have a ton of fun, if the looks on their faces are anything to go by.
Although Dance of the Decades wasn’t free, most campus events are. We don’t have to spend so many of our precious dollars on entertainment. We have free entertainment, and we often take it for granted instead of using it to our advantage.
The Campus Program Board (CPB) sold 1,300 tickets to last Saturday’s Dance of the Decades. Some students weren’t able to attend the dance because they didn’t purchase tickets ahead of time, and the event sold out by Thursday. Dance of the Decades won’t happen for another year. Luckily, there are other campus events we can get excited about.
ASUP puts movies on in Buckley Center Auditorium on the weekends (this week the film will be Disney’s “Coco”). Dorms also host cool events, like Christie Crush or the Mehling’s Harry Potter week or Kenna’s Women in Leadership forum or Shipstad’s Mr. & Mrs. Shipstad pageant.
KDUP throws concerts and other musical events throughout the year all across campus. Pilots After Dark plans an event almost every weekend to make sure we can all have a fun night without venturing too far from The Bluff, with karaoke, trivia nights and live performances in the Pilot House. And there’s alcohol, for those over 21. Espresso UP is a weekly event that offers free beverages in St. Mary’s on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
CPB’s Rock the Bluff is coming up, and it’s only become cooler since its inception. Last year, DNCE performed. Which means we all got to see a Jonas brother in the flesh, in the same place we watch our basketball teams play. Incredible. The year before that, Bleachers headlined Rock the Bluff. Front man Jack Antonoff, besides producing and writing with Taylor Swift and Lorde, is a curly-haired, Grammy-winning, musical genius.
To date, we’ve seen the ex-boyfriends of Taylor Swift and Lena Dunham perform sweet tunes for us. We can’t wait for the reveal of the next ex-lover musician coming to The Bluff.
College won’t last forever. We’re here for a finite amount of time. It’s perfectly acceptable to party it up on The Bluff instead of that sleazy dive bar or Instagrammable restaurant once in a while. Those places will still be there after graduation. The Bluff will too, but it won’t be the same. You won’t be the same.
Once you graduate, you can’t attend events with the same sense of belonging and camaraderie. These are the times you look back on in years to come and reminisce about your college experience, so don’t forget to actually have a college experience. Carpe diem, dudes. Squeeze in a basketball game while you’re still here. Don’t be too cool for campus events before they become too cool for you.
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