By Devon Ruddock, Staff Writer
With the spring semester coming to a close, Daemen students are digging their heels in to study for finals or prepare for graduation. Papers are piling up, exams are inching closer and a taste of summer is on the horizon, with the newfound sunlight bringing students from study sessions in the RIC to the campus’s outdoor spaces. In the midst of this, Daemen’s Resident Assistants (RAs) planned their final events of the year.
Sophomore animation major and Canavan RA, Jaden Clarke, orchestrated the Daemen Carnival.
Clarke planned the event on April 24 for the residents of Canavan Hall, which largely houses first-year Daemen students. When another RA, Lydia Hepler, mentioned to Clarke that the campus apartments were considering a field day event on that same day, they decided to combine the events to make a campus-wide RA celebration.
“I think this event was super great for community building and a great chance for RAs to organize a smaller event not affiliated with Daemen prostaff,” said Hepler. “We combined our Canavan and apartments budgets for the end-of-the-year events. The event was put on by the RAs, instead of Residence Life or CAT (Campus Activities Team), as a thank you from the team.”
The creation of the event followed a similar format to the floor-scale events RAs host multiple times a semester. After coming up with the idea and having it approved by Residence Life, Clarke advertised the carnival with flyers and a posting on Daemen Connect. The supplies were procured, and all that was left to do was make sure that all of the moving pieces were ready before the event.
This carnival was set up a lot like any other: after completing games, participants earned tickets that they could cash in for prizes. Games ranged from classic field day activities such as corn-hole and sack races to poker. Tables in the Wildcat Den displayed the prizes that could be earned with various numbers of tickets, such as stuffed animals, Daemen merch, and the most coveted prize of all: pie-ing an RA.
Residents eagerly participated in games to pie an RA or a consenting fellow student. Clarke himself was pied multiple times throughout the night. Food is known as the universal way to bring college students to events, but a new incentive may have entered the competition: shoving a plate of whipped cream into a familiar face.
“The food was super lit and yummy,” said Joey Lacy, sophomore animation major, “and it was super fun to play games with everyone and get the reward of seeing Jaden get pied about 3 times.”
When asked what he hoped Daemen residents would get from this event, Clarke emphasized a feeling of love, community, and belonging.
“Finals are hard and life is even harder, we all need times to be celebrated and to have a break from the stresses of the world,” Clarke said.
The night of, Daemen students gathered in the Wildcat Den, lining up to receive their allotted pizza and wings. Several students expressed how good the food was, but that there was not enough of it for the high demand.
Despite the chilliness of the April evening, residents milled around the YSC back patio, playing lawn games with their RAs, chatting in groups, and enjoying the break from finals stress. Clarke manned the DJ stand, hyping up the crowd as energetic music diffused across the area. Students were dancing and rapping along to familiar tracks while others played basketball and caught up with friends. Many residents ended up sticking around well after the advertised 8 p.m. end time.
“I speak for all the RAs when I say that we try our best to establish a more loving, accepting, and caring community for all of Daemen,” Clarke said.