On the warm afternoon of Sept. 29, Victoria Corral-Vale and other student life ambassadors set up a canopy in the campus courtyard. Students were given free shirts and invited to win a goodie bag. All the festivities were to celebrate one thing: Sobriety.
“I know there’s a lot of parties, a lot of alcohol and drugs included in let’s say, the college life,” Corral-Vale said. “You’re going to see them in real life, so we’re going to help you out to decide what is best for you.”
The second annual Soberfest began at 10:30 a.m. Students who walked up to the canopy first spun the wheel of misfortune, which featured the names of several potentially dangerous substances. After the wheel stopped, student life ambassadors read the potential side effects of the substance that was landed on.
After the students were educated, they then competed in a large version of water pong. Any participants were given a sobriety themed goodie bag including a shirt, more educational materials and a voucher for a free mocktail, which could be redeemed at the college’s cafés. Students who managed to toss their shirts into the “cups” were given two mocktails vouchers.
Latre Morrison happened to be walking by as Soberfest continued.
“I feel like it helps with awareness,” Morrison said. “Last year there was stuff like this like every week, so when something like this does happen it’s fun to get to do it and actually get to participate on campus.”
Xiao was thinking about one of her classmates as she spun the wheel. “One of my classmate’s dad is kind of relapsing on the pain killers, so I thought about giving her some information,” Xiao said. Xiao’s classmate appreciated her thinking of them.
At 1:30 p.m. the student life ambassadors began packing up. Throughout the afternoon many students approached the canopy and tried their hand at pong.
“I think it went great,” Corral-Vale said. “I wish it was more open and we had more interaction and more students at school, but I think either way it went pretty great.”