Tarot cards and palm readers, wax hands and acoustic guitarists, trips to the Bahamas and Boston. Students received a first-class welcome when they arrived on campus this semester with an array of "Winter Week" events sponsored by Tufts in an effort to provide alcohol-free fun for its students.
And Winter Week was only the beginning, according to Ed Cabellon, program coordinator at the Office of Student Activities, who helped organized the programs. Satisfied with student turnout and response, Cabellon called the week a "big success."
Winter Week offered three day's worth of lunchtime acoustic shows; a Survivor-based game show called Outcast, which gave awarded the victor a trip to the Bahamas; and A Tid Bit Nippy, an all-ages pub at the campus center with a DJ, inflatable sumo wrestling, a raffle for a Boston weekend getaway, and other booths and events for the week's culminating activity.
Cabellon estimated that 400 students came attended "Nippy," making it the biggest success of the week. "People will attest that [A Tid Bit Nippy] was such a good event," Cabellon said.
Sophomore Shelly Gufert, co-chair of Programming Board, which organized A Tid Bit Nippy, was also pleased with student response. "We put a lot of time and energy into it," she said. "I think the giveaway trip to Boston kept a lot of people there. It didn't cost anything and there was so much to do that people stayed."
As was its goal, "Nippy" provided students with new choices for their Friday night. "We wanted to promote social activities without alcohol," Gufert said.
Junior Cyril Thomas was in the campus center during A Tid Bit Nippy and said that students could avoid endless party hopping if similar events were offered regularly. "A lot of people complain that there's never anything to do on campus. Now there is," he said.
Although Thomas thought that the events were well-planned for A Tid Bit Nippy, the long lines for some of the booths, such as the palm reader, deterred him from taking part. "There was a lot of stuff to do, but I didn't do any of it," he said. "After a lot of people showed up, there were lines for everything."
A Tid Bit Nippy was Programming Board's big event for the year, Gufert said, and the group is looking into planning a similar event for next winter.
The idea behind Winter Week was to throw a welcome back celebration for students after their month-long absence from Tufts. Several other schools hold events like Winter Week to energize students back from break, Cabellon said. "At most institutions of higher learning, there is usually some kind of welcoming program [after winter break]," Cabellon said. Inspired by their example, the Office of Student Activities brought Winter Week to campus.
Sophomore Rebecca Valerin was pleasantly surprised by the Winter Week greeting. "It was a wonderful way to start the semester because it's a good way to get the community involved, to get back into Tufts mode," she said.
But she didn't think the events should have come as a surprise. "They should publicize it a little more," she suggested.
In addition to A Tid Bit Nippy, students seemed pleased to dine with music at the Hotung lunchtime acoustic shows. "[Students] would walk into the campus center and hear music and know something was going on," Cabellon said.
Although Cabellon was concerned that some students might have wanted a quiet lunch experience, or planned to socialize while they ate, "most didn't mind that something was going on," he said.
For next year's winter welcome back event, Cabellon hopes to include more students in the planning process. "We're hoping next year to create a community of students to help. My hope is people will really take to the idea of thematic programming and want to be a part of planning next time around," he said.
