valentine's day Archives - The Sentinel

Resident life: Valentine’s week love is in the air

Jaye Hanselmann-Cox — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 21:37:02 +0000

The Residence Hall hosted a few Valentine’s day activities for students throughout the week, such as Valentine’s day coloring on Tuesday and a Crush rush on Thursday.

Aleksya Batoon and Skylar Hickok work on their Valentine’s day coloring sheets. Both met each other in the residence hall and established a friendship. The hall is one of the places on campus where students can meet new friends.

Resident Assistant Bree Ellis laid out assorted coloring pages on tables with different art supplies in the theatre room at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night. Around ten students attended the event and chose from markers, colored pencils, and crayons to color in their pages, while others brought their own art supplies. Some designs were intricate with vibrant saturated colors while others were simple with mellow hues.

“I like it, I like it a lot!” said Skylar Hickok, an NIC student living in the campus dorms. “I don’t come to a lot of events since I’m so busy, but this one feels so comfy and relaxing.”

Tayler Coats oversees her organized table of sodas and notes. She is one of the Resident Assistants in the dorms who oversees the lives of the students.

On Thursday afternoon, Resident Assistant Tayler Coats set up a table in the lobby of the Residence Hall in preparation for the Crush rush. Students could choose from root beer, cream soda, or orange crush soda with flowers on them to give to a “Valentine” in the dorm, whether they be in a relationship, friends, or suite mates. They could also attach love notes to the bottles.

The sodas were given out Friday afternoon to the Valentines.

“It’s an event I’ve wanted to do ever since I joined the hall counsel,” said Coats. “It’s a sign of appreciation for others in the dorms.”

Other events coming up in the Residence Hall include a birth control and healthy relationship awareness seminar next week.

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Speed dating: an insider story

Taylor Nadauld — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 01:04:05 +0000

This story is written from the perspective of NIC Sentinel Lead Reporter Taylor Nadauld.

The sounds of overly flirtatious men pounding on tables for women to join them tinged the awkward evening air of NIC night life on Wednesday night.

ASNIC hosted its annual speed dating event in the lower level of the SUB, and I, as a reporter, was requested to attend the event, observe, and document it accordingly.

By the night’s end, I received three roses, multiple invitations to “just sit down across from me and ask the questions,” and an invitation to watch “Lord of the Rings.” I never even had to enter the dating pool.

Joined by a few fellow journalistic partners in crime, I made my way around the room and began observing what happens when you put 40+ flirtatious students in one room and force them to talk to each other.

Let me just start by saying that the night began with various inclusive options. There was a small table for “men interested in men” – population: 4 – as well as one for “women interested in women” and “people interested in people” – total population of the two: 0 – and finally, one mega table for “men interested in women/women interested in men” – population: everyone else.

I met every type of person here: Singles looking for a connection, people I would’ve expected to have significant others already (maybe they did); I even met a couple who decided to attend the event and speed date other people.

Boyfriend-of-aforementioned-couple, Stephen Thompson, 22, said the event was all about the free food, good fun and making of friends. But even he had no luck in the love department.

Students enjoying their time at Student Event’s Speed Dating night. Abigail Nelson/Sentinel

“The best part is when [Thompson and his girlfriend] actually lined up; we tried really hard to pick each other up and failed,” Thompson, who was completely clad in a pink snow suit, said. “I couldn’t come up with a good line to pick up my own girlfriend. That is how hard it is to do speed dating.”

I felt for these people. Especially the incredibly disproportionate ratio of heterosexual single males, because if even the only couple in the room was having no luck, surely these people could not be doing any better.

The ratio gave me ample time to interview the men though, and I was able to get some insight into how their night was panning out.

“Um, pretty unsuccessful, believe it or not,” Easton Whiteside, 19, said. “There’s like, three girls here and like, 45 guys.”

One thing that you must anticipate as a female journalist on the prowl for interviews is that the recorder in your hand and camera over your neck will not protect you or distinguish you from the rest. In fact, they may be mistaken as ice breakers. I hardly had to approach anyone for an interview. I was summoned.

One particularly testosterone-tinged summoning involved a young man rapping for me on the spot while his two buddies joined in with beat-boxing and fist pumps galore. It was as if I had been transported to 1986 and the Beastie Boys were crooning me their siren song.

“That’s how this night is going,” Mike D of the group – Chesapeake Doering – 18, said at the rap’s end.

Participants were given a list of getting-to-know-you questions that they were invited to use to break the ice. When asked which question on the list was most likely to get him a date, MCA of the group, Wyatt Nash Fitzgerald, 19, said, “Probably, ‘what was the last book you read’, because there’s an 85% chance it’s going to be ‘50 Shades of Grey’, and it just so happens that I’m 50 shades of grey.”

Luckily, about halfway into the event, more women showed up and almost evened out the playing field. There was much hair flipping and eyelash fluttering. Girls’ voices reached all-time highs, and the men’s reached all-time lows.

“I walked in and there were like three girls here, so it was kind of awkward,” said Jasmine Smith, 18, “but it was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be.”

Though Smith said that nothing serious was going to come out of the event, overall, it was interesting.

“I’ve never done anything like this,” Smith said, “so it’s a good experience.”

Jasmine Smith, 18, speed dating. Lily Anderson/The Sentinel

Meanwhile, at the “men interested in men” table, things seemed to be going well.

“It’s less awkward than five guys to one girl,” Kelton Spillar, 21 said.

The outlook was hopeful.

Overall, the experience actually did appear to be a success. ASNIC student events member Maria Paluzzi, 18, agreed, saying the disproportionate number of men to women was expected and that the dynamic traditionally produced good results.

“It still works really well,” Paluzzi said. “Everyone is just talking with each other and that’s the whole point for this is to just socialize and meet new people and get everyone involved and interactive with each other.”

“We’ll definitely continue to do it for sure,” Paluzzi said.

“Speed dating has changed my life. I’ve met at least five girls I will now be dating,” Eli Herman said, motioning to the empty table in front of him.

Godspeed, speed daters.

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Students in SUB smile, swoon for speed dating

Julie Salinas — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:01:01 +0000

Two-minute dates, fast-paced environment make for fun social event just in time for Valentine’s Day

“Make new friends, meet your soul mate, or find a Valentine’s date” was what the flier said for speed dating, and students may have done just that.

After going downstairs to the SUB, students were handed a nametag and a raffle ticket and were entered to win prizes. They were also handed a sheet to mark down the names of those who may have been potential matches for them. The tables were set up with chocolates, cups full of pieces of paper with ice breakers and helium balloons shaped as hearts.

Pop music played in the background, and everyone grouped with people they knew. After the event started everyone sat down and began dating, the men on the right side, and the women on the left. The room filled with laughter, lots of talking, and the atmosphere was lively and welcoming. Each date lasted two minutes long, and in those two minutes each student was tasked to learn about each other; after the two minutes, the men got up and switched to the next seat over.

There were some awkward moments, some people dying with laughter, and other times just nice, pleasant conversations.

“It was confusing. I didn’t know what to say. Some of the questions that were asked were awkward,” said Steven Damiano,
21, architecture, Philadelphia.

Students were allowed to leave and take a break whenever they wanted to go grab cookies, punch, get some fresh air, or to talk to other students.

There was a short break where four student volunteers were brought up, two girls and two boys, and were asked questions about the opposite sex. The questions were like “Where is the head gasket in a car?” for the girls. As for the guys, questions such as “Who was the main actress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s?” Though the girls lost the game, each participant received a gift card to Coldstone, Olive Garden or Applebee’s. At the end of the night, there was a drawing of prizes which included movies and candy, and the main prize was a $25 gift card to Regal Cinemas.

After the event, students stayed around and mingled.

Tyler Bartlett, 18, General Studies, Hailey, said, “It’s been fun, and it’s a good environmnt.”

Students said they had a good time. Jesus Nunez, 21, Cartagena, Colombia, said,“I came mostly to socialize, because it would be fun. Awkward moments are always fun.”

Speed dating was a great success with a good turnout. Speed dating isn’t for the desperate; it’s also a great way to socialize and meet new people, and possibly meet the new love of your life.

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