North Lake Campus embraced the spirit of the Renaissance during Fort Day, an event hosted by Student Programs and Campus Engagement (SPACE) on Feb. 18. The Ren-Faire-style-event included games, food, trivia and various activities related to the medieval times.
“We have DIY catapults [and] some little coat of arms we’re going to paint on. We were giving away some swords so people can be encouraged if they want to sword fight,” said SPACE Commander, Benjamin Donnells.
Donnells adds that the event was part of an effort by student organizers to bring fun back to campus to improve campus life and culture.
“SPACE is an organization, which really is just students making plans and events for other students,” said Dianna Rios Gomez, volunteer at the event.
Students can come to club meetings and pitch ideas for events. If the event idea gets enough support, it will be developed into a campus activity. SPACE meets weekly at North Lake Campus.
“So you can come into our meetings, Wednesdays, 2-4, and you literally just sit down, and you can say whatever ideas you have, and if we like it, if we all can collectively be like ‘we can build on that,’ even if it’s a small, like boba day, or whatever, we can build ideas from each other,” said Rios Gomez.
That is how Fort Day developed.
“I’m a nerd, I love history. For me, I’ll always go to the Ren Faires and stuff like that. So, it’s just an interest of mine and my team voted on it because it was one of the few activities we had that we wanted to try,” said Donnells.
In addition to the fun that students had at Fort Day, they were also able to learn a little of the history that went along with it. One of the activities was painting a coat of arms, a visual design that identified knights in battle or in contests.
“These knights would go out with their little heraldry and that would be how they would enter tournaments,” said Donnells.
Events like Fort Day are held on campus to help students meet people they may not have interacted with otherwise.
“It really is about networking and socializing and embracing your nerdom a little bit,” said Donnells.
Students are encouraged to participate in events like Fort Day to become an active part of campus life.
“Please whenever you walk around campus, you see any flyers, take a look at who’s doing it. You might run into people, groups that you will get into and you’ll be like ‘you know what? This is nice,” said Rios Gomez ,adding that events give students the opportunity to make new friends and connect with their community. “Because that’s what’s important. It’s getting closer and knowing your community that’s next to you,” she said.
The next scheduled SPACE event at North Lake Campus is on Earth Day, April 22.
