The turtle pond, often a relaxing study spot on campus, transformed into a space for students to play games, eat food and spend time with friends. Students playing cornhole, painting pictures and listening to music filled the grassy field
On Tuesday, Campus E + E hosted their first ever Backyard Bash at the turtle pond, creating an environment for students to take a break from any and all responsibilities. Harshpreet Kaur, biochemistry junior and Unwind committee chair, said the event exceeded expectations, drawing 300 attendees.
“This event’s goal was to … provide a space for students to de-stress for an hour to paint, have fun with yard games and then chill by the turtle pond outside and enjoy nature,” Kaur said.
Kaur said that in E + E, each event is trial and error. For Backyard Bash, Kaur said they wanted more of a “field day” feel, while combining painting and food aspects previously featured in past events.
“We used to have an event called Paint and Sip, (but) we renamed it this year because we had committee changes,” publicity officer for the Unwind committee and accounting junior Rujuta Thakurdesai said. “We incorporated a backyard bash element where we wanted to make this event a little bigger and make it applicable to more of the student committee. … The turtle pond is a perfect spot because people love to hang out and chill there.”
Kaur said E + E prioritizes students’ opinions on their events. They want to know what students will like, what they want to do and food they want to eat.
“We usually say that it takes about three months to plan, starting out with generally deciding venues, deciding dates,” Kaur said. “Then we go ahead with advertising first, so meeting up with our members and then seeing what general feeling and vibe of the event we want.”
Thakurdesai said they plan events that will ultimately appeal to students to give them opportunities throughout the semester to meet new people, find new hobbies and participate in fun activities.
“College is a space where you can … really find what you like or what you don’t like,” Thakurdesai said. “Or if you already like something, progress that into something more. We’re thinking about that when we host a new event … we want to offer them (students) a creative space to embrace this hobby that they already have or maybe cultivate new ones.”
On a campus as big as UT, student activities provide a way for students to do new things. Students can create art projects, enjoy the fresh air and play games with strangers that turn into friends.
“The (most) important thing is the community,” public health senior Reina Wan said. “We’re a big school, a lot of people can get really intimidated by it, but I feel like you definitely make a big place feel smaller through these events.”
