On Tuesday, April 13, members of Team Wellness hosted a special event that gave students the opportunity to learn about alcohol and sexual awareness. In a similar style to Fresh Check Day, booths covered in flyers, prizes, and candy were lined up in the Mack Lounge as part of Team Wellness’s Alcohol Awareness Carnival.  

Part of the group overseeing the event, Team Wellness VP of Communication Sophia Hackbarth and President Brenna Becker explained the details of planning the event, which started at the beginning of the spring semester.  

“We first came up with this idea during a Team Wellness meeting back in January,” Hackbarth said. “In February, it was mainly brainstorming about what we wanted the focus to be. We actively started planning it in March and reached out to other clubs through Presidents Council and contacted people outside of BV, like the balloon twister. It took a lot of collaboration and a lot of emails.”  

While Team Wellness tries to plan a big event every semester, what makes the Alcohol Awareness Carnival so grand is the club and department collaboration. Becker also cites the lack of smaller events as a reason why they went all out this time around. 

“Team Wellness hasn’t been able to do our customary booths per month, so instead, we’ve been trying to do bigger events to bring awareness to our different topics throughout the year,” Becker said. “For this event, we’ve communicated with different clubs and departments on campus for help getting prizes, do booths themselves, and all different things. We wanted to make a big event that would be fun for students during the last month of classes.” 

After grabbing a bite to eat at the Serve, students kept joining the long line of those participating in the various carnival-themed activities. They started by grabbing a sheet of paper that entered them in a raffle if they got it stamped at all eight stations.  

“We’re starting with the cake walk,” Hackbarth said. “We have drunk goggles provided by campus security and the students do a little duck-duck-goose situation to show how you’re impaired under the influence of alcohol. We also have mocktails, art kits, ring toss, and a bunch of other activities.”  

Although the games were hand-picked by Team Wellness with a goal of entertainment in mind, they were also designed with the intention to educate. Catherine Waltz, a general member of Team Wellness, was particularly excited for students to experience one of the sexual awareness activities.  

“They’re doing this airplane activity where you have facts and statistics about alcohol and sexual assault,” Waltz said. “So, you take the paper, you see it, and then you fold it up and throw the paper airplane to try to get prizes. You have a fun part and also get some facts.” 

Beginning at 6 p.m. and ending at 7:30 p.m., the Mack Lounge was filled with students trying their luck at the various games. Even if they didn’t win certain prizes, the loudness of chatting and laughter made it evident that they still enjoyed the event.  

“It was amazing, and I loved it,” junior Emily Rice said. “I won the ring toss, and the game with the drunk goggles was a lot of fun. I lost and kept running into the lady, but it was fun.” 

To check out the video click here.