Take the letters between T and W and you get UV. This simple reasoning was the inspiration for the name of one of this semester's most successful series of on-campus events - UV Latenite - which takes place every Friday night in the T/W Dining Hall which is, of course, between Travers and Wolfe halls.
Students' enthusiasm for the series was visible at the most recent UV Lateniter, American Bobble Heads Karaoke, which was sponsored by Theta Nu Xi Multicultural sorority. According to Greg Blair, senior Spanish and computer science major, the attendance for the event wasn't as high as it was for past events such as the Texas hold'em poker tournament, bingo night and the ThinkFast game show. Still, the students who did show up were clearly having a blast making their own music videos and singing along to popular songs with their friends.
"This isn't a good event to judge (the entire series) by," Blair said. "It's a smaller crowd than usual."
Blair and Aida Figueroa, senior psychology and women's and gender studies major, are both community advisors in T/W and have attended most of the UV Lateniters. According to them, the events that offer the best prizes are usually the ones that draw the biggest crowds.
For instance, the ThinkFast game show event, which offered a $200 prize to the winner, attracted over 70 students. The hold'em tournament and bingo also featured exciting prizes.
"The prizes get bigger and bigger as the night goes on," Jessica Deringer, senior psychology major, said.
Many of the karaoke night attendees felt that UV Latenite is an excellent alternative for students who do not want to party or drink on Friday night.
"(UV Latenite) does a great job of equaling the fun atmosphere of parties," Fred Derilus, sophomore biomedical engineering major, said. Immediately after offering his opinion of the event, Derilus ran to the microphone to perform Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" with a bevy of female backup singers.
No matter how successful UV Latenite has been with deterring students from alcohol consumption, the official impetus behind the series is quite different.
"In many ways the decision to begin funding a weekend program series was in response to a change in philosophy as to how the Student Activity Fee (SAF) should be spent," Jonathan Borst, senior English major and executive director of the Student Finance Board (SFB), said. "By proactively coordinating the expenditure of SAF money, students are offered higher quality programming on a regular basis."
Borst attributes the series success to an extensive advertising campaign, including a calendar of events at the beginning of the semester and weekly table tents and e-mails advertising upcoming programs. As the events' attendees have put it, the series is also just a lot of fun.
"You can be whoever you want to be," Yvette Mocete, junior biology major and Theta Nu Xi member, said of the karaoke night.
Each UV Latenite event is co-sponsored along with SFB by a different student organization. The College Union Board, PEANUTS, the Asian American Association, Theta Nu Xi, SFB and Mixed Signals are all organizations that have participated thus far.
Borst and SFB plan to continue the UV Latenite series into the Spring 2007 semester. Borst promises "some new events as well as some favorites."
