Snowflakes and sounds a success
Students make stressballs for Special Olympic athletes at UHP event
Breal Savage and Kaydee Taylor fill balloons with flour to make stress balls for Special Olympic athletes.
February 28, 2020
Stress balls, socializing and sundaes. On February 25, the University Honors Program welcomed students into Natali’s performance center for their biannual Snowflakes and Sounds event.
Acting as both a recruitment and service social event, Snowflakes and Sounds is one of the biggest events held by the honors program. Student Honors Advisory Board social chair freshman Devon Latchum, 19, worked hard to help organize the event.
“Snowflakes and Sounds is an opportunity to meet the group of honors students,” Latchum explained. “It’s definitely a social that is more personal and has more activities. There’s live music which is really fun so it’s just like a little, fun party.”
This is the fourth semester Snowflakes and Sounds has been hosted by the honor program. SHAB president junior Daja Douglas, 21, said she believes this is an important event to hold.
“I feel like so many times people see the honors program and students get this idea of a bound-up student who’s perfect, excels in all aspects and not really a person who has fun,” said Douglas. “I think we’re showing a different side of honors with a more relaxed, casual atmosphere which is pretty much most honors students. It really gives a more accurate representation of how the honors program works and how they can fit into it.”
Not only were there games to play and an array of food to enjoy on Monday, students were also encouraged to participate in making stress balls for Cal U’s Special Olympics athletes. Service chair Sophomore Caitlyn Urban, 19, worked in collaboration with the Center for Volunteer Programs and Service Learning to make the service project possible. She said she was excited to plan a fun service opportunity that benefited the athletes.
“I’ve worked with [Special Olympics] at past sports events that they’ve had, just having fun with them,” said Urban. “It was just a great opportunity because they are such fun-loving people that you can’t help but smile when you’re around them. It’s just a really good opportunity to give back to them.”
Junior Kylie Graham, 20, said that she thinks it is really nice to be able to bring people together, especially to do service projects.
“I love volunteering and I think that it’s nice to get everyone involved,” said Graham. “I think it’s really nice because the Special Olympics is on campus at the Convention Center so I think that’s really good for the community, that it’s within our community and we’re doing this service because you can see the impact yourself at the event.”
Freshman Isaac Wittkopp, 19, attended the event because he heard about it from a friend and wanted to meet new people.
“I like the enthusiasm used in playing games,” Wittkopp. “I never been a very social so when they put you in a social situation, it gets you out of your comfort zone.”
Sophomore Natalie Wiest, 19, attended last year’s Snowflakes and Sounds event. There, she became interested in joining the honors program.
“I wanted to join because all of my friends were in the honors program and the events were fun,” Wiest said. “Going to an event showed me that being in the honors program wasn’t all about academics. It was also about community and opportunities.”
Wiest highly recommends going to an event if one is thinking about joining the honors program, getting to know more people, or just getting involved.
As for the future of Snowflakes and Sounds, Douglas is optimistic especially with the hard work of the current Student Honors Advisory Board as she sees them as “a really great team.”
“I hope it just gets bigger, more people come,” said Douglas. “I just really think that the honors program is a great opportunity to be a part of and I think the more people know about that the better.”
