In honor of Women’s History Month, WIB has developed a new annual event called R.I.S.E. Each letter represents the characteristics of powerful women: Resilient, Independent, Strong, and Empowered.
Under the guidance of our VP of Fundraising, Farrah, we launched our first R.I.S.E. event in support of Malala Yousafzai. For those of you who may not know, Malala is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. We took this opportunity to share Malala’s story in hopes of achieving years of quality education for children everywhere.
On Thursday, March 10th we filled the 2nd floor atrium with a blend of orange, red, and yellow. With the help of our members, we had tables filled with glorious sweets and baked goods, lively posters, and a bunch of smiles to go around. Thanks to WBMB, our event had the music pumping at the Henna tattoo, bean bag toss, and raffle and information stations. The winner of our raffle received Bath & Body Works gift bags and Housing Works Bookstore Cafe gift cards. For students and staff members who were unable to participate at our more time consuming stations, we had “I Stand With Malala” pins so that students may contribute to her fund and raise awareness simultaneously.
The highlight of our event was our Photo Scavenger Hunt. Students were able to participate in a friendly, competitive race for victory! There was a total of 7 clubs competing for the title and the chance to win a basket of snacks and goodies from The Basket Queen. The teams competing were UCLA, CAC, GK, AKPsi, EC, WIB, and Fusion. Teams were given a 1.5 page of instructions (single-spaced!) to complete a list of tasks that involved taking photos with items around the school, selling baked goods, printing out their schedule on CUNYFirst, etc. The list included 25 tasks that needed to be completed within 30 minutes. The pressure was on, causing some teams to sweat, shed tears, throw their list on the floor and call it quits.
However, there were other teams that were hyped up; knocking our Bearcat mascot to the floor and jumping in to take a selfie (talk about the dedication!). With time winding down and teams zipping left and right, disqualification was nearly eminent as all teams had to be present for judging at exactly 1:30 pm. The anticipation was high as each team’s referee tallied up their points. And the winners were (*drum roll* please), Golden Key with a total of 26/30 points! Overall, many of the co-sponsors expressed that they had a lot fun participating in the hunt.
The fun doesn’t stop there! After the hunt concluded and the judges announced the winners, the atrium became a massive dance floor. Students came together to work, work, work, work, work and show off all their dance moves in a friendly dance battle.
Thanks to the help of our co-sponsors, we were able to raise $865 for Malala’s Fund. Shout out to ADS, CAC, TSA, the Accounting Society, VSA, UCLA, Phi Eta Sigma, Golden Key, WBMB, BSA, Lexicon, CSA, Alpha Kappa Psi, Fusion, and the Ecuadorian Club for making this event a rousing success!