While many students plan to celebrate Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day, some students have decided not to drink this Friday.
Amy Ochoa, sophomore in AHS, is planning “Alternative Unofficial” at Presby Hall to give students who choose not to participate in Unofficial other options for the day. The event starts at 6 p.m. and ends at midnight.
Activities, which will be held at the dining hall, include video games, foods and prizes for residents to celebrate a “different” unofficial.
Ochoa said the goal for the event is to make sure that students who are not participating don’t feel left out.
“We do have a group of people who don’t drink, so the goal is to provide them a comfortable environment where they don’t feel pressure to drink,” she said in an email. “Students often think on Unofficial they have two choices: to drink and have fun or to not drink and not have fun.”
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In addition to the events at Presby Hall, a basketball tournament is also happening at Campus Recreation Center East, and more than 70 people are expected to attend. Korean American Students Association is hosting this event with 11 teams competing each other.
Jennifer Lee, co-sports chair of KASA and a junior in LAS, said the organization was hesitant to hold this annual event during Unofficial, but the group decided to give it a try.
Lee said the group had a particularly hard time in finding referees for the tournament.
“Finalizing the referees was a challenge for the group because they didn’t want to work during Unofficial,” she said. “They told me that they had prior arrangements. But (thankfully) we are now in the process of finalizing the referees.”
Yafang Cheng, senior in LAS, is not participating Unofficial because she does not like drinking.
“I never found parties fun, so I am going to do usual things like going to classes, meeting up with my friends and my usual daily routine stuff,” Chen said.
She said as a graduating senior, she has other activities she wants to do before she graduates.
“There are a lot of things I haven’t done yet, so I would rather do those things than participate in Unofficial.” Chen said.
Ochoa said she feels that she created an environment in which students can enjoy Unofficial in their own way.
“(It) makes me feel great that I’m giving students an opportunity to not drink and have fun,” she said. “It’s not always one or the other.”
Carina can be reached at [email protected].
