Club members accept awards for new members after games and a barbecue dinner at the Student Organizaions Jubilee May 4 at Earlywine Park. From left: Chris Stewart, Business Professionals of America; Omar Lozano, Hispanic Organization to Promote Education; Brittney Hodges, Phi Theta Kappa; Karen Grayson, Student Life; Sharee Demby, Black Student Association; Joyette Farquaharson, Chi Alpha.
OCCC celebrates members, leaders of clubs at Jubilee
- Student clubs and organizations rub elbows, participate in activities.
- Jubilee was held at Earlywine Park.
By Drew Hampton, Staff Writer
As another semester passes, student clubs and organizations have been recognized for their work.
At 4 p.m. Friday, May 4 at Earlywine Park, Student Life’s 2007 Student Organizations Jubilee provided club members an opportunity for fun, relaxation and recognition.
Darin Behara, Student Life director, said the event was a year-end celebration of the contribution campus clubs have made to the college.
“It’s to celebrate the year … and recognize the clubs and organizations for what they do to make campus life that much better,” he said.
One event of the Jubilee was the Crazy Olympics, a series of unconventional contests of skill and teamwork between the different clubs on campus.
Behara said the Black Student Association won both of the Crazy Olympics’ relay races. One, dubbed the “Fear Factor Relay,” involved team members consuming food items such as packages of ramen noodles and cans of vienna sausages as an objective during the race.
The other relay involved avoiding obstacles while carrying a large piece of grapefruit dangling from nylon stockings tied around contestants’ waists.
The final event of the Olympics, a race based on maintaining an interlocking human chain while running across the field, was won by a joint team made up of members from the Business Professionals of America and the International Student Association.
While outwardly silly, Behara said, these competitions helped display the attributes required for effective club leadership.
“[The last race] required communications skills, balance and teamwork,” he said. “[The lessons learned from] each of these games can be taken back to the clubs, but this one could be used in leadership development.”
In addition to the games, the Jubilee also featured an awards ceremony recognizing club members, leaders and sponsors.
Individual winners of club awards included Phi Theta Kappa’s Rebekah Green for Best New Member of the Year, Psi Beta’s Laurie Thornton for Club Officer of the Year, HOPE’s Grebil Castilliano for Volunteer of the Year, and Learning Skills Professor Stephen Morrow for Sponsor of the Year.
The Advocates of Peace, the Black Student Association and the Hispanic Organization for the Promotion of Education all took home group awards, while Chi Alpha received the title of Most Improved Club. Finally, the Business Professionals of America was declared the college’s Club of the Year.
Staff Writer Drew Hampton can be reached at StaffWriter1@occc.edu.
