A circus took over The Stamp Student Union Friday night for our school’s annual All Niter event.
The traditional event hit its 33rd year of showcasing the programs and services Stamp has to offer students in an enjoyable way.
Events began at noon and ended at 3 a.m. with a late night party, all corresponding with the circus theme that event coordinators decided on.
Some events specifically dealt with circus acts, such as the side show acts, which had sword swallowers, while other events simply related to the theme, such as the ever poplar build-a-bear station.
This year’s festivities included fire jugglers, magicians, aerial artists, contortionists, balloon sculpting, face painting, caricatures and carnival games.
“We always try to integrate the theme into the activities we do and I think we did a better job this year than others years of doing that,” Program Director Ashley Venneman said.
Some of the more popular events were the breakdancing competition and the Step Show and Performance Showcase. Many students navigated their way between the two events to make sure they did not miss out on the performances.
The atrium was filled with onlookers cheering the dancers from on campus and around the area who were competing against each other as the night went on.
On the opposite side of Stamp, in the Nyumburu Amphitheater, at least 200 students filled the surrounding area to watch performances from the Prima Dolls dance team, Phunktions Hip-Hop Dance Company, STEPP and many other student organizations.
Venneman does not know what the original purpose was but she says it has a become a fun event that students can look forward to attending while also learning about Stamp.
Sofone Elira, a prospective student in high school, attended the event so she could find out more about Maryland and have a fun night out.
“We wanted to check out the different events that were happening tonight. We’re still making our way around but we had to stop to get our balloon animal first,” Elira said.
The event committee began planning the All Niter in May and continued into the summer. Groups of people were assigned different roles in the planning, such as those who put together the carnival games, those who contacted student organizations and those who contacted outside organizations, which included the aerial artists who came from Michigan.
Because there were events going on all over Stamp, Venneman says that it is hard to tell what kind of turnout they had, but she says there was a good turnout at the events they had.
Although Jaime Park, a freshman neurobiology major, was not able to attend all the events offered, she said there were a lot of great options for her and her friends to pick from.
“It’s a good alternative from the normal things you do in college.”