This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CMU chapter.
When I say spring semester, midway, booth, buggy, and live entertainment, what do you think of? If you’ve been before, you’ve experienced one of the best campus events of CMU: Spring Carnival. And for those of you that have not yet experienced Carnival, it will undoubtedly live up to it’s unique reputation, especially under the direction of this year’s Spring Carnival Committee Chair, Emily Hrin. Emily has diligently been working with the entire Carnival Committee to plan what will be an extremely successful 99th Spring Carnival.
In addition to Emily’s Carnival Committee duties, she is a Dietrich College student majoring in Statistics and Environmental Policy from Alexandria, Virginia. Currently a junior, she is also a TA for the statistics course 36-201. Staying true to her statistic endeavors, her favorite CMU course so far has been Statistic Graphics and Visualization and she serves on the Statistics Advisory Committee. Outside of the classroom, Emily is one of the founding sisters of CMU’s newest Panhellenic sorority, Alpha Phi.
But when asked, out of all of your CMU activities, which is your favorite? And after no more than a moment to think, she responds: Carnival. Two years ago as a freshman, Emily worked on social media for the Committee and the following Carnival, she was the head of the Public Relations committee. This year, she’s running it all as the Carnival Committee Chair. To mention just a few of the many Carnival-related tasks Emily must do, she holds the weekly Carnival Committee meeting, regularly meets with Committee heads, attends booth chair meetings, and works with the university staff.
A typical college student may say that one of their goals they hope to accomplish during their time as a student is to get a 4.0 GPA, start an on-campus organization, or to meet new and diverse people. But for Emily, her goal as a college student is to be a part of a fun and successful 99th Carnival, and more importantly, to help continue the Carnival tradition. “Carnival serves as a connection through the generations, and even though CMU has changed, Carnival has not.” As Carnival is special to staff, students, and alumni, she would like to see Carnival maintained as a fun and successful CMU event for the years to come.
For us Carnival veterans, we have our favorite activity at Carnival, favorite memory from Carnival, or what we’re most looking forward to in the upcoming Carnival. What is the favorite part of Carnival for the current Committee Chair? It is from four am to eight am, the night before Carnival opens, as students are frantically but diligently working to finish building booths. “I would take the watch shift because it’s so much fun and the committees are there, booth chairs are there.” At that time of night, everyone is in the same boat because they’re all there for some various reason, but it is all apart of the CMU tradition and demonstrates the dedication of CMU students.
Any big plans for the 99th Carnival? None that can be divulged yet, but Emily says to take into consideration that this Carnival could be the last Carnival on it’s original home of the Morewood parking lot. With the proposal of the Ten Year Plan, there is the potential that the parking lot will be transformed into a new Tepper building and residence hall. No concrete dates have been established, but remember to enjoy Carnival in it’s native location this year. With that in mind, how can you get the most out of Carnival? From a Carnival professional: “Go to buggie, come out to booths, buy pre-sale ride tickets, and get involved with building a booth and pick up a hammer!”