At exactly 9:30 p.m. on November 27, 2018, on the patio outside of Walker Gym, the Stevens holiday tree was lit at the Entertainment Committee’s (EC) Fifth Annual Holiday Tree Lighting event. The tree lighting is a flagship event for EC. They begin serious planning in September, but work on the event persists all year long. For the last five years, EC has been dedicated to improving the event. This year, EC moved from using live trees on campus to using their 16-foot artificial holiday tree. There was a multitude of activities to take part in at the event.
The first students to sign in received plush ducks and custom holiday themed mugs. Those after them could choose from a variety of rubber ducks and other plushies. Students could fill up their new mugs at a hot chocolate station, drink some apple cider, or eat many of the holiday themed desserts laid out. In addition, a photo booth was provided. Several campus singing groups, such as the President’s Ensemble, Quackappella, and Floctaves, performed in front of the tree singing songs like Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride, and Winter Wonderland. EC planned most of the event on its own, with coordinating help from the Office of Student Life, the Office of University Events, DeBaun Auditorium, and the Audio Engineering Club.
If you’ve noticed a sudden abundance of holiday decorations springing up around campus, you can thank the members of EC for those as well. EC’s Vice President of On Campus Events, Carly Palicz, had nothing but nice things to say about her membership, saying, “A lot of really dedicated general body members and non-members helped to put this together. People were coming up to us the night of asking what they could do to help.”
Maryia Spirydonava, a 4/5 Civil Engineering student, commented on the improvements made over the last three years she’s come to the event: “It’s really fun to have an actual Christmas tree now! It’s also really nice to have the musical groups on campus perform.”
Freshman Tina Ahuja enjoyed the experience of attending her first Tree Lighting at Stevens. “I had a great time! I waited in line early and got a duck, and it was great to see Quackappella perform. The event was very festive and nice, and united the school.”
Freshman EC member Max Perez was happy to say that the event went off without a hitch: “This has gone very smoothly. We got the decorations out as fast as possible, nothing’s gone wrong yet, so I’d say we’ve done pretty great!” Over 500 students attended Tree Lighting this year.
Be First to Comment