York College Celebrates School Spirit Through First Ever tip off Event
By Anthony Medina
The Homecoming tip off event for York College was the first time the Student Government Association (SGA) and Student Activities planned an event to celebrate school spirit on a larger scale in the athletics building on Thursday, Nov. 9.
“The purpose of this event is to showcase athletics and bring more school spirit,” said Vice President Kevin Caraballo in an email to club leaders late October. “Out of my three years here at York College I seen the lack of school spirit.”
SGA officials spearheaded the event while organizing the performances, giveaways and decorations. The campus colors of red, black and white decorated the gym in balloons and banners. The entire right side of of the gym was packed and students slowly filled in the left side as the event went on. It was a night for the athletic sports teams at York to showcase all of their hard work and the players some students know better than others.
“I’m definitely hoping that this continues past this initial year,” said SGA President David Tobo. “For students to come to student government and ask for some kind of major event that will bring school spirit, that definitely was felt. There was a moment during the night where track stars were running around the gymnasium and you could feel this energy in the room I haven’t felt at York College in a really long time.”
Red Shoes, one of the clubs performing for the night, used any space available to dance to the music and rally students to get in the spirit of school appreciation. Attendees captured what Red Shoes represented with their uniformed T-shirts and alternative style of red colored shoes. Club members made sure to enjoy themselves with a live performance for their fellow students
“Basically we are working on bringing the school together and bringing awareness to our sports clubs,” said Red Shoes Vice President Isaac Alexander. “Right now we are going to be performing but that’s just a showcase of the talent that we have and what we do here.”
During the night, participants of a basketball shooting competition each received $500 visa gift cards. Three shots at the three-point-line was the goal. Unfortunately none of the 4 students were able to make it past two shots, but SGA officials were graceful enough to give each student a gift card for participation.
Another of the giveaways was apparel and accessories with detailed York College logos. Water bottles, gym bags, and large foam fingers were a few of the items given to every student who entered the athletics building. The loss of the Barnes and Noble bookstore last semester encouraged SGA officials to produce York College brand accessories to bring back the campus gear.
Public Safety also stayed through the night making sure students celebrated in a safe environment. Metal detectors were located at the front of the building and an officer was stationed at each door.
President Marcia Keizs, Vice President for Student Development Vincent Banrey were among the administration officials who attended and showed their appreciation to the student clubs and SGA members in attendance.
Guest appearances for the night included Nickn patti whack and the College Cardinal Mascot. They both initiative the crowd to loud cheers and dancing with every showing of the sports teams. Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Tennis and Men’s soccer were some of the sports teams that riled the crowd and displayed their sports skills. The onslaught of appearances by every major sports team at York enlightened guests to the opportunities and programs made available to the campus community.
Hosting a $15,000 wasn’t an easy task for SGA to fulfill alone. Other clubs including the Sexuality and Gender Acceptance, SEEK and TRIO helped distribute giveaways and prepared food and water throughout the night.
“I think people who didn’t think they would come definitely showed up and they expected something different. They were thoroughly surprised,” said Leah Singh, a Social Work major a member of the Social Work Club.