This weekend marks the return of the annual Winterfest, but with significant changes. Last year, poor attendance at the weekend’s events was due in part to a lack of co-sponsorship at events that had been largely managed by the Campus Activities Board. This year the group branched out and is sharing responsibility with twenty-one other organizations, including the class councils, Grassroots, hall councils, and UR Cinema Group, to name a few.
This reorganization of Winterfest emphasizes two progressive steps – first, a real diversity of programs. Students have an enormous amount of events to choose from, including Pablo Francisco, “UR Idol” and Casino Night. Offering events that students want to go to is the first step in creating on-campus traditions that the UR community enjoys.
Second, and more importantly, it marks a major multilateral effort that allows groups with similar missions to communicate and create UR traditions together. UR prides itself on maintaining over 200 student organizations, but without coordination, they serve no use to the community they support. This year, the groups are working together. For example, Winterfest will this year forgo the annual Masquerade Ball, which flopped last year, replacing it with Fatman Scoop and a dance party in Douglass Dining Center. Fatman Scoop has been brought to the campus not by CAB alone, but with the additional funding of Sigma Beta Rho Fraternity, ADITI, the Black Students’ Union, Filipino American Students’ Association, the Korean American Students’ Association and UR Hip-Hop.
By combining and working together, as demonstrated through Winterfest, these organizations benefit extraordinarily. Hopefully, this trend will become a tradition of excellence.
