At Screw Up Nights, failure is inherent to success.
“Screwing up and making mistakes are humanizing factors, and something that everyone should embrace,” said sophomore Deniz Cengiz, a student employee at iZone.
To amplify this belief, iZone organized an event this past Wednesday where students from an array of campus organizations came to share their failures. This lively atmosphere where everyone acknowledged failure prompted members of the audience to come up and share their stories as well.
This year’s theme of Screw Up Nights was student “dis-organization.”
Senior and SA President Beatriz Gil was the first speaker of the evening.
Gil accidentally sent an email to the Class of 2019 that contained a virus in it. Inadvertently, she was responsible for infecting students’ computers of her class. A small mistake on her part led to an enormous consequence, but she learned from it and is more careful now.
Next to speak was senior Philip Milman, a member of The YellowJackets, who further reiterated his beliefs about failure paving way for success.
Milman said that while fusing two songs for a performance, he realized that it was going to be a “disaster.” However, it was too late to change, and he knew their show would not turn out the way it usually does.
He further narrated how one of the YellowJackets’ campaigns was misinterpreted on social media because of the wrong choice of words they had used to describe it. He said that there were “gaps in the campaign that could be filled” but the backlash enabled him to “learn from it” and be more vigilant of word choices.
The third speaker of the evening was junior Zhongyi Zuo, who is vice president of the Chinese Student Association.
Zuo shared her story of failure about her mistake when trying to plan an on-campus celebration for Chinese New Year.
She wanted to hold the celebration on the day of Chinese New Year. To her dismay, she forgot to click the submission button to reserve a room.
So, the event had to be pushed back a week later than the actual Chinese New Year.
Zuo said she learned her lesson, and she now confidently embraces her mistakes in hopes others will too.
After the three scheduled speakers shared their stories, audience members spontaneously took the stage to do the same. Stories shared ranged from waking up in the wrong bed after a night out, losing a passport, and finding out a visa had expired while studying abroad.
Screw Up Nights has been one of iZone’s top events since its conception, showing how an idea can turn into something great.
“It is an idea that turned from a post-it note into a reality,” Cengiz said.
Screw Up Nights will pick back up for a fifth volume next semester featuring a different theme.
