Evening Students celebrated at biannual event
Managing Editor
Helping to organize the evening student reception this semester was a personal task for Student Senate Vice President Bryce Kirk. “I feel like I have a unique perspective because my mom is an evening student and she really appreciates this,” he said.
Kirk’s mother, Mavis, has been taking evening classes over the last three years in pursuit of completing an accounting degree. “It’s a great opportunity for the evening students to mingle with one another and we can kind of relate to each other because much of us work during the day,” she said.
The Student Senate, along with the Office of Continuing Education, Summer Sessions, and Workforce Development helped put the event together. “The day students have a whole week-long series of activities and the night students only have one night,” said Andrew Russell, advising specialist in the Continuing Education department.
As the sun set, evening students went to the second floor of the Campus Center last Wednesday to get a taste of Hudson Valley after sunset. “Everybody comes together. You get to talk to friends and meet new people,” said Dylan Friebel, digital media student.
“Between work and school, I don’t have much time for extracurricular activity but I think these are really cool and I think they should keep this up,” said Jenna Greene, liberal arts student.
“We don’t do as much as I’d like us to do for our evening students,” said Hudson Valley President Drew Matonak. He mentioned that while working in community colleges throughout his career, attempts at engaging evening students have had limited success but at Hudson Valley, the Evening Student Reception has been an exception.
Some evening students didn’t have to worry about missing class in order to attend the event. William Rulison, individual studies student, had half of his class dismissed by his professor to attend the reception. “I don’t really have any expectations, I was just told by my teacher to walk over here and that’s what I did,” said Rulison.
About $3,500 worth of food was prepared for over 500 students according to Student Activities. “They’re filled with cheese and they’re just delicious,” said Evana Burke, business administration student about the chicken cordon bleu balls served later on during the event.
While some students lined up for food provided such as wings and nachos, other students opened their ears before their mouths. “It’s a song of unity. There’s common ground between us all,” said Ryan Holmes, digital media student, about the Cha-Cha Slide.
Music for the event has been provided by Music Man Entertainment over the last four semesters. “I just like that these guys like the music I play. These guys are great people,” said DJ Mike Garassi.