WANTED! Thief dances away with cellphone at winter banquet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Omsalama Ayoub

Staff Writer

Under the Bulmer Telecommunications Center roof, students dressed in their best clothes, ate free food, danced freely together and were unaware of a thief lurking around the empty tables.

Student senate hosted an end-of-semester Holiday Banquet from 6:30 – 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 30.

Director of student activities, Louis B. Coplin, started the banquet off by acknowledging club advisors and faculty for supporting clubs.

According to Ali Cheema, student vice president, 136 students signed up. Cheema felt students would have been more excited had the event been at Franklin Plaza, where it had previously been held. However, students appreciated the effort student senate put into decorations and fixing a budget.

Michelle Thivierge, the campus minister, gave a reminder of upcoming religious holidays that aim for everyone to be kind to others and be grateful.

Thivierge’s speech emphasized spirituality is not religious exclusive and taking a deep breath at this point in the semester is especially important.

Being well-rounded outside of your academics is incredibly important. “It’s important to experience something outside our own lives, [you will be richer for it],” Thivierge said.

Abdul Ahmed, a full-time nursing student, accidentally found the banquet and decided to join the festivities.

“I don’t know anything about it, but I was passing by and it seems really chill,” Ahmed said. “I’m here checking it out but so far everybody seems to be really engaging with each other and everything seems to be really fun.”

John Desmond, an electrical engineering student, said you cannot go wrong with free food, friends and fun.

“[It was] a nice evening, overall [pleased] that the college put it together for us,” Desmond said. “I look forward to future [events].”

Mazzone catered for the night.

A potato bar was laid out with mashed sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes resting in martini glasses with toppings for all kinds of cravings. Chocolate fondue was presented as well. Marshmallows, pretzels, strawberries and rice krispie treats were paired with the chocolate for dipping. Other foods included mac and cheese bites, sliders, chicken alfredo and short ribs.

The evening, however, was spoiled for Angela Scipione, a liberal arts student, when she realized her phone was missing from where she left it.

It was around 9:20 p.m. when Scipione lost her phone.

“I honestly was in denial for a little bit,” Scipione said. “I thought maybe it got knocked off the table or somebody else picked it up for me,” she said. “But after some friends tried calling it, and we realized it was turned off, we knew it was stolen.”

Scipione asked friends and attendees if they had seen it. She looked all over the room and still couldn’t find it.

After checking with Public Safety and searching the meeting rooms with friends and some members of the student senate, Scipione came to terms with what happened.

“I’m still very upset,” Scipione said. “I don’t really have hope that it will be returned to me at this point,” she said. “I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that someone would just take someone else’s property.”