The University Student Union celebrated Bulldog pride on Friday as the Office of the President and Staff Assembly Executive Committee presented the monthly Red Friday event.
“Red Friday is put on by Staff Assembly, but is hosted by different departments and organizations on campus,” said Dannielle Rodriguez, vice chair of the Staff Assembly . “So we put out a call at the beginning of the year, letting them know the dates that we’re going to be having Red Friday and asking people to participate and host an event.”
The morning event, which was hosted by the President’s Office, usually takes place every first Friday of the month and is designed to “give organizations on campus an opportunity to come out and share what they have going on in their department or college,” as Rodriguez explained.
“It also gives a chance for our campus community to come together, visit, collaborate and share some of that Bulldog pride and Bulldog spirit,” she said.
Downstairs at the USU was a sea of red, as nearly every person who attended wore Bulldog red and ate breakfast, visited booths from different organizations on campus, watched a live band and participated in raffles.
This wasn’t an average Red Friday, however.
“It’s a little bit bigger than our normal Red Friday because the Student Cupboard has been doing a campaign called March Match Up, so they’ve been asking for donations to help with the food that is distributed to students on a day-to-day basis,” Rodriguez said. “Today they are going to have their big reveal.”
The March Match Up fundraiser had its donation reveal take place right after Red Friday, but the two events were connected.
The Student Cupboard had a booth with information about the pantry in addition to raffle games related to March Match Up.
“We encouraged people to come to our table, put their name and phone number as well as how much they thought we raised for March Match Up this year,” said Jessica Medina, coordinator of the Food Security Project, which includes the Student Cupboard.
Meanwhile, Vintage Days also had a booth on Red Friday as the annual, student-planned celebration is forthcoming.
“It runs from April 26-28, which is coming up very fast,” said Julia Lewis, special events coordinator for Vintage Days. “It’s the 45th anniversary, so we have a lot of activities happening this year.”
This “special” Red Friday, as Rodriguez described, showcased the biggest events that are taking place in the month of April, like the reveal of March Match Up, as well as future events like Vintage Days.
The next Red Friday is scheduled to return on May 3.