Fun and games

Students enjoy Late Nite activities

The University Recreation Center hosted Late Nite at the UREC last Thursday. Students got to enjoy an evening full of activities, food and music on both campuses.

“We actually started these conversations back in May, and we gave ourselves an internal deadline,” UREC Associate Director Annette Livas said about the planning process for the event. “We needed to plan three different, I guess, outlines, so to speak, for the event, because of the unknown.”

Planning for the Late Nite event began earlier in the year, Livas said, and many adjustments were made along the way.

“We’ve just been very flexible with the structure of what Late Nite is going to look like,” she said. “Thankfully, we have a small group of about four individuals that have been leading conversations internally with our department.”

In-person activities were made available on both campuses. In Brownsville, three locations at the Student Union hosted a variety of activities such as yoga in El Gran Salón, events on the lawn and new computers in the Game Room.

“We’re going to have volleyball; we’re going to have cornhole [and] a battle rope challenge,” Livas said before the event.

There was also an agility drill, and to advertise the need for lifeguards, a lifeguard relay activity on the lawn.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” interdisciplinary studies junior Briseyda Benavides said after partaking in the lifeguard relay in Brownsville. “It’s pretty engaging for the students and everything. It’s just a way to meet new people, have fun, and explore college.”

Benavides is looking forward to this semester, as it is her first year at UTRGV.

“The past two years, I was at [Texas Southmost College], which was a pretty good experience, too,” she said. “But I’m having a really good time at UTRGV, too.”

Having events such as Late Nite improves the campus experience, said political science sophomore Martin Resendiz.

“It really promotes coming back to campus in-person and makes a better experience than being online,” Resendiz said about the event. “So, I just hope it goes back to how it was before COVID.”

Kinesiology senior Eduardo Garcia believes Late Nite was a great way to boost morale on campus.

“I think it’s great,” Garcia said. “You know, it’s been hard with COVID and everything. I’ve been to these in-person events before COVID, and it’s kind of awesome that we’re bringing them back in a safe manner.”

He hopes to see things get slowly back to normal on campus.

“Seeing people gather up here–it’s really amazing,” Garcia said. “I do miss seeing all these people here on campus.”

The Edinburg campus event was the same concept with the addition of some unique activities both inside and outside the facility, UREC Marketing and Student Development Coordinator Cristina Rodriguez said last Tuesday.

In Edinburg, there were activities such as table tennis, basketball, Aqua Zumba, POUND, yoga, volleyball and a battle rope challenge.

Both campuses had food, drinks and music. Vaquero Radio provided DJ services to both campuses and a photo booth to the Edinburg campus.

There were also adjustments made to ensure a safe environment.

“We’ve already transitioned our building in Edinburg,” Livas said. “Our risk mitigation plan is really just to have hand sanitizers and cleaning supplies readily accessible while the students are participating in these activities.”

The staff members at University Recreation want to continue to be flexible and hope to continue to provide safe events for students on campus.

“Honestly, we’re just happy that we can provide it,” Livas replied when asked for her thoughts before the event. “We can provide it safely and see if the campus community comes out to hang out with us.”