By Maggie Cassidy
Northeastern students were treated to fun, funk and freebies at the second annual Huskies Gone Wild event in the Snell Library Quad Friday night. The 5-hour tropical-themed bash drew about 1,800 students.
The Center for University Programs (CUP), Resident Student Association, Student Government Association, the Northeastern Chapter of the Music and Entertainment Industry Association (MEISA) and eight other student groups co-sponsored the event.
“The event is basically a coming together of student groups and student affiliates and a presentation to the freshmen and the rest of the students about what Northeastern is like,” said Garrett Marques, event coordinator and CUP vice president of collaboration.
Last year, the event was spearheaded by the Latin American Student Organization (LASO), of which Marques is also a member, and was awarded program of the year. The success encouraged Marques to continue the event through CUP.
“It was sort of an incentive to do it again this year,” he said. “We had a lot of attendance and it was a lot of fun to put it up.”
He said, although the five-hour event is geared toward freshmen, it typically attracts a fair number of upperclassmen as well – something Marques calls a “welcome surprise.” He said he thinks the wide array of students reflected the sense of community Huskies Gone Wild promotes.
“It’s an entertaining thing to do and it’s also a big campus-wide thing to do,” he said.
Krissy Laux, MEISA vice president, organized the musical acts that appeared at the event, which included various bands and three dance groups. The show also featured performances from NUSTAND and Intervarsity, while a Northeastern alum, DJ Shine, spun tracks throughout the night.
“We wanted to represent Northeastern acts,” Laux said. “Basically for Huskies Gone Wild, we wanted it to be a celebration of the beginning of the school year, school spirit for everyone, just bring everyone together. So the entertainment, we really wanted it to be Northeastern affiliated. We’re keeping it all in the family.”
Members of groups invited to play at the celebration said they appreciated the opportunity to perform for their peers.
“It’s pretty sweet playing in front of everybody from the college. We usually are playing shows around here – we play clubs and other venues,” said The North Lot bassist George Fitopoulos, a middler journalism major. “It’s a great chance to make fans around here [who] will actually come see us when we play again.”
The North Lot drummer Mike Fuhrman also stressed this aspect of the event.
“Building our fan base is definitely key,” said Fuhrman, a middler engineering major. “We want to make some fans, then we want to meet some fans, then we want to party with some fans.”
The event continued past 11 p.m., as other bands, like The Stolen Records, Red Red Rockit, the Have Nots and Plastic Reverie played.
Freshmen international business majors Veronica Domenchello and Katelyn Cairns said they came for the music and free food and felt more involved in the school after being there, particularly through showing support for the sports teams.
“[While] seeing football players walking around wearing their shirts, [you get to say] good luck,” Domenchello said.
Jared Shafran, a freshman journalism major, and Alex Wurzel, a freshman undecided major, felt similarly. Their only complaint was the long line for free food.
“I feel like they did a good job,” Shafran said. “It’s a positive atmosphere. There’s a bunch of kids.”
Other entertainment included a slideshow informing students about various student organizations and a “Pop, Lock and Drop It” contest, based on the popular hip hop song by Huey.
Evan Sabogal, president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, who also co-sponsored the event, said he was happy with the way it turned out.
“It’s definitely a great showcase of the collaboration of different student organizations coming together to try to put on some fun events for all the students here,” he said.
