One of our main goals with Suffolk’s Graduate Student Association (GSA) this year is to create more opportunities for graduate students to interact and engage with their peers, in the hopes of building a more inclusive community.
One strategy we’ve decided on towards accomplishing this goal is to host a series of fun events where students from different graduate programs can mingle and socialize in an environment that isn’t academic.
Our very first event of the fall took place this past week: an Opening Day Celebration to welcome graduate students to the new semester.
Given the immense pride this town has for our Boston sports teams, the GSA board felt it more than appropriate to incorporate that into our event theme. And since the event was promoting opening day, it seemed kind of clever to go with a baseball theme. From the table centerpieces and the napkins, to the menu and dessert selection, every detail aligned with our theme, and the students loved it!
Take a look at some photos from the event:
Most of the decorations were purchased through Party City and Oriental Trading Company, although we did make the signs (we purchased the cardstock at a local craft store, cut it into triangles and affixed stick-on letters to spell out “concessions”) and the centerpieces ourselves (we painted a handful of glass jars with acrylic paint and affixed smaller stick-on letters to spell out the team name).
The catering – including those adorable, bite-size cupcakes – was all done in-house through Suffolk University’s food services. But my favorite part by far was the old fashioned popcorn machine (yum!), which the food services team just happened to have in storage!
the northeast ginger 