By Miranda Parrish
Elm Staff Writer
Washington College students took the ice on Valentine’s Day, skating around Martha Washington Square with friends, peers, staff, and faculty.
For the first time since 2019, the Student Events Board hosted an outdoor ice skating event in the winter months from 5 to 8 p.m.
SEB Director of Series Events senior Noah Vargas is a self-described amateur at skating but said that bringing the event back was specifically special for him as his graduation approaches.
“It was a great event,” Vargas said. “The last time we did it was my freshman year, so it was a nice full circle moment.”
The event was a team-up between SEB Director of Special Events sophomore Natalie Martinaitis and Director of Student Engagement Antoine Jordan ‘12.
While SEB provides many fun opportunities for the student body, Vargas said that the club is currently still re-building and encouraged others to join.
“We’re currently in a restructuring phase,” Vargas said. “So we’re trying to rebuild the club after COVID-19 and it’s a great opportunity to get involved on campus. You can also get paid if you are in one of the executive roles and it’s a great way to know your fellow goose nation peers.”
Vargas said that his favorite part of the job is having the opportunity to be around friends, make new acquaintances, and bring positivity to the campus while doing so.
The event was several hours long and the location and time allowed many people to stop by and skate on their way through the square.
Silvana Tipson, a junior at the College, stopped by and skated on her way to work.
“At first I was a little skeptical, but I had a lot of fun because my friends were there and it was a good idea. I would like it to come back to campus but have a bigger space with more tiles to skate on, so more people could skate and there would be a bigger place to,” Tipson said.
Many friends met up to skate and participated, regardless of if they knew how to skate or not. There were beginners as well as amateur skaters, and the ice skates were able to be rented out so students didn’t have to bring their own.
Skaters could also make song requests as well, with many of the songs being romantic for Valentine’s Day.
Series Committee member freshman Lillian Elgayar participated and helped attendees, despite it being a Special Committee event.
“The ice skating event went really well. A lot of people came out to it and had a lot of fun, and I heard great responses of how fun it was and how people would like to do it again around the break next year,” Elgayar said.
According to Elgayar, members of SEB have been brainstorming adding in roller skating to the event next year. Although SEB often does roller skating separately, Elgayar said it would be interesting to do both on one day.
Ice skating was just one of SEB’s celebrations in the lead-up to Birthday Ball on Saturday, Feb. 25. The Series Committee also held a Silent Disco on Friday, Feb. 17 to get students ready to celebrate on a larger scale.
The dance was held in the Egg from 8 to 10 p.m. Like past Silent Discos, students wore headsets which played music specific to their headset. They could choose from three different song options at any given time, most of which were from different genres and artists.
The board also hosted a Birthday Ball-themed Bingo on Wednesday, Feb. 22 to boost campus spirits immediately before the formal dance.