The Fun Zone, a collaboration between the University’s own Student Activities and the recreation department, has been hard at work this semester coming up with events and activities for students to get involved on campus despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Melina Cabral and Matt Hardy, founders of the organization, work together to lead the events on campus and provide new and fun opportunities for students to get involved.
The Fun Zone’s mission is for students to participate in activities and challenges and earn points toward the Fun Zone’s prizes. With their earned points, students have the chance to win prizes such as an Apple Watch and Apple AirPods. Events are held every week, and information is posted around campus, on social media and sent via email about each event.
The Fun Zone recently provided the campus with a Petting Zoo on April 7 in the University Commons. Students were able to see many animals, such as an alpaca, chickens, bunnies, pigs and many other animals. Many students adored the animals and even got to let some stress from finals and projects go by just holding a bunny or a duckling.
Xavier Hess, a senior at Virginia Wesleyan, attended the petting zoo on April 7. “My favorite part was when I sat by the library and just watched the animals act naturally and peacefully. I also like being able to rotate between animals and seeing some people that I hadn’t seen the entire semester,” said Hess.
“I was there pretty much all day until it shut down. I had seen this event on the calendar and have been looking forward to it because I really love animals,” said freshman Melissa Davis.
A recent event held by The Fun Zone was Water Wars which went from April 12-16 for students to gear up and cool off. Water Wars was an ‘assassin’ game where students were assigned a target that they had to eliminate using water toys.
A couple of other events that were held include the social media pet photo contests where students sent in their favorite photo of their animals, a Hunger Games event on April 12 and a karaoke event on April 15. The Fun Zone has events planned for the rest of April and students can earn points throughout the rest of the month.
For more information for the Fun Zone and their many events and activities, students should check their This Week email from the Student Activities office. Students can also find more information on Instagram at @vwurec or @marlinsoffthehook. The Fun Zone plans to return in the fall for more events and prizes for students to win.
By Kimberly DeHart
kmdehart@vwu.edu
