CAMPUS LIFE

Quick event to make lasting connections

Participants comfortably share various life experiences together at the end of the event, laughing and joking with one another. Jervontae Clark | Washtenaw Voice

Student Activities promotes speed friending to garner campus relationships

Sasha Hatinger

Staff Writer

On Sept. 17, the community room was set up with balloon towers outside the door to gather the attention of students interested in joining the event. With pizza and pop for participants to enjoy while mingling, the tables had baskets full of questions to be answered to join students together.

Making friends is a key part of the community college experience, but it is often a challenge as students have classes and often full or part-time jobs to balance.

Luckily, for students at WCC, there are unique opportunities to make friends on campus. “Speed friending” is one of them.

What is “speed friending?”

Student Activities supervisor, Christy Main explains that “speed friending” is “Similar to speed dating,” but is an opportunity for students to mingle to hopefully build lasting friendships and connections.

Speed friending, according to Main, “Is a great opportunity to make friends.”

Taye Purnell, 21, is a supply chain student and a social butterfly who enjoys connecting with classmates during the Speed Friend event. He fosters new friendships and strengthens his ties to our community. Jervontae Clark | Washtenaw Voice

Participants of the “speed friending” event agree with Main, with Lauren St. John, a general studies major, adding, “It was really, really fun.” St. John went on to say, “It was set up well, so that everyone was really comfortable with each other by the time it ended.”

The “speed friending” event was a success–as the community room was filled with jokes and laughter, stories shared that built genuine connections and memories created to last quite some time.

There are numerous benefits of making new friends, with Main highlighting the importance of having someone with similar or different interests than what you have–someone who “challenges” you with different perspectives.

“In what ways don’t you benefit,” St. John said, laughing. “I’d really like someone to do stuff with.”

Traye Purnell, another participant of the event, who majors in Supply Chain Management, said the event was “refreshing.”

As for how the event could improve, St. John suggests, “More people!”