Freshman Mackenzie McDougal spent her Saturday on Feb. 6 busily working the whole morning: talking to buddies while serving food back and forth. Welcome to FunDay 2016, the oldest service event at University of Miami. This year, more than 550 students participated in FunDay, paired with approximately 400 special needs citizens, or “buddies,” from the Miami-Dade area. They all look forward to a day of food, games, and, most importantly, FUN.
“I am a freshman. I have done something similar back home. I definitely want to get involved on campus,” McDougal said, “It’s such a great thing to make a great impact on those people,” McDougal emphasized.
FunDay took place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the green and inside the University Center. Everyone registered received a complementary lunch and t-shirt. Besides activities in the tent, there was also live music and a Bhangra dance performance on the Rock.
Viggy Kumaresan performed Bhangra with his fellow dancer Simar Puri during the event. As the captain of Hurricane Bhangra and a participant of FunDay, Kumaresan said that FunDay enabled him to combine both of his interests.
“The energy here is so high. We just love spreading energy and our culture so that everybody can learn about it,” Kumaresan said.
Puri totally agreed with Kumaresan. He added that being involved in FunDay offered him opportunities to “take a break from academic studies” and “learn from the real world.”
“Opening your mind and taking a step back…there is so much to be appreciative for and there is more than waking up and going to class,” Puri said smiling.
For a great many people, FunDay was not only entertaining but also educational. Inside a tent on the green, sophomore Angelica Previero was chatting with her buddy. When asked how she had enjoyed FunDay, she stopped the conversation and held her buddy’s hand tight.
“This event was also important for us,” she said. “It reminds us to be more compassionate and that everybody is the same.”
Max Miller, a sophomore, was taking videos of his buddy solo dancing. He said he was so happy and grateful to help out during FunDay and that this was “one of the best things” on campus. Miller also mentioned he has a personal and sentimental connection with FunDay.
“I have a family member who is physically disabled, so I just want to show some support for the community,” he said nodding.
Kristyn Ostanek, a member of Delta Phi Epsilon, was playing games with her buddy. Ostanek and her sorority sisters played a game with a toy unicorn with her buddy. They covered her buddy’s eyes with black paper band and asked him to point out where the toy unicorn was.
“It is great to start off your Saturday. I get to meet all my friends and a lot of new people and give back to the community,” Ostanek said. “My goal today is to make people smile.”
Although everybody spoke highly of FunDay, the process of planning such a service day had not been easy. The FunDay executive board kicked off preparing for the event back in October 2015; their work duties ranged from staff recruitment to event organization.
According to The Miami Hurricane’s interview with FunDay President Micaela Nannery, FunDay this year was not as large as that of the previous years because they decided it was time to bring back the intimate “community” feels.
But even if many logistics had been well taken care of, FunDay E-board still had to face some last-minute worries.
“The biggest struggle for this morning was actually the threat of rain,” said Katie Cruz, who was staff coach of FunDay E-board. “Thankfully, everything went well at last.”
Image credit: Huixin Deng